Butternut squash is a staple in my house. Making this creamy butternut squash soup is an every day dinner for us and usually there's leftovers for at least one lunch. It's a great cold weather recipe that is mild but delicious using only a few ingredients that's easy to make. With bone broth and coconut milk, it's loaded with good-for-you calories and much needed winter warming carbs.
How to Make Creamy Butternut Squash Soup
This butternut squash is creamy and delicious and so easy to make. It's perfect for those cold weather days and filling for the hungriest of bellies. This soup recipe is paleo and AIP friendly and packed full of all kinds of yummy goodness.
Butternut squash is a staple in any grain free diet because it's loaded with carbs. Couple that with coconut milk and you have yourself a calorie packed meal even for a grown man. I like to add rice to this recipe for an even higher calorie count. My 6'4″ husband needs more than meat and salad to sustain weight while following the AIP diet… butternut squash soup to the rescue!
No Instant Pot? No Problem!
I made my soup in my Instant Pot. Don't worry if you don't have one, or a pressure cooker at all. It's just an easy way to make a quick soup. You can make this soup in a pot on the stove, a pot in the oven or a slower cooker. The key is broth, veggies, seasoning… cook until veggies are soft, then blend together in a blender. After making this recipe, if you think you'd love an Instant Pot too, go buy one! Here's a whole list of Instant Pots on Amazon for you to check out.
Cooking with Butternut Squash
I like to buy whole, fresh and hopefully organic produce. Organic isn't always easy, but fresh is usually readily available. Butternut squash is a hardly winter squash that can be found available at a variety of grocers and usually comes in a few sizes. This recipe is based on a medium sized, single squash.
You can also find butternut squash in the freezer aisle, pre-chopped and many times with extra ingredients, ready to cook. Or sometimes in the produce, pre-prepped section already chopped up, also ready to cook.
This is a bear of a squash to prep. it's similar to cutting a pumpkin. It's dense and tough to get through the skin, so if you have a hard time cutting, just roast the whole thing or find a pre-prepped version.
About Paleo and AIP friendly in this recipe
I added this label because this soup is a goto with my family for our healthy diet and all the restrictions of AIP. The bone broth adds much needed nutrients for a healthy meal and the coconut milk adds a creamy texture, a bit of sweet with no issues for dairy or lactose sensitive diets. If you want a lighter calorie meal, just take out the coconut milk. It's still a delicious soup, just less creamy and definitely less calories (about 800, seriously!). If you need a few more calories, add a tablespoon or two of your favorite oil (olive and coconut are our faves).
If you prefer vegan options, just replace the bone broth with a vegetable broth and you should be good to go.
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut squash cut into cubes, about 4 cups
- 16 oz Bone broth (sub with veggie broth for a vegan soup)
- 2 cups Carrots – chopped
- 1 White onion chopped
- 1 TBS Garlic – minced
- 1 8oz can of coconut milk (1 cup)
- Seasoning – varies by preference
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 tps Thyme
- 1 TBS Simply Organic Adobo Seasoning
Brand preferences
I'm pretty picky about the foods we use, especially if I'm trying to make them AIP compliant. Here are my favorites for this recipe. I use each of these quite a bit for all kinds of recipes.
- Pacific Organic Bone Broth – Chicken Unsalted – this also comes in single servings we travel with.
- Native Forest Unsweetened Simple Organic Coconut milk – it's only coconut and water!
- Simply Organic Adobe seasoning – It's a scrumptious blend without chili peppers. (I love all their seasonings)
Instructions
- Roast the butternut squash. Cut into 4 pieces, scoop out seeds, place in casserole or baking dish, lightly season. Roast for about 1 hour at 350 degrees. The squash should be easy to stick with a fork when done, but not mushy.
- Remove skin from squash, cut into large cubes/chunks.
- sauté onions and a little oil in the Instant Pot. I use about 1 TBS or so of oil, it doesn't have to be exact. You just want the flavor of the onion to add to your soup.
- Add broth, carrots, onions, garlic and squash to your Instant Pot. Stir in seasonings. If you prefer lighter flavors, cut seasoning amounts in half, you can always add in more later.
- Set Instant Pot to “soup” and then start.
- Put all ingredients into a blender (you might need to do this twice, depending on the size of your blender). Blend on high for 1 minute.
- Pour mixture back into to the Instant Pot, set to sauté. Stir in coconut milk. Add additional seasoning to taste. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Top with a little bit of parsley just to make it look pretty for your IQ pictures ~ wink.
Tips: you can skip roasting the squash if you are in a rush. If you have pre-prepped squash, just throw it in the pot with everything else and add 5 more minutes to your Instant Pot time. You might need to test it out to make sure the squash is tender before blending. Chunky squash soup is not delicious.
Make it your own – You can adjust this soup for your own taste and preferences. Add more carrots for a bit sweeter flavor or remove them all together for a hardy squash flavor. Add a little spice with some chili power. Or how about a cup of rice for extra carbs and filling texture.
More Delicious Soup Recipes to try
I'm joining in with some friends from around the internet to share all kinds of soup recipes with you today. Take a look below, visit them all and save your favorites! Happy eating, my friend.
- Neckbone Stew – Houseful of Nicholes
- Sweet Potato + Black Eyed Peas Stew – This Worthey Life
- Easy Creamy Tomato Soup – Big Crazy Life
- Slow Cooker Beef & Vegetable Stew – Ashley & Company
- Sweet Potato Carrot Soup – Someday I'll Learn
- Corn Chowder Soup – Day By Day In Our World
- Super Simple Cauliflower Soup – Good Girl Gone Redneck
- 20-Minute Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup – Life of A Ginger
- Creamy Bechnut Squash Soup – 100 Directions
- Pasta e Fagioli – More Than Thursdays
- Easy One Pot Lasagna Soup – Mama Harris' Kitchen
- Super Easy Egg Drop Soup – Eat Picks
- Jonah's Float A Seafood Soup – food:life:love
- Instant Pot Chili – SimplifyLiveLove
- Easy Gumbo Recipe – Divas With A Purpose
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup – My Crafty Life
- Haitian Soup Joumou – Squash Soup
Looking for more Paleo or AIP recipes? I love all the delicious creations over at Autoimmune Wellness and their cookbook is gorgeous!
I hope you try ALL of these delicious soups. Let me know which is your favorite, of course it's the butternut squash soup, right? I'd love to hear if you add your own twist to it, stop back by and let me know!
