Butternut Squash Potato Soup
Why Does Everyone Love This Soup
Fall season is a time for some of the best vegetables. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, and squash to name a few. There are so many variations of each one of those vegetables, we’ll never even see them all at the store.
I’m a simple girl, I tend to go for the basics. Butternut squash, pumpkin, and acorn squash are my three favorite ones. When it comes to taste, acorn squash is a more savory out of the three, pumpkin is a little sweeter, and butternut squash is the sweetest one.
This flavor combination of a little sweetness from butternut squash with potatoes is very pleasant in this soup. These vegetables make it very comforting on cooler days.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
Butternut squash – this type of winter squash has a slight sweetness to it and it balances beautifully with the hearty potatoes. If you want less sweetness in the soup, I would recommend acorn squash.
Potatoes – I would recommend using either gold potatoes of Idaho potatoes for the soup.
Heavy whipping cream – this is a great ingredient to add rich creaminess to the soup. If you don’t have any available, you can use half and half but nothing with less fat. To increase the richness of the soup, you can stir in a couple of tablespoons of sour cream or plain Green yogurt.
Cheese – I absolutely love using sharp cheddar cheese because it gives the soup more flavor. If you wish, you can use mild cheese instead.
How To Make Butternut Squash Potato Soup: Step by Step and Tips
- Mise en place: always start with prepping your ingredients first, otherwise you’d be frantically trying to peel and chop while that pot is burning.
Expert tip on working with butternut squash: cut it in half (lengthwise) first, before starting to peel. It’s pretty slippery to trying to cut it after it’s peeled, could result in an injury. It’s a lot more sturdy when cut in half, so it will be easy to hold and peel and then chop.
- Once your veggies are chopped, start cooking onions first and then adding garlic and finally squash and potatoes last. I always let my vegetables sauté until golden brown because that will add more flavor to the soup. To get the golden sear, don’t stir and disturb the veggies too much.
- When the veggies got some sear, pour in the broth but just enough to so they are all covered. Too much liquid will result in a runnier soup.
- Add the seasoning and let the soup simmer on medium-low heat until veggies are fork-tender. And that’s exactly how you’d check, just poke them with a fork to make sure they are very tender.
- Time to blend! Take out bay leaf first, it is NOT pleasant blended into the soup. You can transfer the soup into a heat-proof blender or use an immersion blender. Just make sure the soup is blended smooth with no chunks.
- Once blended, just stir in the cream and grated cheese and stir until cheese is blended. That’s it, the soup is done!
Variations and Additions to Try
Cheeses – you can always bump up the cheese flavor by using another softer cheese with rich flavor. If you want to use parmesan cheese, make sure it’s freshly grated off the block because it will melt better.
Bacon – you can always cook some bacon separately and then stir in some crunchy bacon pieces into the soup or add some on top.
Other root vegetables – you can also add carrots, yuka, or parsnips to this soup.
Vegan option – to make sure soup creamy without using dairy, use unsweetened coconut cream (NOT cream of coconut). I hear cashew cheese or cashew puree can substitute cheese, although I have not tried it myself.
Can I Freeze This Soup?
Technically, yes, you can freeze this soup but I have a couple of recommendations and warnings.
- If you plan to freeze it, make the soup without adding cream of cheese, cool it completely, and freeze in freezer bags or freezer containers. Thaw slowly, in the refrigerator, for up to 24 hours.
- Add the cream and cheese while reheating the soup.
- Note that the texture will change slightly. Potatoes tend to change texture after freezing and thawing so it may affect overall texture of the soup.
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Butternut Squash Potato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 medium butternut squash
- 2 large gold potatoes
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 cups vegetable broth just enough to cover the veggies
- 1 tsp paprika
- salt to taste
- 1/4-1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper to taste
- 1 small bay leaf
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 oz cheddar cheese sharp or mild
Optional Toppings:
- sour cream or Greek yogurt
- chives
- croutons
- parsley
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients first, before starting to cook: peel the squash and scoop out the seeds and membrane. Chop it into small cubes. Peel and chop potatoes and onion. Peel and smash the garlic cloves.Expert tip: don't worry to much about keep the cubes uniform since this soup will be blended.
- Preheat the soup pot over medium heat and add butter. Once melted, add onion and sauté until it starts to get golden brown.
- Add smashed garlic in the middle and let it sear until fragrant.
- Add potatoes and butternut squash, mix, and let it cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add just enough broth to cover the veggies. Stir in the seasoning and bay leaf. Cook until veggies are fully cooked and tender, about 20 minutes. (Time may vary depending on how small you cut potatoes and squash.)
- Take the bay leaf out before blending and discard!
- Slowly transfer content of the pot into a heat proof blender or a heat proof food processor, make sure to crack the lid to let the steam out. Blend well and transfer back into the pot.
- Add the heavy whipping cream and grated cheese. Stir until all blended. Be careful here, the soup may bubble and splash when it starts to heat up. Keep the temperature on medium-low and slowly stir until the cheese is melted.
- Take off heat and serve as you wish! My favorite way is with a dollop of sour cream and croutons.
Notes
- Gluten free note: this soup recipe is gluten free but always double check the packaging of your ingredients.
- Storing: store leftovers in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator, for 3-4 days.
- Reheating: you can simply reheat individual portions in the microwave, in 30 second increments, stirring in between. Or, you can reheat in a small pot over medium heat on the stove.
Nutrition
More Comforting Soups To Try
This recipe was originally posted on Will Cook For Smiles on October 6, 2012.
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Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I made this vegan by leaving out the cheese and adding 1/2 cup of coconut milk instead of the cream. Also added a tablespoon of chili garlic paste for some spice. It was delicious and really quick and easy to make!
That sounds absolutely delicious! I love how you made it vegan with coconut milk and the chili garlic paste is such a great idea for a kick of heat. Thanks so much for sharing your version, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Made this and the family has clamored for it every week since. I have an onion/garlic alergy so swapped in a little dry mustard.
I love hearing that! I am so glad they like it!
Great tasting soup that my husband now loves! Wants me to can some, but can’t find the times…is it a standard 90 minutes and do you leave out the heavy cream until you reheat? Thanks alot for this!
Recipe doesn’t instruct when to add the bay leaf. Just 8nforming you, do you have all the information.
*Recipe doesn’t instruct when to add the bay leaf. Just informing you, so you have all the information.
I doubled up the recipe and made this with some slight modifications, where I oven baked the butternut squash and then threw the baked squash in with the potatoes and broth to cook down together. At about two thirds of the way through immersion blending I added a bulb of oven roasted garlic instead of adding the garlic in woth the veggies, a dash of cayenne pepper for some subtle heat, and about a teaspoon of truffle oil and the result came out wonderfully warm and cozy. Perfect for the fall and winter seasons. This soup is plenty good on its own but is a great addition as a side to other dishes. I’ve added this recipe to my rotation amd I recommend others add it to theirs as well.
Glad you like it, Erin! Thanks for stopping by to let me know!
Excellent soup!! Great with beer bread!
Thanks, Kate! So happy you enjoyed it!
We enjoyed this! I’m not a huge soup person but I had a butternut squash and potatoes laying around waiting to be used so this was perfect! Paired it with some herb roasted chicken and brussels and broccoli! Thank you!
tries the soups and loved them
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you 🙂
great recipies
Made the soup last night and it was delicious and so easy!
I’m so happy you liked it!! Thank you 🙂