This 3-Ingredient Butternut Squash Soup is easy, healthy comfort food! You just need butternut squash, an onion and broth (okay, and a few other basics) to create a thick, creamy, nourishing bowl of soup.
Plus it’s naturally dairy-free, vegan, Paleo and Whole30 friendly.
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Why this recipe works
A bowl of thick, creamy, blended butternut squash soup is one of my favorite ways to enjoy fall. But often the recipes use milk, cream, cream cheese or butter for creaminess, sugar or brown sugar for sweetness, and even flour to thicken it.
Some of us are trying to avoid those kinds of ingredients for various reasons, so I wanted to create a healthy, easy recipe that was gluten-free and dairy-free. I start with butternut squash and onion for a savory base but I roast them to bring out a bit of natural sweetness.
Then I simply blend them with chicken or veggie stock. The vegetables are tender enough to blend easily and butternut squash is plenty thick and creamy when blended so there’s no need for milk, cream, etc. And salt and pepper are enough seasonings.
So you get the deep, savory flavor of seasoned, roasted squash and onion with just a touch of sweetness, plus a thick, creamy texture. You’ll be amazed at how good this is with such few ingredients!
What you need
Ingredients:
- A 2½-3 pound butternut squash
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth (for vegan)
- 1 cup water, plus more as necessary
Equipment:
- a stockpot, large saucepan or Dutch oven
- a cutting board
- a chef’s knife
- a large spoon
- a stainless steel baking sheet
- measuring spoons
- a measuring glass
- a spatula (the kind for flipping, not stirring)
- a regular blender or stick blender
- a ladle, for serving
How to make 3-Ingredient Butternut Squash Soup
Step 1: Heat the oven to 425° F.
Step 2: Trim and discard the ends of the squash and cut the squash in half crosswise where the long part meets the bulbous part. Use the chef’s knife to peel the long part and then chop into ½” cubes. Peel the bulbous part, then cut in half and use a large spoon to scoop out the seeds. Cut all the sections of the squash into ½” cubes. Add to the baking sheet.
Step 3: Peel and roughly chop the onion. Add to the baking sheet. Sprinkle everything with the oil, salt and pepper. Toss with your hands until everything is evenly coated, then spread out into a single layer (the sheet might seem a bit crowded but that’s okay, everything shrinks as it cooks).
Step 4: Roast the vegetables for 20-25 minutes, then use a spatula to toss everything and spread back out into an even layer. Roast them for another 15-20 minutes, until they’re starting to caramelize around the edges. Remove from the oven.
Step 5: To blend the vegetables, add them to a large pot, saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the broth and 1 cup water, then use a stick blender to blend until completely smooth. Put the pot over medium heat to warm it up for serving.
If using a regular blender, add about half the vegetables to the blender jar, along with half the broth. Remove the insert from the jar lid and hold a towel over the opening (hot liquids will make the lid expand and get stuck unless you do this). Blend until smooth, then pour into a pot. Repeat the process until all the vegetables are blended. Heat the blended soup over medium heat until warmed through.
With either method of blending, once the soup is blended, taste and adjust seasonings. If it’s too thick, add more water. If it’s too thin, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to maintain a strong simmer and let the soup reduce and thicken to your desired consistency.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use a similar amount of other hard winter squashes, such as acorn, kabocha, pumpkin, or others.
You can add other vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, zucchini or bell peppers. You might have to roast them on a second baking sheet. You can also try fruits such as apples or pears.
Feel free to add more seasonings to the vegetables before roasting, such as cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, curry powder, etc.
Yep. The soup will keep well in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in a pot on the stove over medium heat.
Yes. Let the soup cool to room temperature (or don’t heat it up after blending it) and transfer to an airtight, freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge. Reheat in a pot on the stove over medium heat.
Yep. If you use vegetable broth, the recipe is vegan friendly.
Yep. The recipe as written contains no gluten, grains, dairy, legumes or other non-Paleo ingredients, making it suitable for a Paleo lifestyle.
Yep. The recipe contains no gluten, grains, dairy, refined sugars or other non-compatible ingredients, making it suitable for a Whole30 round.
Other recipes you might like:
- Roasted Butternut, Apple and Cardamom Soup
- 3-Ingredient Curried Sweet Potato Soup
- Parsnip and Pear Soup
- Purple Soup
3-Ingredient Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 2½ pounds butternut squash
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt plus more as needed
- ½ teaspoon black pepper plus more as needed
- 2 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth (for vegan)
- 1 cup water plus more as needed
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 425° F.
- Trim and discard the ends of the squash and cut the squash in half crosswise where the long part meets the bulbous part. Use the chef's knife to peel the long part and then chop into ½" cubes. Peel the bulbous part, then cut in half and use a large spoon to scoop out the seeds. Cut all the sections of the squash into ½" cubes. Add to the baking sheet. (See blog post for step-by-step photos.)
- Peel and roughly chop the onion. Add to the baking sheet. Sprinkle everything with the oil, salt and pepper. Toss with your hands until everything is evenly coated, then spread out into a single layer (the sheet might seem a bit crowded but that's okay, everything shrinks as it cooks).
- Roast the vegetables for 20-25 minutes, then use a spatula to toss everything and spread back out into an even layer. Roast them for another 15-20 minutes, until they're starting to caramelize around the edges. Remove from the oven.
- To blend the vegetables, add them to a large soup pot, saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the broth and 1 cup water, then use a stick blender to blend until completely smooth. Put the pot over medium heat to warm it up for serving. If using a regular blender, add about half the vegetables to the blender jar, along with half the broth. Remove the insert from the jar lid and hold a towel over the opening (hot liquids will make the lid expand and get stuck unless you do this). Blend until smooth, then pour into a pot. Repeat the process until all the vegetables are blended. Heat the blended soup over medium heat until warmed through. With either method of blending, once the soup is blended, taste and adjust seasonings. If it's too thick, add more water. If it's too thin, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to maintain a strong simmer and let the soup reduce and thicken to your desired consistency.
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