Thick, yet silky smooth, Roasted Butternut Squash Soup can be considered peasant food because of it’s humble ingredients, but it’s fit for royalty with it’s full-bodied flavour.
Even though I’m not a vegetarian, I still love a good non-meat-based soup. To me, meat is comfort food, but so is soup. And, I very rarely join the two together. If you take a look back through the history of Lord Byron’s Kitchen, you’ll find many, many soup recipes.
At the very moment I’m typing up this post, there are twenty three soup recipes here on my blog, but only two of them have meat. Actually, they aren’t really soup recipes – one is a chowder and the other is a stew. Kinda soup, but not quite.
When I make soups that are dairy free, like this Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, I want to impart as much flavour as possible into the humble ingredients. Really, Dear Reader, take a look at the ingredient list in the recipe card below. There’s nothing extravagant in there; humble it is!
To impart flavour, you will need to intensify the flavour of the two main ingredients – the butternut squash and the onion. To do this is very easy. All you need to do is to roast them so that you can form a caramelization on the veggies. This adds so much depth to the overall flavour of the soup.
If you’ve never cooked with butternut squash before, get ready to be amazed. Butternut squash cooks very quickly and has so many options. Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, is one option of course, but there’s so much more you can do with it.
Another soup option is my Root Vegetable Vegetarian Cassoulet, but there’s also my Roasted Sausage with Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash. That’s one of my all-time favourite dishes. I really need to make that again very soon. I have a few more recipes coming over the next few weeks as well.
I just recently perfected a Vegetable Farro Soup, and a Butternut Squash Casserole, both using butternut squash, that you’re going to love! The casserole was so good it was hard to keep my fork out of it before taking the photographs. Because, you know, it has cream and cheese!
When I was taking the photos for this particular recipe, I felt that the soup looked rather plain and boring. To jazz it up, I added a swirl of thick heavy cream. You can also add some croutons, some crumbled cooked bacon, or some grated cheese. Add it while the soup is still piping hot and then stir it though. Yummy!
My version of a Roasted Butternut Squash Soup is not a light soup. It’s not a broth soup. It’s heavy and hearty and filling and robust. It’s got tonnes of flavour and is super thick. I love thick soup, even though broth-based soups are good, the thick, stick-to-my-ribs type of soup is what I crave the most.
If you prefer a thinner soup, add more vegetable broth to your pot. If you do so, you’ll most likely have to add a little bit more salt, depending on what type of broth you’re using. Just taste as you go along; that’s the only way to make sure a recipe is suited for your personal tastes. There’s no shame in that!
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 8 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoon thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon rosemary, fresh, minced
- 1 teaspoon summer savoury, fresh, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 whole bay leaves
- heavy cream for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
- Add the squash, olive oil, onion, thyme, summer savoury, rosemary, salt, and pepper to a large bowl and toss to mix and coat well.
- Turn the mixture out onto a large, rimmed baking sheet. Be sure the squash is in a single layer.
- Roast for 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Sprinkle over the minced garlic. Using a flat, metal spatula, toss the squash and once again make sure the squash is in a single layer.
- Return to the oven and roast for another 20 minutes or until squash is fork tender.
- In the meantime, add the vegetable stock and bay leaves to a soup pot and bring to a low boil.
- Remove the roasted squash from the oven and transfer it to the soup pot. Be sure to get all of the garlic and onions and any charred bits off of the baking sheet and into the soup pot.
- Stir everything together. Place a lid on the pot and boil for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Remove the bay leaves and puree the soup using an immersion blender, or puree in batches in a blender. (Taste for seasoning; this is where you should add more salt if needed.)
- Serve with a swirl of heavy whipping cream and garnish with fresh thyme leaves.
Notes
Nutrition
Megan says
This butternut squash soup looks perfect.
byronethomas@gmail.com says
Thank you, Megan.