Served piping hot with a hunk of crusty bread, this creamy, nourishing butternut squash soup recipe is fall comfort food at its best.
My favorite fall tradition is making butternut squash soup on Sunday afternoons. On a brisk day, there’s nothing more soothing than chopping and simmering vegetables over a warm stove. As you cook, the kitchen fills with the cozy scent of sage, rosemary, and butternut squash, and when you’re finished, steaming bowls of butternut squash soup (that will last all week!) reward you for your work.
In the past, my go-to butternut squash soup recipe has included coconut milk and curry spices, but this fall, I found myself craving one that was a bit more traditional. When I say traditional, I don’t mean that I use chicken stock, heavy cream, or butter in this recipe. It’s a delicious, all-veggie healthy butternut squash soup with ginger, sage, and rosemary. This is basically fall in a bowl.
We’ve been loving this soup lately – it’s creamy and nourishing, perfect for satisfying cozy fall cravings. With only 10 ingredients, it’s easy to make, so cook a big batch today, and enjoy the soup all week long! Happy fall. 🙂
Butternut Squash Soup Recipe Ingredients
To make this easy butternut squash soup recipe, you need 10 simple ingredients:
- Butternut squash – This soup packs in 3 pounds of squash, so look for a medium-large one at the store or farmers market. If you don’t have a scale at home, I recommend weighing the squash when you buy it!
- Yellow onion and garlic – These veggies add delicious depth of flavor.
- Fresh sage and rosemary – I don’t reach for rosemary as often as some other fresh herbs, but I absolutely love it here. Along with the sage, it makes this soup cozy and complex.
- Ginger – Its warm flavor highlights the autumnal taste of the herbs and squash.
- Extra-virgin olive oil – 2 tablespoons add the perfect amount of richness.
- Vegetable broth – Because the blended squash becomes creamy on its own, there’s no need for dairy, coconut milk, or nuts here! With veggie broth as its base, this is a vegan butternut squash soup recipe.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper – Add them with the onion at the start of the cooking process, but make sure to taste and adjust at the end as well. That way, you’ll make a soup you really love!
Let’s cook!
First, chop the veggies! Sauté the onion until it becomes translucent, add the squash, and cook until it begins to soften. Then, stir in the herbs, garlic, and ginger. Pour in the broth and simmer until the squash becomes tender, about 20 minutes.
When the squash is soft, transfer the soup to a blender. Blend until the soup is vibrant orange and creamy. Finally, pour it into bowls, garnish with chopped parsley and pepitas, and enjoy!
What to Serve with Butternut Squash Soup
Enjoy this soup as a starter, side, or main dish. When I’m making it the center of a meal, I serve it with good crusty bread, homemade focaccia, avocado toast, or corn muffins and a simple veggie side or fall salad. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Simple Lemon Green Beans
- Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Zest
- Simple Roasted Beets
- Rainbow Kale Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing
- Shredded Brussels Sprout Salad
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Roasted Beet Salad
Alternatively, serve it as an appetizer with a hearty vegetarian main dish like Roasted Cauliflower Steaks, Vegan Meatball Sandwiches, Homemade Mac and Cheese, Sun Dried Tomato Pasta, or a grilled cheese sandwich!
If you love this butternut squash soup…
Try my miso soup, lentil soup, or vegetable soup next. Then, check out these 35 Best Soup Recipes for more soup inspiration!
Butternut Squash Soup
Equipment
- 5.5-Quart Dutch Oven (I personally use the Staub Cocotte)
- Blender (I've used my trusty Vitamix for years)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 (3-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
- ½ tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 3 to 4 cups vegetable broth
- Freshly ground black pepper
For serving
- Chopped parsley
- Toasted pepitas
- Crusty bread
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, salt, and several grinds of fresh pepper and sauté until soft, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the squash and cook until it begins to soften, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic, sage, rosemary, and ginger. Stir and cook 30 seconds to 1 minute, until fragrant, then add 3 cups of the broth. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the squash is tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Let cool slightly and pour the soup into a blender, working in batches if necessary, and blend until smooth. If your soup is too thick, add up to 1 cup more broth and blend. Season to taste and serve with parsley, pepitas, and crusty bread.
This soup is delicious!
I am considering making this for a dinner party. How does it compare to the sheet pan squash soup in your cookbook? Which one is better for a dinner party?
I wish you would have talked about substituting dried ingredients for the fresh ones. Like many people I don’t have the fresh sage and rosemary on hand and I substituted with an equal amount of dried not realising it would be way too much. Spent the last 40 minutes working on a soup that smells frankly disgusting.
Sounds like a chef problem to me. Just made this recipe to a T and it’s delicious.
I roasted the butternut squash and added leftover roasted chicken. I made my regular green salad.
It was a fantastic fall meal!
I love this soup. So simple and a nice combo of flavors.
For me, this wasn’t very good. It smelled great! Looked great! The taste? Not great. It was bland and lacked the slightly sweet finish one would associate with a butternut squash soup. We ended up eating something else completely.
I roast apple and onion with the squash. Instead of rosemary and sage, im not fond of them, i add turmeric cinnamon little pinch of cardamom and a swirl of half and half. Or not
Hi Bev, that sounds delicious.
The soup is tasty, however it lacked sweetness which I associate with butternut squash soup. I think I will make it next time but I will add some carrots.
I add carrots to this recipe for this very reason and it makes a difference !
When you say 3 pounds of butter but squash, that is after peeled and scooped? Right?
Hi Bobby, we mean the whole squash before peeling, etc! That way, you can weigh it when you’re shopping. That said, this soup should still come out well if you use a little more or a little less squash.
This turned out great! I also don’t use much rosemary & sage but this paired beautifully. I made a double batch as I had 2 butternut squash to use up. Only thing I altered was: I added 1/2 lemon pressed (jucie) to brighten up. And instead of using the olive oil I substituted with pumpkin seed oil which I also added another small splash for the garnish. Not everyone would have access to pumpkin seed oil but it’s my favorite oil pairing for any sweeter style fall soups with squashes or root vegetables.
Thank you for this recipe. Ive saved it to make again!
Yes
I followed your recipe but my blender exploded and sprayed hot butternut squash napalm all over me, my kitchen walls, and ceiling. Could you please add a disclaimer to this reminding to let it cool a bit before blending in order to prevent this disaster from happening to any other poor souls? Soup > Scars 🥲
Hi Georgia, I’m so sorry to hear that! I hope you’re doing ok!
I don’t think this deserves a 1 star. I feel like you should know how to use a blender . Not the recipes fault or the lady’s fault.just saying
Why does it recommend a blender over an immersion blender? I wouldn’t know that.
To be fair, way more people own a regular blender than an immersion blender
The Vitamin (if that’s what you used) does a fine job with cold and hot. However one must understand hot means steam, means pressure. Add less soup to allow for expansion and remove the smaller screw in cap at the top. Grab a kitchen towel and partially cover while blending making sure hot ingredients are not near the very top. The “explosion” is user error not recipe issue
Correct
This recipe is Amazing!!
I added shredded Rotisserie chicken to it to add protein and it was so good!
I add half a granny smith apple (cubes) toward the end of cooling the onion, and omit sage and rosemary. Clean and bright!
This soup was AMAZING! However, it is nicer to use shallots in this recipe rather than onions. And I like to cook the butternut squash WHOLE for 2 hours, then let it cool, and its so easy to cut into, scoop the seeds out, and then blend it and add the rest of the ingredients, and simmer for 20 minutes to bring it all together. Wayyy easier than trying to cut up the squash raw!
So how many shallots did you use? I’m getting ready to make this for a quick dinner after an afternoon of yard work
Can I use chicken broth in place of vegetable?
Excellent! Next time, I am going to try roasting the squash and scooping the pulp instead of peeling and cubing it. Used a hand blender, it works fine.
Trying to use up a bunch of CSA veggies and this recipe was top notch. So yummy with a crusty baguette.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Thank you for this easy to make, delicious recipe! My family loved it, and it’s all gone! For my fam of 5, I need to double the batch so next time we have leftovers!!
I’m so glad you loved it!