Butternut Squash Soup
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Effortlessly easy and irresistibly silky, this easy butternut squash soup is brimming with naturally sweet and savory flavors—perfect comfort food for crisp fall days.
If you’re on the lookout for a standout butternut squash soup recipe that’s as easy as it gets, this is the one! My no-fuss recipe begins with a smart shortcut: pre-cut squash from the supermarket. Then, simply throw all the ingredients into a pot, simmer, purée, and you’re done! But—and this is me wearing my kitchen dictator hat—please stick to the recipe as written. The simplicity here means that full measures of sugar, salt, and cream are essential to achieving that rich, full-bodied flavor and silky texture that take this soup from simple to sublime.
For the finishing touch, you have two seasoning options: fresh thyme or curry powder. Each leads this easy butternut squash soup recipe in a deliciously different direction, so choose whichever one suits your mood or pairs well with what you’re serving.
Table of Contents
“This is one of those obscenely simple recipes that gets rave reviews from everyone! Ive made it for as many as 150 people and they ALL wanted the recipe. So quick to put together—my favorite “dump” recipe; but the result is elegant, fragrant and such a beautiful color.”
What You’ll Need To Make Butternut Squash Soup
- Butternut Squash: The star of the soup, butternut squash provides the soup’s base, offering a sweet, nutty flavor and a velvety texture once blended.
- Red Bell Pepper: Adds a subtle sweetness and a vibrant color to the soup.
- Onion and Garlic: These aromatics are essential for building the soup’s flavor foundation.
- Water: Used as the liquid base, water helps to blend all the ingredients smoothly without overpowering their flavors.
- Salt: Enhances the natural flavors of the soup. Remember, don’t skimp because it’s essential for bringing all the flavors together.
- Sugar: While it might seem counterintuitive to add sugar to a savory soup, a touch of sweetness enhances the butternut squash and red bell pepper’s natural flavors. It also helps balance the saltiness. Again, don’t skimp on this essential ingredient.
- Heavy Cream: Gives the soup a luxurious, creamy texture and a slightly sweet richness.
- Thyme or Curry Powder: Choose based on the flavor profile you prefer: earthy and herbal with thyme, or warm and spicy with curry powder.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Begin by tossing all of the vegetables, salt, and sugar into a large soup pot.
Cover them with water.
Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 35 minutes.
Puree the soup with a hand-held immersion blender (or in a standard blender) until silky-smooth.
Pour in the heavy cream.
Stir until combined and bring to a simmer. Mix in the fresh thyme (or curry powder), then taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
That’s all there is to it. Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with more cream if desired, and serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! While it’s generally more expensive to buy pre-cut produce at the supermarket, it can be a huge time-saver, especially with large, unwieldy vegetables like butternut squash. Peeling, seeding, and chopping a whole butternut squash is a chore, so ready-to-cook cubes are a great shortcut. The key is to make sure the package is very fresh. The grocer’s rule is “first in, first out” so the freshest package will typically be towards the back of the shelf.
Yes, the soup can be frozen, without the cream, for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator for 12 hours and then reheat on the stovetop over medium heat until hot. Once heated through, add the cream and bring to a simmer before serving.
Yes, it’s an excellent make-ahead dish. It can be prepared up to 3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. In fact, letting the soup sit for a day or two can enhance its flavors as the ingredients meld together. When ready to serve, gently reheat the soup over low heat, stirring occasionally.
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Butternut Squash Soup
Effortlessly easy and irresistibly silky, this easy butternut squash soup is brimming with naturally sweet and savory flavors—perfect comfort food for crisp fall days.
Ingredients
- 2½ pounds pre-cut butternut squash (7 to 8 cups, cubed)
- 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 7 cups water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¾ cup heavy cream, plus more for serving
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon curry powder, for a different flavor profile)
Instructions
- Combine the squash, pepper, onion, garlic, water, salt, and sugar in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 35 minutes
- Using a hand-held immersion blender, purée the soup until silky smooth. (Alternatively, cool the soup slightly, then purée in a blender in batches, making sure to leave the hole in the lid open to allow the steam to escape.) Stir in the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Mix in the thyme (or curry powder), then taste and adjust seasoning (depending on the sweetness of the vegetables, you may need a touch more sugar). Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with more cream if desired, and serve.
- Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be prepared up to 3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. It can also be frozen, without the cream, 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. Once heated through, add the cream and bring to a simmer before serving.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Calories: 217
- Fat: 11 g
- Saturated fat: 7 g
- Carbohydrates: 31 g
- Sugar: 11 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 1192 mg
- Cholesterol: 34 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.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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This is good, but needs modifications. 1) Cook veggies in vegetable stock, then, using a sieve drain off the stock. [Stock can be reused to make any grain dish. ]2) Dump veggies and one cup of milk (dairy or unflavored nut milk) into food processor 3) Puree and add some dried thyme, salt and white pepper and onion powder 4) Put mixture back into original pan and reheat 5) Serve with some croutons on top. That makes a nice Fall soup. Thank you, Jenn.
This was so easy and yummy! I added a teaspoon of curry and half a cube of chicken stock, which gave it some great extra flavor but I don’t think the base recipe needed it.
Just tried this cuz needed a recipe for a pureed soup for a friend who had oral surgery. So, we gave her 90% of the soup and kept 10 for us – really tasty! I thought that using water instead of a broth would make it less flavorful, but it’s full of flavor 🙂
Jenn, I volunteer in a community kitchen doing meals for shut ins and homeless. We’ve been given a lot of butternut squash so we’d like to use your recipe and will adapt quantities to what we need. Instead of peeling the squash we’d like to roast them. My question is, Would you change anything in your recipe if roasted squash were substituted? Any other suggestions?
Hi Gean, what a nice thing you do! I don’t think you’d need to change anything in the recipe if you roast the squash. It obviously the squash wouldn’t need as much time to soften up in the soup but I’d still cook it for the same amount of time so all of the other flavors/ingredients can cook and meld together. Hope everyone enjoys!
I love Jen’s recipes – but I have to say like others have mentioned this one was a little bland for me, even despite using chicken broth instead of water. I added a sprinkle of ginger and cloves at the end and it helped warm everything up.
Super easy and quick but thought it was a bit bland. Next time I will cook in chicken broth, not water. I added a dash of cayenne and some chicken bouillon and that made a huge difference.
So easy! My family loved it!
Can you make the soup with almond milk instead?
Hi Lorraine, I think you could get away with it, or for more creaminess, full-fat coconut milk would work here. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!
Absolutely my favourite soup to make now, thanks so much for the recipe 😀 I did however change a few little things up On your original recipe. I just added creme fresh instead of cream and it seemed to thicken slightly better than the first time around when I used cream. Added a dash of turmeric and a dash of cumin which gave it a lot more flavour!
As DJ recommended, I added a chopped carrot and stalk of celery plus plenty of spices to this. The biggest problem was how thin the soup ended up with 7 cups of water (I used 4 cups veg broth and 3 cups water). I had to add two boiled and pureed potatoes to thicken the soup up. So I would suggest cutting back the liquids to 4 cups veg broth, and adding a potato to the mix. The quality of the butternut squash also makes a big difference in this soup.
Loved loved loved this recipe! Satisfied my craving for homemade soup! Very easy to make and doesn’t require as many ingredients as the other recipes.