Curry Butternut Squash Soup
Here’s a simple and delicious curry butternut squash soup recipe with warm curry spice and creamy coconut. It’s rich and velvety but remains healthy and nourishing. It will warm you up from the inside out!
I originally shared this recipe on December 9th, 2014. I have updated the text and improved the recipe to share it with you again today.
Table of contents
- Why We Love This Recipe for Curry Butternut Squash Soup
- Ingredients For This Curry Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
- Step-By-Step Instructions
- FAQ and Expert Tips For Curried Squash Soup
- Variations to Try
- What Goes With Curried Butternut Squash Soup?
- Meal Prep, Storage, Leftovers and Reheating
- Other Clean Eating Recipes
- More Butternut Squash Recipes
Why We Love This Recipe for Curry Butternut Squash Soup
I’m going to say it: I am obsessed with this recipe! This curry coconut butternut squash soup is so flavorful and creamy, even though it is completely vegan. While the flavors will certainly satisfy your tastebuds, this soup is honest, clean, nourishing food. I love cooking with squash, so when I had a chance to develop a healthy butternut squash soup, I jumped on it. I wanted to create a recipe that would allow this delicious squash to shine! Enter: soup.
Recipe Highlights
- No peeling the squash! This little slacker tip will help you save prep time. Normally I peel, seed, and then cube squash, but with this creamy soup, you don’t have to.
- Bold flavors
- Eating it just makes you feel good – comfort food without making you feel sluggish
Ingredients For This Curry Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
- Butternut Squash: I made this the first time with a four-pound butternut squash. Just cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and set it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I roasted it until it was soft. It gets pureed anyway, so why bother cubing it? The second time I made it I used a buttercup squash, and it was equally delicious and had great depth of flavor. Just scoop the soft squash out of the skin and you’re ready to go.
- Vegetable Stock: You can use store bought vegetable broth, or you can try homemade – our recipe for vegetable stock is foolproof and will give you a delicious, hearty bowl of warm soup
- Onion and Curry: I sautéed the onion and curry in a dutch oven. I have to say, taking the time to caramelize the onions a touch and to bloom the curry in the oil makes all the difference when you’re cooking with clean, simple ingredients.
- Lemon: Add just enough lemon to brighten up the flavors! It balances the creamy sweetness.
- Coconut Milk: I was going to add cashew cream to make it extra creamy, but I went with the slacker route again and just poured in a can of organic light coconut milk. You can use cashew cream if you’d like, but I love the way the coconut pairs with the curry.
- Kitchen Staples: Avocado Oil (or Coconut Oil), Vegetable Broth, Kosher Salt, Black Pepper
- Fresh Cilantro: Fresh cilantro is great for a garnish but if you do not like the taste, you can simply omit
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Roast Butternut Squash
Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay your squash cut-side down on the parchment and bake it until the flesh is very tender when pierced with a sharp knife, which should take about 1 hour. Turn the squash so the cut side is up and let it cool until it’s cool enough to handle, which should be about 1 more hour.
Step 2: Cook Onion and Spices
Heat your oil of choice in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and cook, stirring often until it starts to brown. Reduce the heat as necessary to prevent the onion from scorching, but altogether it should take 6 to 10 minutes.
Step 3: Bloom Curry
Add in the spice and stir to coat, until fragrant but not darkening, for 30 to 90 seconds. Then stir in lemon juice.
Step 4: Add Broth
Add the veggie broth, salt, and pepper to the onion mixture, and increase the eat to high to bring the soup to a simmer.
Step 5: Scoop Cooked Squash
Scoop the flesh out from the cooled squash and discard the skin. Break it into large chunks if necessary.
Step 6: Add Squash To Soup
Add the squash to the soup. Return the soup to a simmer, and then adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are tender and the squash is completely falling apart. This should take about 10 minutes.
Step 8: Add Coconut Milk
Add coconut milk to the soup and stir it to combine.
Step 9: Puree
Pureé the soup in a regular blender in batches, or with an immersion blender. I used my immersion blender to puree the soup. If you use your blender, just do it in batches and be super careful that the top doesn’t shoot off. Once pureéd, gently heat the soup without boiling and serve!
FAQ and Expert Tips For Curried Squash Soup
The skin of butternut squash cannot be added to the puree as it has an unpleasant papery texture. But the good news is for this soup you do not need to peel the squash before you roast it! It makes prep super easy and quick. Once it is cooked the skin slips off easily. Discard the skin or add it to your compost.
This soup’s taste is a lovely balance of curry spices, sweet butternut squash, and creamy coconut milk.
Variations to Try
- Make It Spicy: For an added kick, use hot curry powder or Madras Curry Powder. Or you can add a little additional boost from some Thai red curry paste or a couple of sprinkles of red pepper flakes
- Make Richer: You can sub in full fat coconut milk to make this richer tasting. Do no use cream of coconut though! That has a sweetness to it that wouldn’t work well for this soup.
- Ginger and Garlic: Add garlic or ginger to the onions to add additional layer of flavors.
- Sweeter: Add a little sweetness with a tiny drizzle of maple syrup
What Goes With Curried Butternut Squash Soup?
- Make our homemade Whole Wheat Bread or even naan to dip into the soup
- Pair with a garden veggie salad or roast vegetables to eat on the side with the soup.
- Our wheat rolls or honey wheat bread are great with soup.
- Serve with a vegetarian pizza like this Spinach Pizza or Mushroom Pizza
- For a little added protein, a dollop of plain Greek yogurt on top would be great
- Add on chopped nuts or toasted seeds for a little crunch
- Add on homemade croutons or crumbled crackers.
Meal Prep, Storage, Leftovers and Reheating
Meal Prep: Bake the squash ahead of time to save time when assembling the soup.
Storage: Store leftover soup in an airtight container and either in the fridge or freezer. Make sure to let the soup come to room temperature before storing. Leftovers will stay in the fridge for up to five days, up to three months in the freezer.
Reheating: Simply portion soup and reheat on the stove top over medium heat, stirring often, until simmering. Garnish with cilantro before serving. A trick I like to use is to store the soup in single servings, making a quick and healthy lunch no-fuss!
Other Clean Eating Recipes
- Dairy Free Roasted Pumpkin Soup with cashew cream!
- Instant Pot Veggie Curry with chickpeas and delicata squash- a new favorite!!
- Keto Mushroom Soup is keto-friendly, Gluten-free, and low carb.
- Chopped Winter Salad is my favorite salad at this time of year!
- Clean Eating Beef Stir-fry is full of veggies and strips of succulent steak in a 5-spice sauce made without any sugars!
More Butternut Squash Recipes
- Roasted butternut squash and easy garlic herb butternut squash are staple winter side dishes in our house!
- I would go so far as to say Butternut Squash Lasagna is a real show-stopper of a recipe!
- Try Butternut Squash Pizza too!
- If you love a healthy makeover of a classic, check out this yummy Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese!
- Baby Arugula and Butternut Salad with Maple Vinaigrette is the ultimate autumn salad!
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
PrintCurry Butternut Squash Soup
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 cups 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
A simple and delicious recipe for curry butternut squash soup with rich curry and coconut will warm you up from the inside out. It’s the perfect meal when it’s chilly outside!
Ingredients
- 1 4–pound butternut squash, cut in half lengthwise and seeds scooped out
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil or coconut oil
- 2 large onions, diced
- 3 tablespoon curry powder
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 cups vegetable broth or homemade vegetable stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 14–ounce can light coconut milk
- cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Lay squash cut-side down on the parchment and bake until flesh is very tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 hour. Turn cut side up and cool until cool enough to handle, about 1 hour.
- Heat oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook, stirring often until starting to brown, reducing heat as necessary to prevent scorching, 6 to 10 minutes.
- Add spice, and stir to coat. Cooking stirring until fragrant but not darkening, 30 to 90 seconds. Stir in lemon juice.
- Add broth, salt and pepper and increase heat to high to bring the soup to a simmer.
- Scoop the flesh from the squash and discard the skin. Break into large chunks if necessary.
- Add the squash flesh to the soup. Return to a simmer, reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are tender and the squash is completely falling apart, about 10 minutes.
- Add coconut milk to the soup, and stir to combine.
- Remove from the heat. Puree the soup in the blender in batches or with an immersion blender. (USE CAUTION WHEN BLENDING HOT LIQUIDS). Serve hot garnished with cilantro
Notes
Whole30: To make this complaint, use full fat compliant coconut milk.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cups
- Calories: 283
- Sugar: 17 g
- Fat: 16 g
- Carbohydrates: 36 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 7 g
Very flavorful and easy. My family was obsessed.
Amazingly good! I did it exactly as the recipe stated. Thank you for sharing!
It was a like for the family. YEA!
Ate it out of the pot. It’s the perfect mix of heat and sweet.
This seasonal recipe is ideal for our entrée. You are right! This awesome squash soup is perfect for holiday season and other special events. Thank you for sharing. I’ll cook it on weekend.
This looks so warm and comforting. Wish I had a bowl now!
This soup was delicious!! It came together easily, and is on our menu rotation now. Thank you!
Made this for the 4th time tonight! One of my favorite soup recipes and so easy. Thank you for creating another amazing and easy to make dish:)
This was so simple and delicious. I’ve made it multiple times.
I just made your soup and my husband and I LOVED it! It had the perfect amount of spice and delicious blend of flavors.
This soup is just a treat! So hearty and flavorful. Thank you!
The soup tasted good …. It was light and creamy at the same time the first day . But when I put in the fridge and wanted to reuse it the next day the entire soup became slimy . I am wondering what went wrong
I am not sure… I have a couple questions. One, did you reheat it the second day or did you notice the texture when it was cold? Two, what brand of light coconut milk did you use? And three, what type of curry did you use? I hope we can get to the bottom of this.
Absolutely love your creative idea with curry butternut squash soup with coconut milk! Can I post it on my blog? Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kara, Thanks so much. Feel free to share a link! Anytime.
Katie, Delicious! I wonder, but a lot of calories?
Hi Asa. I am thrilled you liked the recipe. No it’s not. Actually it’s only 180 calories per 1 1/2 cup serving which is about half of the calories for a complete meal for calorie restricted diet plans. The reason it is this “high” is due to the coconut oil and coconut milk which also happen to be why it tastes so good.
Katie, Thanks for the recipe. Delicious!