This classic vegan butternut squash soup recipe has just the right fall flavor! Creamy and cozy, serve it with crusty bread for an easy meal.
When the air gets that certain chill, it’s like a flip switches. Suddenly the name of that pale orange, oblong squash is on everyone’s lips. It’s butternut squash season! Here’s a recipe that morphs this tough-to-cut squash into a silky orange puree.
Meet our go-to Butternut Squash Soup recipe! To put a modern spin on the classic, it’s a plant based and vegan butternut squash soup. You’ll find the flavor is so lusciously creamy, it makes all your fall dreams come true.
Ingredients in this butternut squash soup recipe
Our go-to butternut squash recipe happens to be vegan and plant-based: which is fitting as a modern spin! Instead of rich and heavy butters and creams of the past, butternut squash soup of today can feature beautiful flavors that are fully made of plants. Here’s what we included in this vegan butternut squash soup recipe:
- Yellow onion, garlic, fresh ginger and carrot: These vegetables add subtle supporting notes to this recipe. Fresh ginger is key to the nuanced fall flavor profile!
- Butternut squash: Squash is a good source of fiber, with 7 grams per 1 cup diced, or about 28% of your daily need (source) in one serving of this soup. The same serving size also provides 457% of your daily Vitamin A and 52% of your daily Vitamin C. (Source)
- Olive oil: Olive oil is our cooking oil of choice.
- Vegetable broth: Use your favorite brand of vegetable broth.
- Dried sage: Sage adds just the right fall flavor profile.
- Chickpeas: This trick adds protein to the vegan soup, making it more filling than most!
- Coconut milk: We’ve made lots of butternut soup recipes, and we think coconut milk is the best ingredient pairing to make the soup creamy and complement the flavor profile of the squash.
How to cut butternut squash
The longest lead time item in this soup is cutting the butternut squash! This squash is notoriously difficult to peel and chop. We recommend using a fresh squash in this recipe for best results, though you can use frozen in a pinch. Here are some tips for best way to cut it:
- Slice off the neck first. Peeling and chopping the base and neck separately makes its oblong shape easier to handle.
- Peel with a serrated peeler. It’s easier to peel tough-skinned vegetables with a squash peeler because the serrated edges grip the skin. (Here’s the serrated peeler we use.)
- Slice into planks, then chop. Cut the base and neck into planks, then dice them. Here’s a video to show the process.
Tip: make sure the squash is bright orange
When you cut into your butternut squash, make sure it’s bright orange in color. This means that it’s perfectly ripe and will result in the best sweet flavor and creamy texture.
If you cut into it and it’s pale yellow in color: alert! This means the squash is not ripe. We had this happen to us on one of the test runs of this soup. If this happens: abort! We hate to say it, but the squash will not taste as deliciously sweet as it should.
How to make butternut squash soup: overview
This butternut squash soup recipe is easy to make, once you’ve gotten past the cutting part! Here are the basic steps to a butternut squash soup:
- Prep the ingredients. Chop your onion, ginger, carrot and garlic. Specific instructions are in the recipe below!
- Saute the onion. Cook until it’s translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir until it’s just fragrant.
- Add the remaining ingredients and simmer. Simmer until the veggies are tender.
- Blend! Add the chickpeas and coconut milk and blend until pureed. We used a large high speed blender, so the entire soup fit. If you have a standard blender, you’ll have to do it in batches.
Chickpeas make it more filling
A unique ingredient in this butternut squash soup helps it stay filling by giving it a boost of protein and fiber: chickpeas! Don’t worry if you’re not a chickpea fan. You’ll puree them right into the body of the soup, so the flavor is barely perceptible and the texture is non-existent. You can omit the chickpeas if you like, but we love adding a boost of nutrients and keeping the soup as filling as possible.
What to serve with butternut squash soup
Once you’ve simmered and blended, let’s get to eating this tasty soup! There are lots of ways to serve a butternut squash soup recipe, but remember: you’ve got to add something to make it filling! Here are some options we love:
- Crusty bread. Grab and artisan loaf or try homemade.
- Cornbread. Try our favorite classic cornbread, cornbread muffins or vegan cornbread.
- Grilled cheese. Add a baked grilled cheese, spinach artichoke grilled cheese, or one with brie and apple.
- Crackers. Try homemade crackers or nut-based crackers.
- Salad. Add arugula salad, spinach salad or arugula beet salad.
Dietary notes
This butternut squash soup recipe is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Best Butternut Squash Soup (Vegan!)
-
Prep Time: 15 minutes -
Cook Time: 20 minutes
-
Total Time: 35 minutes
-
Yield: 4 to 6
Print RecipeDescription
This classic vegan butternut squash soup recipe has just the right fall flavor! Creamy and cozy, serve it with crusty bread for an easy meal.
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon peeled and finely grated ginger
- 1 cup peeled and chopped carrots (about 2 medium or 1 very large)
- 1 medium butternut squash (4 cups chopped)*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk, plus more to garnish
- Optional garnishes: fresh chopped parsley, pepitas
Instructions
- Dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Peel and cut the ginger. Peel and chop the carrots. Peel and dice the butternut squash.
- In a medium stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute until lightly browned and fragrant.
- Add the carrots, squash, vegetable broth, dried sage, and kosher salt and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until carrots and squash are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add the drained and rinsed chickpeas and the coconut milk. Use a liquid measuring cup to carefully transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth (puree it in batches if it’s a standard size blender). Taste and add a little more salt if necessary. If desired, drizzle with a bit of coconut milk before serving.
Notes
*To speed up prep, substitute frozen butternut squash.
Category: Soup
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegan
More butternut squash recipes
There are so many ways to use this tasty squash! Here are a few more butternut squash recipes for fall:
- Grab Thai curry paste and make Curried Butternut Squash Soup
- Bake up a Butternut Squash Lasagna with boiled squash, 3 cheeses and sage
- Puree it into a cheese sauce for Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
- Cube it up and make Roasted Butternut Squash
- Throw it into a Butternut Squash Curry
- Add Parmesan and sage for Butternut Squash Risotto
Pin Recipe