I'm over the cold. Ready for spring and summer. But seeing as how the entire country and many parts of the world are not cooperating with my 80 degree weather requests, I'm upping the ante on soups with this game changing Butternut Squash Carrot Soup!
I've spent the last few days in Seattle which is basically like being in the freezer. I can't even text my fingers are so numb. Clearly this California girl doesn't handle anything below 60 degrees well. But what to do when there's a major chill in the air and you're hungry? Obviously Butternut Squash Carrot Soup with a big fat piece of garlic bread is the answer!
But this soup isn't just any soup, it's a combination of some of my favorite fall veggies like butternut squash, carrots, red bell peppers, garlic and shallots that all get roasted for almost an hour! Then it's into the soup they go with milk or heavy cream or coconut milk if you're going for the vegan style! (and while I couldn't ever be fully vegan, because we all know I love cheese, this soup with coconut milk is out of this world)
Serve it up alongside a warm and toasty piece of my famous herby garlic bread and it's pure perfection. I mean, give me a spoon and this could be lunch or dinner on any given night!
Butternut Squash, Carrot and Pepper Soup
Ingredients
For the Soup:
- 2 medium butternut squash sliced in half and seeds scooped out
- 2 large carrots chopped into large pieces
- 1 red bell pepper halved and seeds removed
- 1 head garlic
- 1 shallot halved and skin removed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup milk or coconut milk
- 2-4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoons red pepper flakes
For the Garlic Bread:
- 1 16- ounce loaf of Italian bread or French bread
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened
- 2 large cloves of garlic smashed and chopped
- 1 heaping tablespoon of freshly chopped basil
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
For the soup:
- Preheat oven to 425
- Place the halves of squash on a large baking sheet with the carrot, bell pepper, garlic and shallot and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, roast for for 50-60 minutes until the squash is fork tender.
- Once cooked, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Scoop out the insides of the butternut squash and discard the skins. Transfer all the vegetables to a high powered blender and add the liquids and red pepper flakes. Start with 2 cups of stock and puree for 2-3 minutes until completely smooth. If you want a thinner soup, add more stock until it reaches the desired consistency. Transfer the liquids back into a pot and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper and serve as needed with a side of garlic bread.
For the garlic bread:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cut the bread in half, horizontally. Mix the butter, garlic, and basil together in a small bowl. Spread butter mixture over the the two bread halves. Place on a sturdy baking pan and heat in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over bread if you want. Return to oven on the highest rack. Broil on high heat for 2-3 minutes until the edges of the bread begin to toast and the cheese bubbles. Watch very carefully while broiling.
- Remove from oven, let cool a minute, slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe by What’s Gaby Cooking
Made this soup over the weekend and loved it. My husband loved it too. It's fabulous - just make it!
How do you prep the garlic?
I am a new follower and I made this soup last night and it was delicious!!! Even tasted great before I
added the milk!!! Will definitely be making again!!
I cannot wait to try this. When you roast the squash, is the cut side up or down? Thanks.
either or!
I made this all the way in Tanzania, and it was delicious. I craved a little more spice, might add a little more of the chilli flakes.
First off I should note that I forget that Gaby likes a lot of kick/heat to her dishes. My husband and I are mild/medium heat lovers. I can handle a little more zip than my husband. I did reduce the teaspoon of red pepper flakes to a scant less, but obviously I should have gone with 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. Don’t get me wrong, it’s delicious, smooth and has a nice warmth on the back side that I can tolerate but not sure my husband can or will. Maybe the bread will help for him Haven’t tried that yet as I’m just having it for my lunch with a spinach salad since it just finished cooking. Overall this recipe is soooooo much better than my old butternut squash soup recipe that if I ever find it I’m throwing it out. Everything I make from Gaby’s webpage or her latest book is always a winner.
We had this soup last week from squash from our garden. It was fantastic, the whole family loved it and asked when I would be making it again..... we had lots of butternut in the garden 🙂
this sounds delicious- two questions: 1. do you remove the skin of the squash before roasting? and 2. do you face the squash on the rounded side or the cut-in half side? Thanks!
1: no you do not, the skins are removed in step 3
2: either way works, I prefer it cut side up so it caramelizes a bit more