This recipe is so easy to make! This butternut squash, sweet potato, and red pepper soup looks and tastes amazing. I will definitely make this again. Yum! If you’re looking to keep it simple but still want to enjoy an elegant soup that combines great flavors, Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, and Red Pepper Soup is the bowl of comfort you’ve been searching for!
Roasted Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Soup
This spicy Roasted Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Soup has become my new fall favorite. Make it in under 45 minutes for a hearty meal (vegan, gluten-free).
About This Recipe
Roasted Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Soup is a healthy soup made using butternut squash, sweet potatoes, green apples, and a few more simple ingredients.
This soup is vegan and gluten-free and comes together in 45 minutes with hardly 10 minutes of active working time.
Serve it with crusty bread or croutons for a hearty fall or winter dinner. It is also a great Thanksgiving dinner favorite.
Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes & Butternut Squash – These two veggies are fall and winter favorites. Buy pre-cut squash and sweet potatoes to save time.
Green Apples – Green apples add a subtle sweetness and tang to the soup. Try it!
Oil – Extra virgin olive oil gives this soup a delicious flavor. You can replace it with avocado oil or light olive oil.
Spices – Warm spices like ground cloves, ground nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and black pepper powder make the soup taste even better.
Others – You will also need onions, garlic, and vegetable broth (vegetable stock).
You can also replace vegetable broth with chicken broth.
Add in a little heavy cream, sour cream or coconut milk for a taste change.
Curry powder, fresh ginger, parmesan cheese etc are also great additions to this butternut squash and sweet potato soup recipe.
How To Make Roasted Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Soup
Roast The Veggies
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Transfer 1 lb (500 g) peeled and cubed sweet potatoes, 1 lb (500 g) peeled and cubed butternut squash, 1 peeled and cubed green apple, 1 large onion (sliced), and 4-5 peeled garlic cloves to a large baking tray.
Tip – You can line the baking tray with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.
Drizzle with 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle 1 teaspoon salt over the veggies.
Keep the baking tray in the middle rack of the oven and roast the veggies for 35 minutes or longer, until the orange flesh is easily pierced through with a fork.
Remove the tray from the oven and let the veggies cool down for some time.
Blend The Roasted Veggies
Transfer the roasted veggies to a blender or a food processor along with 1 cup of water and blend to make a smooth paste.
You can also use a handheld immersion blender to puree the veggies.
Make The Soup
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil in a large pot or a dutch oven over medium heat.
Add the puree to the pot along with the 3 cups vegetable broth, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper powder, and stir well.
Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat to low.
Add some water if the soup is thick for your liking. Adjust salt and pepper and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Transfer the hot soup to serving bowls. Garnish with toasted pepitas and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper and serve hot.
Note – You can also top the soup with a drizzle of heavy cream, chopped herbs like parsley, tarragon, sage, or basil, toasted and chopped walnuts or pecans, goat cheese, pumpkin seeds, croutons, red pepper flakes, or roasted mushrooms.
Storage Suggestions
This creamy soup can be refrigerated in an air-tight container for 3 to 4 days. Reheat in a pan or microwave until nice and warm before serving. If it becomes a little thick while refrigerating, add in more vegetable broth or water and adjust the consistency while reheating.
It is freezer-friendly as well! It will last for about 3 months in the freezer if stored properly in a freezer-safe ziplock bag or a container. Thaw it on the counter and reheat it to serve.
Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
This Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup is the ultimate in Fall and Winter comfort food. Roasting the squash and potatoes add such a deep caramelized flavor that is just unbeatable! The soup is also freezer-friendly!
When I think of Fall, I think of football, Thanksgiving, chili, and amazing cozy soups.
Butternut squash and sweet potato soup are, in my mind anyway, the pinnacle of Fall flavors and coziness.
Sometimes sweet, sometimes savory, and sometimes a combination of both, this soup is perfect on a chilly evening!
Instead of just boiling the squash, I added sweet potato, carrot, onion and garlic and roasted them until golden brown. This adds such a depth of flavor to the soup, and really concentrates their natural sweetness.
Then they’re combined with perfectly sautéed vegetables, a combination of warm and savory spices, and rich chicken broth.
The simplicity makes this recipe easy to make, but don’t mistake that simplicity for lack of flavor. Each bite is a tango for your taste buds!
How to make squash and sweet potato soup?
This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
- Roast vegetables. This concentrates their flavor and adds an extra dimension to the soup.
- Saute vegetables. These diced vegetables are a standard flavor-base for any great soup (carrots, onion and celery).
- Add seasonings and roasted vegetables.
- Add chicken broth.
- Blend. An immersion blender is awesome here since you won’t have to transfer hot soup.
- Heat through and serve.
Helpful Tip!
When roasting the vegetables make sure you use a big enough baking sheet that they can be spread out in a single layer with a little bit of space in between them. Otherwise, the vegetables won’t roast and caramelize, they’ll steam. You really want that deep savory flavor that comes from golden brown edges.
Variations of this recipe
- All squash/all sweet potato – if you would prefer to use all butternut squash or all sweet potato, you absolutely can.
- Chicken bouillon – instead of chicken broth, feel free to use water and mix in 4-6 tsp of bouillon powder, or an equivalent amount of cubes or better than bouillon paste.
- Spicy – to add a little heat, feel free to add 1/4 – 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes.
- Toppings – I like to keep it simple with roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds), but you can add roasted chopped nuts (such as walnuts or pecans), croutons, Parmesan cheese, a drizzle of maple syrup, etc.
- Swirl – to get the beautiful swirl and drizzle of creaminess I show in most of these photos, heavy cream or sour cream can be used. For a non-dairy option, feel free to use coconut cream.
- Homemade croutons – store-bought croutons will absolutely work, but if you’d like a homemade version, try these olive oil and garlic croutons!
Making sweet potato soup ahead of time
Soups are one of those recipes that usually taste just as delicious, if not more, the next day. And this soup recipe is no exception!
You can either make the soup entirely ahead of time, cool, store and reheat as needed, or you can prep ahead.
- Roasted veggies – the squash, sweet potato, carrot, onion and garlic can be roasted, cooled completely, and stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.
- Chopping veggies – the carrot, onion and celery can be diced and stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.
Storage
Leftover soup should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eaten within 5-7 days.
Freezing
Add cooled soup to freezer containers, label them with the date, and freeze for 3-6 months.
This soup freezes best when no dairy has been added (no cream or sour cream on top).
Butternut Squash, Potato and Roasted Pepper Soup
A hearty and delicious soup thickened with potato and seasoned with roasted green chile peppers.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time4 hrs
Total Time4 hrs 30 mins
Course: Soups and Stews
Keyword: butternut squash, dinner, green chile peppers, lunch, potato, roasted, soup, winter
Servings: 6 -8 Servings
Calories: 709kcal
Ingredients
- 4 Anaheim or Poblano Peppers
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Butter
- 2 med onions chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 butternut squash peeled and cubed
- 4 Yukon Gold potatoes medium size
- 2 – 32 oz containers of chicken or vegetable stock
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ – 1 tsp ground adobo pepper or cayenne
- 2 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Sour cream avocado and grilled onions to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the broiler. Place the peppers under the heated broiler and cook them until the skin has turned dark brown; about 5 minutes per side. Watch closely.
- Remove the pepper and place into a paper bag, close the bag until they feel warm to the touch; about 5 minutes.
- Remove them from the bag and peel off the skin, remove the stem and remove the seeds if desired.
- Chop into large chunks and set aside.
- Melt the butter and olive oil in a medium size skillet. Add the chopped onions and cook on medium heat until translucent and nicely browned, 15-20 minutes. Do not cook too fast.
- Add the minced garlic in the last minute of cooking the onions and watch carefully; it should get cooked to a slight brown but no more…it can easily become bitter.
- Put the squash, potatoes, peppers and half of the onions into a crockpot with the stock, cumin, Lodo Red Adobo, salt and pepper.
- Cook on high heat for 4 hours or overnight on the lowest heat.
- Use a stick blender or regular blender to blend all of the ingredients together; return the soup to the pot.
- Season with salt, pepper and more of the Lodo Red Adobo if required.
- Add the rest of the grilled onions, holding out a couple of spoonfuls for garnish.
- Serve and garnish with sour cream, avocado, onion and sprinkle with the red pepper.
Notes
I liked having half of the onions added to the blended soup but if you prefer a totally creamy soup, add all but a bit for garnish to the crockpot when cooking the other ingredients.
Nutrition
Serving: 1grams | Calories: 709kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 58g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 25g | Cholesterol: 218mg | Sodium: 889mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 5g
FAQ’s
Is butternut squash soup vegan or vegetarian?
As written, it is neither. However it’s incredibly simple to swap 2 ingredients and make it either vegetarian or vegan. Change out the butter for coconut or olive oil, and instead of chicken broth, use vegetable broth.
How to cut butternut squash?
Wash the butternut squash and slice off ½ inch of top and bottom. Peel it using a vegetable peeler or a knife and cut it in half horizontally. Remove the seeds using your fingers or a spoon and dice the flesh into ½-inch cubes.
How to cut sweet potatoes?
Wash the sweet potatoes and discard the ½ inch of the tip from both sides using a sharp knife. Peel them using a vegetable peeler and dice them into ½-inch cubes.
Can I make this butternut squash soup in an instant pot?
Yes, you can. Roasting the veggies gives this soup a great depth of flavors but if you are in a hurry, you can cook the veggies in an instant pot. Just add the chopped veggies to an instant pot along with 1 cup of water. Press PRESSURE COOK and set the timer to 6 minutes at high pressure. Once the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Release the remaining pressure manually and open the lid. Blend the veggies using an immersion blender and add the remaining ingredients to the pot. Press SAUTE and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the soup comes to a boil. Serve hot.
Can pre-cubed or frozen butternut squash be used to make this soup?
Both can be used, with a couple of caveats. Pre-cubed squash is super convenient, but sometimes the pieces can be rather small. If you have small slivers in your bag of cubed squash, don’t use those, as they’ll burn in the oven. Frozen butternut squash will need to be thawed and patted dry before roasting. Otherwise the moisture released will just cause the squash to steam, not roast and caramelize.
Is sweet potato or squash soup sweet?
There are sweet versions, and savory versions. This recipe is a mixture of both. There’s no added sugar or sweetener, but the vegetables used have a natural sweetness. There’s also savory vegetables and spices used to balance it all out.