Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1 Medium Onion, diced
• 2 Medium Carrots, diced
• 1 Celery Rib, diced
• 3-4 Garlic Cloves, chopped
• ½ teaspoon Coriander
• ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper, to taste
• 4- 4½ pounds Butternut Squash, seeded, peeled and cut into roughly 2 inch pieces – one large squash or 2 medium should do it.
• 6 cups Chicken Broth
• Salt, to taste
• ¼ cup Half & Half
• Suggested toppings: Croutons, Bacon bits

Prep work

We’ll start this section by mentioning that this soup will be pureed. It’s not necessary to get a nice and pretty dice on the ingredients, like you would with this Tuscan soup with cannellini beans.

Dice the onions, carrots and celery. They’re all going into the pot at the same time so keep them in the same bowl.

Mince the garlic and measure out the spices. Next, we’ll get to peeling the butternut squash.

How to peel butternut squash

Peeling butternut squash can be tricky. It has a tough peel, rendering a peeler useless. Instead we need to remove the peel with a knife.

Here’s the easiest way I’ve found to peel butternut squash. As a reference, we used two medium butternut squash; weighing just a touch over 2 pounds each.

1. Set the squash on a flat, non-slip cutting board and slice off both ends.
2. Cut the butternut squash into two pieces. Slice right above the rounded part.
3. Cut the solid, cylinder piece in two.
4. Cut off a thin section of the peel at a time as you work your way around the entire piece. Repeat with the remaining cylinder piece.
5. Cut the rounded piece in half.
6. Remove the seeds using a large spoon.
7. Hollow out the butternut squash completely.
8. Set the squash on the widest part and cut off thin sections working your way around. Repeat with the remaining pieces.

Finally cut the peeled butternut squash into smaller pieces, approximately 2 inches.

Make the creamy butternut squash soup

• Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pot over medium heat. When the butter is melted and foamy add the onions, carrots and celery.
• Cook the vegetables for 5 minutes until the onions are translucent and start to soften. Stir frequently to prevent the onions from caramelizing or burning.
• Add the garlic, coriander and black pepper to the pot and give everything a good stir to combine. Cook the garlic for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
• Next, add the butternut squash and the chicken broth to the pot. Raise the heat to high and bring the broth to a boil.
• When the soup is boiling, lower heat to medium-low, cover and cook for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until the butternut squash is very tender.
• Keep the broth at a simmer. If it’s boiling too vigorously, lower the heat a bit. If it’s not simmering raise the heat.
• The squash should be falling apart. When pressed with a wooden spoon or spatula it should give completely.

Puree the soup

Remove the pot from the heat. I like to slide it over to an empty burner (that’s off). That way I’m not fussing with trivets and transporting a pot full of hot liquid. Process the soup in the pot with an immersion blender until smooth.

Immersion blenders (also called stick or hand blenders) are great, actually they're one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment. They are small, easy to store, easy to wash, and work like a charm! They make preparing cream soups like this pumpkin ginger soup, creamy vegetable soup, or this malanga soup a snap.

If you do not have an immersion blender, use a blender to puree the soup. It’s very important to not fill the blender to the top with hot liquids. Process the soup in small batches.

Finish the soup

• When the soup is completely smooth, add the half and half (still off the heat). Stir the soup well.
• Place the pot back over low heat to warm through. Do not let the soup come to a boil, it could curdle. Heat it gently, stirring frequently.
• Taste and add salt to taste. We want to wait until the end to add salt to this soup because prepackaged chicken broth contains a good amount of salt already. As a reference, we added ¾ teaspoon of salt to our soup.
• Serve the butternut squash soup with croutons, crusty bread, bacon bits or crackers, if desired. Enjoy!