Winter squash soup is one of our favorite dishes to make in fall and winter. You can cook it up in a crock pot or in a soup pot on the stove. I like the crock pot because I can walk away & let it cook and it won’t burn. If you don’t have a crock pot, you can almost always find them at thrift stores for $5 to $10.
Ingredients for winter squash soup:
- 1 large or 2 medium-sized winter squash (acorn, butternut, buttercup, hubbard, turban, pumpkin, etc.)
- 1 medium to large onion (any color)
- A few stalks of celery, with leaves
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 medium-sized apple
- 2 to 4 cloves of garlic
- Seasonings that work well include: salt, pepper, bouillon, sage, rosemary, paprika, cayenne, chipotle, grated ginger, curry powder
Optional ingredients:
- Hearty mushrooms, such as oyster mushrooms, chicken of the woods, wine caps or portobellos
- Sausage
- Corn
- Coconut milk / cream
Directions
- Cut squash in half length-wise if long, or horizontally through the middle if round. Scrape out the pulp and seeds, and save the seeds for roasting.
- Put squash cut side down in a baking pan and add a thin layer of water to the pan. Bake squash at 375 °F (190 °C) until soft (25-45 minutes depending on the squash). Remove from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle (or use a potholder).
- Scrape cooked flesh into crock pot or soup pot. Add 4 to 6 cups of hot water (or stock), and bouillon if using.
- Using an immersion blender, blend squash until smooth.
- Set crock pot to “high,” or soup pot to medium+.
- Chop up onions, carrots, garlic, celery, apple, mushrooms (if using) and sausage (if using) and add to pot.
- Add herbs and spices. Add more hot water if soup is too thick.
- Leave to cook for 1.5 – 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Serve soup with roasted squash / pumpkin seeds as a garnish. Other nice garnishes include scallions, tortilla strips, cilantro, goat cheese… check your pantry and use your imagination!
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