This Butternut Squash Soup is creamy, dreamy and full of flavor from roasting the vegetables. A great fall meal!
I do love a good butternut squash soup. I have tried making it in any which way, but my preferred method will always be this one: Roasting the vegetables in the oven first, then simmering them in broth before blending them with cream to turn into a dreamy bowl of soup.
If you wanted to go for a lighter soup, you can always leave out the cream – or use just a teaspoon on each individual bowl.
Ingredients you’ll need
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!
Ingredient notes
- Butternut squash: I always pick a squash weighing between 3-4 pounds when I make this recipe. If you’re going for pre-peeled and cubed squash, you’ll want to use around 2-2.5 pounds.
- Potatoes: Feel free to leave these out for a lower carb count, or replace them with a sweet potato if you prefer to skip white potatoes. They do add nice creaminess and thickness to the soup, so that’s why I add them.
- Ground cumin: You can leave this out if you don’t have any. It does add a nice depth of flavor to the soup though.
- Chicken broth: Feel free to use vegetable broth instead to keep the soup vegetarian.
Step by step photos
Recipe tips
- Don’t be afraid to roast the vegetables until they have some color; this is what adds a lot of delicious flavor to your soup!
- Toast the thyme and cumin until fragrant to pull the most flavor from them.
- How creamy the soup ends up depends a lot on the quality and power of your blender. If you don’t have a great immersion blender, check the manual of your stand mixer – you can follow the instructions for hot liquids and blend the soup this way instead. I 100% prefer using an immersion blender for hot soups, so that’s what I always do.
How to serve Butternut Squash Soup
I love this soup as a light lunch or dinner – just with a slice of homemade bread on the side.
If you want to feel fancy, sprinkle some crispy fried bacon on top!
This soup is also great as a starter for a special holiday dinner – it gores so well with the hearty fall and winter comfort foods you’d see on a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table.
More easy soup recipes
PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.
Printable recipe
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Recipe details
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash peeled and cubed (seeds removed) (about 3-4 pounds before peeling)
- 1 onion peeled and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 potatoes peeled and chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and chopped
- 2 tablespoons oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 quart low-sodium chicken broth OR vegetable broth
- heavy cream to taste
Instructions
- Roast vegetables: Heat oven to 400º. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss all vegetables with oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the hot oven until tender, about 25-30 minutes.
- Prepare soup: Once vegetables are done, melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add cumin and thyme and cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Add roasted vegetables, then add chicken broth. Simmer for 10 minutes on low heat.
- Finish: Blend soup until creamy using an immersion blender. Add cream to taste, then simmer for another few minutes. Adjust seasoning and cream to taste before serving.
Marylou says
This was the best butternut squash soup I’ve ever made. I made a few changes. I added sweet potatoes instead of white, put a little bit of 1/2&1/2 at the end instead of cream sprinkled peanuts over the top when I served it. We loved it. Thank you Nora.
Nicole Bolstad says
WOW! This soup is AMAZING!!! The spices in here are perfect and give it a wonderful full bodied flavour, I did add in a 1/2 teaspoon of curry and I’m happy I did!
Thank you for this recipe!
Laurie says
So, so good! So much flavor. I did not substitute any ingredients. Thank-you
Linda says
Followed directions as posted 💕 on a cold evening amazing.
2nd time I cut the squash in half so I could just scoop it out . It was ok but roasting as directions say definitely the way to go. Flavor far better. I did use fresh thyme just because I have it and am very partial to the flavor & smell of fresh thyme. Definitely in my keeper file.
Angela says
This is delicious, Nora – As is, no substitutions.
haylee jade says
great recipe! i used curry powder instead of cumin and added a little bit of miso paste to my chicken stock. served with a drizzle of garlic oil, fresh thyme, and some toasted baguette. it was wonderful!
Nora says
Thanks for sharing your tips, Haylee! Glad to hear you liked the soup.
Steph V. says
Super easy and very flavorful. Husband loved it too, it’s now our favorite soup. I don’t comment on blogs often (or ever?) so that should tell you how much this one stood out to us!
Nora says
Steph, I appreciate your lovely comment so much! Thank you for trusting in my recipe, and thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
Melinda says
I generally don’t like butternut squash soup because it’s usually sweet. I loved this recipe precisely because it isn’t. This was delicious, and I will certainly make it again.
Nora says
Melinda – I agree! I don’t really like it when my squash or pumpkin soups are overly sweet. Glad you liked the recipe!
Angela says
Simply delicious! I added a bit more water than the recipe called for, but that’s a personal preference. Roasting the squash gives this depth of flavor.
Pamela says
My daughter made this for me after my neck surgery, because I was unable to swallow food. This was amazing. She added roasted garlic and a roasted red pepper. Ohmygosh, this was fabulous. Looking for an option to post a picture, but trust me, it was so good.
Jean Asenato says
Just made this ,it is delicious,thank you
Nita W says
I have been making this recipe for 3/4 years. A friend gives me some of his fresh grown butternut squash. Always a big hit.
Julia says
Omitted potatoes. Used sour cream and half and half in place of heavy cream. Also added 3/4 tsp curry powder and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Was a hit
Carly says
I made this recipe for my family on thanksgiving. I was looking for a *savory* squash soup recipe rather than something sweeter, and this totally hit the spot! My family loved it and the only problem was that there wasn’t enough for seconds. I did make some minor changes while cooking – I really don’t like cumin and I did not have thyme, so instead I did 1/8 tsp of paprika and 1/8 tsp of oregano, a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of fresh chopped parsley into the butter. I also did’t have an immersion blender so I transferred everything into a regular blender. The soup had a warm, nutty flavor that everyone loved. Because the oven was so crowded I found that I needed for roast the vegetables for 15 extra minutes. With prep and cleanup this took me closer to 3 hours. All in all, totally worth it!
Mary says
I do like this soup. I used fresh Thyme because I had it on hand and took the leaves off the stem. I used 1/2 Vegetable and 1/2 chicken broth. I did add a pinch of Cayenne for a hint of heat. It thickened up really quickly with the immersion blender and I did add approx 1/2 – 3/4 cup more chicken broth. Next time I will probably use unsalted broth, but it is very tasty just the way it is.
Nora says
I’m glad you liked the soup, Mary!
Sarah says
So yum! Best soup I’ve ever made!
Nora says
I’m so glad, Sarah!
Jennifer McGuire says
Absolutely delicious and very satisfying! We made this with home grown organic squash. It did take longer to roast than the recipe suggested.
Nora says
Jennifer, I’m glad you enjoyed the soup! The roasting time can depend a lot on the exact size you chop the squash to, and also your specific oven. We recently got a new oven and everything takes a lot longer to bake than in my last oven… Glad you figured it out, though!
Shara says
I had never had butternut squash soup before but was eager to try and this recipe did not disappoint!! I didn’t have garlic cloves or onions so I used canned minced garlic and dried minced onion and sautéed them with the thyme and cumin…
Nora says
That sounds lovely, Shara! I’m glad you enjoyed the soup.