This creamy vegan butternut squash soup is an instant pick-me-up. The sweet, smoky flavors with a hint of spice from ginger and curry powder are a warm, cozy blanket for your tummy! Make it a meal with a hunk of crusty bread.
Table of Contents
Easy, creamy vegan butternut squash soup
This soup is one of my favorite fall and winter recipes. It is filling, tastes fantastic, is easy to make, and is loaded with good health.
The butternut squash infuses the soup with sweetness and a magical, silky texture. Add to this the heat from ginger, curry powder and paprika and smokiness from the sage, and you have a bowl you will want to devour until every last bit is gone.
The butternut squash soup comes together in one pot, it's vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free, and it takes just about 30 minutes to go from scratch to done. It is wonderful as a starter but it is also hearty enough to make a light meal. I eat a bowl curled up in front of the television set, wrapped in my favorite blanket. Bliss.
Butternut squash is one of the more omnipresent winter squashes and if you freeze up at the thought of cutting it, the good news is that it is often sold pre-cut in supermarkets. It makes a great addition to any diet. Not only is it tasty, with sweet, nutty, bright-orange flesh; it is also loaded with nutrients, especially vitamins A and C, and it is so, so delicious roasted or added to dishes like butternut squash curry and butternut squash risotto.
Recipe card
Vegan Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 2 teaspoons grated ginger
- 1 small leek (green and white parts chopped)
- 1 small carrot (cut in small dice)
- 1 stalk celery (cut in small dice)
- 20 oz butternut squash (cut butternut squash into small cubes)
- 2 teaspoons dried sage
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 4 cups vegetable stock (or water)
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or sugar. If sugar-free, use stevia or erythritol instead)
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
For optional pumpkin cream
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup vegetable stock (or water)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Saute the aromatic base ingredients. Heat the oil, add the crushed ginger and saute for a few seconds. Add the leeks, carrots and celery, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened but not brown, about five minutes over medium heat.
- Add the butternut squash and herbs. Saute the butternut squash for a couple of minutes, then add the sage, water, maple syrup and paprika. Stir, cover and cook 8-10 minutes or until the squash is soft and a fork goes cleanly and easily through.
- Blend the soup. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. The soup is very hot, so exercise caution and follow manufacturer instructions on blending hot liquids. If you have an immersion blender you can blend the soup right in the pot. Or if you have a food mill pass the soup through the food mill to puree.
- Finish the soup. Return the soup to the pot and bring back to a simmer. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Turn off the heat.
Make the optional pumpkin cream
- Place all ingredients for the cream into a blender and blend until smooth. Drizzle over the soup before serving.
Notes
- To make this soup oil-free, sauté the ginger, leeks, carrots and celery in ¼ cup vegetable stock.
- You can also use pumpkin, acorn squash or any other coral fleshed winter squash in this recipe.
- For easy prep use pre-cut butternut squash cubes. This saves a good bit of time peeling and cutting a whole butternut squash, making the dish much more weeknight friendly.
- Don't add too much of the leeks and celery for a more vividly colored soup. Just one small leek and one celery will add enough flavor without toning down the orange color too much.
- If you add water instead of stock or broth, add a cube or two of vegetable bouillon for better flavor.
- Make the soup as thick or thin as you like. If you find the consistency too thick, thin out with more water or vegetable stock. If you accidentally make it too thin, cook a little longer or stir in a slurry of ½ teaspoon cornstarch mixed with two teaspoons water and bring to a boil.
- Add a dash of nutmeg to the cinnamon cream, or replace all of the cinnamon with nutmeg for a different deliciousness.
Nutrition Information
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How to make vegan butternut squash soup
- Saute the aromatic base ingredients. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot. Add the crushed ginger and saute for a few seconds. Add the leeks, carrots and celery, season with salt and pepper, and cook until softened but not brown, about five minutes over medium heat.
- Add the butternut squash and herbs. Saute the butternut squash for a couple of minutes, then add the fresh sage, water, maple syrup and paprika. Stir, cover and cook 8-10 minutes or until the squash is tender and fork tender.
- Blend the soup. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. The soup is very hot, so exercise caution and follow manufacturer instructions on blending hot liquids. You also might need to blend in batches. If you have an immersion blender you can blend the soup right in the pot. Or if you have a food mill pass the soup through the mill to puree.
- Finish the soup. Return the soup to the pot and bring back to a simmer. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. Turn off the heat.
Make the pumpkin cinnamon cream
- To make the optional pumpkin seed cinnamon cream place all ingredients for the cream into a blender and blend until smooth. Drizzle over the soup before serving. If you are not using a high powered blender like a Vitamix, soak the pumpkin seeds in the water for 30 minutes first.
More topping ideas
- Pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle a few pumpkin seeds on the vegan butternut squash soup before serving to add crunch and nutty flavor.
- Curry powder or paprika. If you like the soup spicier, sprinkle a dash of curry powder or paprika on the soup.
- Vegan sour cream. A dollop of vegan sour cream is divine with a hot bowl of butternut squash soup.
- Chives, parsley or basil. To add a lovely dash of green and freshness to the soup bowl, chop and sprinkle on some fresh herbs.
- Coconut milk. Swirl a bit of coconut milk over the butternut soup and sprinkle with cinnamon. Butternut squash with coconut milk tastes amazing.
- Melted vegan butter or a drizzle of olive oil. This adds a lovely dash of flavor.
Vegan butternut squash soup FAQs
Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to three days.
You can place butternut squash soup in a freezer safe container and freeze up to three months. Thaw in refrigerator and reheat before serving.
Butternut squash is not highly recommended on keto diets because of its high sugar and starch content. But if you are eating a less restrictive low carb diet you can make the butternut squash soup fit in by leaving out the maple syrup and using a sweetener like stevia or erythritol. Each serving of the soup made this way will have 11 grams of net carbs.
Absolutely. Frozen squash will work just as well as fresh in this recipe. Just add it to the pot, no need to defrost.
Because butternut squash cooks quickly, I don't think the Instant Pot saves you time with this recipe. However, if you want to make it in the Instant Pot, use the saute function for step 1. After adding the butternut squash, broth and spices and herbs, cook on high pressure for five minutes. Release manually or force-release after 10 minutes, blend, and reheat in the Instant Pot liner with the "saute" function selected.
Georgia says
Hi, how can I print this recipe ?
Vaishali says
Hi Georgia, use the "print recipe" button in the recipe box and it'll throw up a printable version.