Butternut Squash Soup

Served piping hot with a hunk of crusty bread, this creamy, nourishing butternut squash soup recipe is fall comfort food at its best.

Butternut squash soup

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

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!

Butternut squash

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.

Butternut squash soup recipe Vegan butternut squash soup

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!

Butternut squash soup

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:

Alternatively, serve it as an appetizer with a hearty vegetarian main dish like Roasted Cauliflower SteaksVegan Meatball Sandwiches, Homemade Mac and CheeseSun Dried Tomato Pasta, or a grilled cheese sandwich!

Butternut squash soup

If you love this butternut squash soup…

Try my ginger miso soup, curried lentil soup, or many-veggie soup next, or check out this post for more of my favorite soup recipes!

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Butternut Squash Soup

rate this recipe:
4.99 from 1622 votes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Serves 6
This vegan butternut squash soup is the ultimate fall comfort food! Store it in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to a few months.

Equipment

Ingredients

For serving

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.

 

965 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it)




  1. Stephanie
    10.14.2021

    5 stars
    I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, and so now I finally have the time.

    This is hands-down my favorite Butternut Squash Soup recipe as it’s SAVORY not sweet like soooo many Butternut Squash Soups out there.

    It’s the closest I’ve ever found to the Campbells/V8 Butternut Squash Soup that I practically LIVED off of one winter.

    I do tweak it a little, though I keep it vegetarian, and I like to add finely diced Yukon gold potatoes for a subtle texture.

    So damn good!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.15.2021

      I’m so glad you loved it!

  2. Steve
    10.13.2021

    5 stars
    I’ve done pretty much this exact recipe before several times. I’ve substituted canola for the ev oil so I can get the pan hotter to sauté the onion and at the end added maybe 2 tsp. Ev oil just for the taste. One way to really kick it up is to put in a little coconut milk maybe a quarter cup. Also a teaspoon of turmeric makes it really almost Indian also a half cup of cooked rice in this and it becomes a whole meal.

  3. Lark
    10.13.2021

    I am making this soup now, and it’s taking much longer than I expected. I’ll update after we try it – but is there a trick to peeling the squash? The combo of peeling & chopping it nocked me out. 😅

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.14.2021

      Hi Lark, you could look for pre-cubed squash in the produce section, that would save you the step!

    • Gail Cooley
      10.14.2021

      Cook your squash in three crock pot with a couple cups of water then let it cool peel away the peel and add to soup pot

    • Maggie
      10.17.2021

      Not sure if this will help, but I cut the two larger bell ends of the squash first and then peeled the three smaller parts. It helped make cutting it into cubes a lot easier.

  4. Noree
    10.13.2021

    5 stars
    So so good! One of my new favorite soup recipes!

  5. Melissa
    10.12.2021

    5 stars
    I made this this morning and it’s so easy to make! I really enjoy this gorgeous, yummy soup! It’s just as good this way as well as the soup with the cream.

    Makes me think twice about buying canned or carton soup now!!

  6. Stacy
    10.11.2021

    Rarely do I write reviews but absolutely had to in this case. This soup is INSANELY DELISH! The combination of sage, ginger and rosemary were a perfect marriage for this squash soup, (and I looked around A LOT.) Thank you for posting this over-the-top Butternut Squash recipe! Printed and it is a keeper. PS – I also fried some sage leaves and arranged on top with a sprinkle of hot red pepper.

  7. Andrew Hampton
    10.11.2021

    5 stars
    Fantastic first time trying to make soup 🍲 delicious 😋 and can freeze some

  8. George
    10.09.2021

    Is it 3lbs after peeling and removing seeds or before?

    • Debbie
      10.09.2021

      5 stars
      This is my favorite recipe. Its currently simmering on the stove as we speak. I love it garnished with dried cranberries and roasted pepitas. When butternut squash is not in season 3 bags of organic butternut squash from Whole Foods works in a pinch.

      • Nick
        10.11.2021

        5 stars
        I swapped the vegetable broth with chicken broth (4 cups) initial poor. After the soup cooks down for 30 minutes. Puree the soup then add 1 cup more broth to get a good consistency.

        Add half a can of full fat coconut milk

        Add 1/4 tsp cayenne powder

        1 tap salt

        Cracked pepper to tatse

        The perfect soup!

  9. George
    10.08.2021

    Quick question…is it 3lbs squash AFTER peeling and removing seeds or before? I picked up a 5.8lb squash and trying to understand if I should double the recipe or if it is 3lbs after peeling and removing seeds then I should be good.

    • Katherine
      10.09.2021

      I have similar size squash and I am going to double the recipe . I think 3 lb is the weight of the whole squash. Hope I’m not wrong as I am making it right now.

  10. J
    10.07.2021

    Very yummy! I decided to roast the squash and the garlic. Great recipe!

  11. Mrs. A.
    10.07.2021

    Thinking of adding full fat coconut milk at the end. Thoughts?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.07.2021

      I think it would be great!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.07.2021

      Hi, we recommend doing it 1 day in advance (haven’t tried 2). These are our instructions that we listed up in the post: Make it ahead! You can make this green bean casserole up to a day in advance. Bake the crispy onions, blanch the green beans, and make the sauce. Then, assemble the casserole with the sauce and the green beans, cover, and refrigerate until just before serving. Store the crispy onions separately at room temperature. When you’re ready to eat, layer on the crispy onions, and proceed with the recipe, baking the casserole until it’s heated through.

      Hope that helps!

  12. Cindy
    10.05.2021

    5 stars
    This was delicious! It was great to ind a recipe for squash soup that uses savory flavors instead of the usual maple/honey/brown sugar. I used dried sage instead of fresh, worked just as well I think. I also used a ton more garlic (around 15 cloves) because we love garlic. Will be making this for Thanksgiving!

  13. Kim
    10.05.2021

    This is absolutely delicious!! Do you happen know the amount of calories it is?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.06.2021

      Hi Kim, I don’t count calories, but you could plug the ingredients into a site like my fitness pal.

    • Lex
      10.06.2021

      5 stars
      I just put this into MyFitnessPal! It is 160 calories per serving (6). 5g fat, 30g carb, 4g protein.

  14. Jackie Messinger
    10.03.2021

    5 stars
    Lovely soup!!

  15. Hessa B
    10.02.2021

    5 stars
    Made this recipe as it called for! Amazing. I did add cinnamon and more salt – I like the whole season of fall in my mouth lol. Very easy recipe to follow!

  16. Jessica
    09.29.2021

    5 stars
    My mind is blown! What a wonderful recipe. Thank you!

  17. Kim
    09.28.2021

    5 stars
    Made this last night, and it was really great! Great depth of flavour. I used red onion since that’s all I ever have in my cupboard, and it was delish! Thank you!

  18. Brenda
    09.27.2021

    5 stars
    I love trying different versions of butternut squash soup. I was disappointed that my grocery store had no fresh sage so used dried and it was fine. My little added touch was to drizzle Sriracha sauce on top which looked pretty and gave a nice little kick. Great easy recipe.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.27.2021

      Hi Brenda, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

    • Leslie L.
      09.29.2021

      5 stars
      Thanks for sharing this, super delicious!

  19. Isaac
    09.21.2021

    5 stars
    I was SHOCKED when I finished this dish, it was so incredibly tasty, and so easy to make! I was so proud of my soup. It’s so tasty! I’ll be making it to take to future family holiday events.
    Can’t recommend this recipe enough!

  20. VP8
    09.20.2021

    how to adjust the ingredients to make this 2 servings instead of 6?

    • yo
      09.22.2021

      divide all measurements by three

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.24.2021

      Hi, it’s easiest to make the whole recipe and freeze the extras!

    • Gail
      10.02.2021

      Freeze what’s left

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.