Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
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This easy-to-make butternut squash soup with sweet potatoes, apples, and warm spices tastes like fall in a bowl.
This easy-to-make butternut squash and sweet potato soup is one of my favorites, and I serve it every year for Thanksgiving. The hardest part of making it is wrestling with the butternut squash, so, to make life easy, I call for pre-cut squash from the produce department. Anytime you’re selecting pre-cut produce, make sure it’s fresh; I always grab a package from the back of the shelf, as those tend to have later expiration dates.
What you’ll need to make Butternut Squash and sweet potato soup
Step-By-Step Instructions
To begin, melt the butter over medium heat in a large pot and add the onions.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the butternut squash, sweet potatoes, chicken broth, salt, and pepper to the pot.
Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to low.
Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes.
Add the diced apple and honey.
Purée the soup with a handheld immersion blender until very smooth and creamy. (Alternatively, use a standard blender to purée soup in batches, being careful not to fill the jar more than halfway. Leave the hole in the lid open and loosely cover with a dishtowel to allow the heat to escape. Pour the blended soup into a clean pot.)
Stir in the cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and heavy cream.
Bring to a simmer, then taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. If you like a sweeter soup, add more honey. To thicken the soup, simmer over low heat until desired consistency is reached.
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Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Soup
This easy-to-make butternut squash soup with sweet potatoes, apples, and warm spices tastes like fall in a bowl.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups roughly chopped yellow onions
- 2 pounds pre-cut butternut squash
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 1½ pounds before peeling)
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tart yet sweet apple, such as Fuji or Honeycrisp, cored, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 3 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground mace
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a large pot. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the butternut squash, sweet potatoes, chicken broth, salt, and pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to low; simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Add the diced apple and honey and purée the soup with a handheld immersion blender until very smooth and creamy. (Alternatively, use a standard blender to purée soup in batches, being careful not to fill the jar more than halfway. Leave the hole in the lid open and loosely cover with a dish towel to allow the heat to escape. Pour the blended soup into a clean pot.)
- Stir in the cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and heavy cream. Bring to a simmer, then taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. To thicken the soup, simmer over low heat until desired consistency is reached.
- Note: This soup thickens as it cools. If necessary, add a bit of water to thin it back to desired consistency.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator for 12 hours and then reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat until hot. (The soup will thicken up while in the freezer. While reheating, add a bit of water if necessary to thin it to your desired consistency.)
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (8 servings)
- Calories: 359
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated fat: 10 g
- Carbohydrates: 43 g
- Sugar: 19 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 9 g
- Sodium: 816 mg
- Cholesterol: 59 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Super tasty, needs nothing else!
Family really enjoyed the soup and pumpkin muffins. For the muffins I used 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin purée instead of 1 cup. I add the remaining pumpkin purée to the soup. We try and avoid waste. Turned out wonderful. Thanks Jen
Made this today for a sick friend. It’s like Fall in a bowl! A definite keeper.
Hi Jen. What would you recommend as a substitute for the mace? I’ve never used it before and am hesitant to spend the high price on it for one recipe. Thank you for your time.
Hi Monica, you can just leave out the mace. The soup will still taste great – enjoy!
Is it OK to freeze the soup WITH the heavy cream added, or is it better to add the cream after the soup thaws?
Hi John, this soup is fine to freeze with the cream but if you haven’t added it yet, I’d probably freeze it without and then add it when reheating. Hope that helps!
Thanks Jenn. I haven’t added the cream yet, so I’ll add some cream to what we’re going to eat tonight, and then freeze the rest without. BTW, the soup is definitely a winner. I tasted some after puréeing and adding the spices – AWESOME! This one’s definitely going into my book of favourite recipes.
In reality, I’ve not yet found one recipe on this wonderful site that I really don’t like. Thank you.👍
I am making this today for Thanksgiving…would it be ok in the refrigerator until Thursday or should I freeze it? Thank you!!
Hi Vikki, You can get away with refrigerating it. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you Jenn… I have to say one of the many reasons I love your blog is that you answer questions. You truly care about helping the home cook. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
💗 Hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving too!
I’m planning to make this for thanksgiving. Can I make this in advance, like a day or two? Thanks.
Sure – hope you enjoy! 🙂
You know you have a keeper when you’ve flubbed as much as I did making this and it still blows your mind (perhaps more so). I made some silly substitutions out of necessity and Jenn, I’m about to rock your world with this variant (or maybe not, I don’t know you personally).
As a novice cook, I apparently didn’t know what butternut squash was (cue pointing and laughing) and accidentally got Kabocha squash. With it’s hard exterior and awkward shape, I had to cut it in half + foil it, bake it ahead of time, and then scoop out the meat, which I added alongside the diced apple and honey.
Further, I only had 1 litre of regular chicken broth at my disposal and one litre of VERY garlicy Campbell’s chicken broth.
Now I know you might be wincing at this point, but Jenn, what came out was the most amazing, sweet + savoury honey garlic squash soup the world has ever seen. The Kabocha added nuttiness with a tinge of sweet, and the whole thing was still decidedly fall. If I did it again, I would try adding carmelized onions or shallots to the soup after blending it.
If you have the time and interest, I would suggest trying this variant! Overall, this soup still gets a 5 star rating because the texture and balance of everything was still great and, again, it’s flexible. Thank’s for this awesome recipe!
Hi Corrine, so glad to hear that the soup turned out so nicely even with all of your “tweaks!!” 🙂
Just made this… I am sipping on it as I’m typing this! It’s November 2020 and I was looking for something hearty and warm… it turned out great! I used vegetarian stock. Next time I’m thinking to use 1/2 the honey since the sweet potato already adds some sweetness. Making again!
Made this soup for the first time and it was delicious! I did change it a little though. I added pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon instead of mace, one Tbsp of hot pepper infused honey with two regular, and instead of cream I added thick vanilla yogurt. It turned out fabulous!
Kathy (Peterborough, Canada)
Hi Jenn! First of all, love love this recipe just as written! I have a couple questions for substitutions though. I would like to reduce the carbs for friends on the Keto diet. Would subbing pumpkin for the sweet potato work and would you start with a fresh pumpkin or would pureed pumpkin do? Also, would pureed squash work in this recipe? What adjustments would I need to make other than cooking time? My friend harvested and put up a large quantity of squash this year which I will gladly accept! Thanks Jenn!
Hi Kathy, so glad you like the soup! I do think this would work with either pumpkin or squash. (And it’s fine to start out with it in puréed form.) Hope that helps and that your friends enjoy!