The complex sweetness of roasted butternut squash pairs beautifully with hints of Italian spices like rosemary, oregano and thyme. Don’t be intimidated by the longer cooking time – it’s mostly passive time of waiting for the squash to roast. Top your bowl with toasted and crumbled walnuts or Rosemary croutons for added texture.
Ingredients
- 1 whole butternut squa
- Some toasted walnuts crumbled, or Rsosemary croutons.
- sh (mine weighed around 2-1/3 pounds)
- 2 cups almond milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice (plus ¼-1/2 cup more if you want a thinner soup)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp paprika (sweet or hot if you’d like your soup to be a bit spicy)
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary, or ½ tsp dried
- Pinch dry thyme (optional)
- Pinch dry sage (optional)
- Pinch dry oregano (optional)
- Salt, black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Wash and pat dry your butternut squash. Pierce it with a fork a few times and microwave for 3 minutes on high. This will soften it slightly to help you cut it in half easier. Let the squash cool off for 5 min.
- Cut the squash in half lengthwise – be careful as it may be hot inside from the microwaving. Scoop out and discard the seeds. Place the halves on a cookie sheet, brush the tops lightly with olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Bake in the oven** for 35-45 minutes, or until the squash is fork-tender. Take the squash out of the oven and cool for 7-10 minutes.
- Using a tablespoon, scoop out the flesh out of each half of the squash (be careful not to burn yourself!) and place it into the bowl of a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients except the Rosemary Journey Bar. Blend the ingredients for 2-3 min, or until the mixture is completely smooth. If it’s too thick, add more almond milk.
- Pop the nuts into a toaster to toast them. Crumble it up into pieces and use them as croutons. (or use Rosemary croutons.)
- Pour the soup mixture into a soup pot and gently reheat it on the stove. Adjust seasoning and spices to taste. Serve topped with your favorite garnish.
- If not Vegan a drizzle of sour cream would be nice, or Greek yogurt.
Notes
*If you’d like a curried butternut squash soup, you can use a Coconut Curry Journey bar, and swap the spices for turmeric, curry, ground cumin and sweet paprika – adjust them to taste.
**Alternatively, you can cut the squash into cubes and steam them in a steamer basket for about 10 minutes. This is a quicker way to make this recipe, but I prefer the taste of roasted butternut squash to steamed in this soup as roasting caramelizes the sweet flavors of the squash better than steaming.