Butternut Squash Soup Recipe and Figuring Out Picky Eaters

If you’re looking for autumn in a bowl, this butternut squash soup recipe is just for you. We’ve brought it up from the archives, with a few updates, and I just have to share that my husband now happily eats squash and even lets me buy it!

This gorgeous butternut squash soup recipe uses affordable and seasonal ingredients, and is super healthy with no heavy cream, and a small amount of butter. Plus it’s a one pot dish!

FIGURING OUT FEEDING PICKY EATERS

I’ve mentioned before that my husband doesn’t let me buy squash. If it comes in our CSA or is given to us then he’ll let me force him to eat it. But I’m not allowed to spend money on squash. In fact last year for our CSA he tried to convince me to just throw the squash away! But it’s been fun coming up with squash recipes that he will actually eat without complaint. Typically his response is, “It’s fine. It’s still squash though.”

My feeling aren’t hurt, don’t worry. I see his food aversions as a challenge. I always tell my cooking class participants that if someone doesn’t like what you cooked for them, it doesn’t mean you’re a bad cook (well usually). It means that there is something about that specific recipe they don’t like. Maybe it’s the texture, maybe it’s the flavor of one ingredient, maybe it’s the combination of two ingredients, or the arrangement of the food. When you start studying the things they say they don’t like, you can learn to adapt recipes to suit their taste.

Eric’s not really a picky eater. Since I started cooking for him over 4 years ago his tastes have definitely become more discriminating, in fact there are a lot of things he won’t eat now because he’s gotten used to eating healthy flavorful food made from whole ingredients. But there are a few things he doesn’t like and two of them are squash and pureed soups. That of course just added to the challenge of coming up with a creamy butternut squash soup recipe that wouldn’t make him feel like he was eating baby food.

HOW I CREATED THIS BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP RECIPE

This butternut squash soup recipe stats with an onion, because that’s always a good base for any vegetable soup. Red onion tastes fine, but will give the soup a muddy color, so I recommend a yellow onion. A couple thin skinned white potatoes thicken the soup and make it nice and creamy. If you want a low carb butternut squash soup recipe, just skip the potatoes, it still tastes great.

I used my homemade vegetable stock for the broth base, but you can use store bought stock as well.

Fresh orange juice and zest add a bright flavor to the butternut squash soup. We tend to use clementines as they are always on sale in Washington this time of year.

Once everything had cooks and softens, and the squash looks like gorgeous chunks of peaches, you can puree the soup with an immersion blender. Then start tasting your soup to add the seasonings.

I love tasting to add salt, because it never fails to amaze me how much just a little salt can bring out the flavors of a dish.

I had originally planned to use spicy seasoning like cayenne and paprika in the soup, but once I tasted it my tongue immediately craved nutmeg and ginger. After adding again I also thought it needed a little allspice for an earthy sweetness.

Once I had the soup perfect I needed to figure out how to get Eric to eat it. There needed to something in it to chew on so that he didn’t get the baby food feeling with each bite.

First I tried pomegranate seeds, and though I loved the surprising burst of pomegranate juice to wash down every bite of soup, it was too weird for Eric.

Next I tried dried cranberries, talk about hitting the nail on the head!!! The dried cranberries made the soup bright and cheerful, like a surprising sunny day in the midst of our cold rainy weather.

Eric LOVED the soup! I paired it with a simple toasted sandwich of whole wheat bread, turkey pastrami and sharp cheddar. We both thought it was the best meal we’ve had recently.

It was also the biggest hit in cooking class yesterday! All in all I think this is the best soup recipe I’ve ever made. It’s so perfect for this fall weather and warms me inside and out. Oh and just for fun, if you’re looking for a grown up Halloween party recipe you can even decorate the soup with a sour cream spiderweb.

If you’ve never used butternut squash before, check out my post on how to prepare butternut squash. I’ve also got lots of healthy soup recipes to get you through the cold weather this season!

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Butternut Squash Soup Recipe and Figuring Out Picky Eaters

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Butternut Squash Soup Makes 5-7 servings

Ingredients

• 3 TBS butter
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 med white thin skinned potatoes, diced, or other potatoes peeled
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
• cup ¼ orange juice, I used seasonal clementines
• 1 TBS orange zest, used clementines as well
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tsp ½ kosher salt
• tsp ¼ fresh ground pepper
• tsp ¼ all spice
• tsp ¼ fresh ground nutmeg
• tsp ¼ ground ginger
• cup ½ dried cranberries

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large pot on medium, then add the onion. Stir to coat the onion in the butter and let cook 3 minutes until it starts to soften. Add the diced potatoes and squash and stir again. Let cook another 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so.
2. Add orange juice, zest and vegetable stock. Stir and cover the pot. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Use an immersion blender (make sure it’s submerged, this soup is like napalm!) to blend the vegetables into a nice thick and creamy soup. Once blended, add salt pepper and spices, tasting as you go.
4. Ladle soup into individual mugs or bowls and sprinkle with dried cranberries (pomegranate seeds are fun too!).
5. Approximate cost/serving: Squash is so affordable in the fall and early winter, and using cuties is cheaper as well because they’re in season. The whole recipe cost me around $5 to make. It easily fed 7 people with some bread on the side so just 71 cents a serving!
6. Vegetarian/Gluten Free: Yes on both counts, although I’ve heard some store bought broths can contain wheat so you’re much safer (and cheaper) using homemade vegetable stock. Can be made a vegan recipe by using olive oil in place of butter.