Apple Butternut Squash Soup
Fall and soup season go hand in hand. There’s nothing like a warm and cozy bowl of soup to curl up with on cooler nights. Apple Butternut Squash Soup is the elegant and easy apple soup that is perfect on its own or a great start to any meal.
This soup is the ideal start to serve with your Honey Orange Roast Chicken dinner, while also being just as at home next to your favorite salad. Utilizing seasonal ingredients and sweet apples, the flavors of this squash soup are complex yet familiar and comforting.
Ingredients
With just a few simple, fresh produce, this dish shows that making season’s peak produce the star of a dish makes it both budget friendly and easy to shop for.
- Butternut Squash – This winter squash has a mild, nutty, and sweet flavor. Peel it and cut it into chunks before roasting to intensify its natural sweetness.
- Apples – Sweet apples enhance the sweetness of the butternut squash while adding another layer of flavor.
- Fennel – This sweet member of the carrot family has delicate flavors of anise. As it roasts its natural sweetness is intensified.
- Garlic – Adds a layer of savory flavor and depth. This sharp and pungent transforms into a sweeter, milder version of itself during the roasting process.
- Olive Oil – Helps roast the vegetables while also adding a layer of richness. This recipe uses 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons.
- Salt – Enhances all of the natural flavors of the ingredients.
- Black Pepper – Adds an earthy, mild hint of spice.
- Broth – This helps thin out the soup to a silky, smooth consistency. Chicken stock adds savory depth, while vegetable stock keeps it vegetarian.
- Sage – Woodsy and deeply aromatic, this herb is a classic pairing with butternut squash. It becomes a little nutty when roasted.
- Heavy Cream – A drizzle at the end to garnish adds a little richness to this soup.
How to Make Apple Butternut Squash Soup
Unlike many soup recipes that require a pot to simmer on the stove all day, most of the ingredients for this soup are roasted, maximizing their flavors. It’s finished off in the blender for that perfect smooth and silky texture. Unlike many creamy soups, it gets its velvety body from the blended vegetables and apples rather than a lot of cream.
This soup is elegant enough for any holiday meal while also being easy enough to add to your weeknight rotation.
- Prep
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Peel the butternut squash, then cut all of your fruit and vegetables into evenly sized chunks.
- Season
Arrange your butternut squash, fennel, apples, and garlic on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and sage.
- Roast
Let the vegetables roast for 30 minutes or until they are fork tender.
- Blend
Transfer the roasted vegetables to a blender. Squeeze the roasted garlic into the blender. Slowly add the broth and blend until you’ve reached the desired consistency.
- Serve
Divide your soup into bowls. Garnish with a drizzle of heavy cream, diced apples, and a few fronds of fennel.
Variations
- Dairy Free – Replace the heavy cream in the recipe for Dairy Free heavy cream. In addition you can also skip this garnish. The soup is still delicious.
- Spicy – If you like things a little spicy, season your vegetables with a pinch of cayenne before roasting them.
- Vegetarian – You can use whatever type of broth you like for this recipe, such as chicken stock or vegetable stock. If you use vegetable broth this is an easy and delicious vegetarian dish. You can also swap the heavy cream for a Dairy Free alternative to make this vegan.
- Sour Cream Garnish – For a tangy finish, top each bowl of the apple butternut squash soup with a dollop of sour cream instead of the heavy cream drizzle.
- Savory Add-ins (optional) – Roast a quartered yellow onion on the sheet pan with the other vegetables, add a small peeled knob of fresh ginger for warmth, or swap the sage for fresh thyme.
Tools
- Sheet Pan – Pick a sheet pan large enough for all of the vegetables to spread out in an even area. This will allow them all to roast instead of some roasting, some steaming.
- Blender – This squash soup gets its silky smooth texture from being blended. If your blender is small, blend the soup in batches and stir them together in a large bowl or stock pot. You can also add the roasted vegetables to a stock pot along with the broth and use an immersion blender. Just be careful of splatters from the hot liquid.
Storage
This butternut squash soup is a great make ahead and also meal prep dish. Save time on Thanksgiving or Christmas and make this a couple of days in advance. Simply heat it up when you’re ready to serve.
To store this roasted butternut squash soup, keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for 3-5 days. To reheat, pour it into a stock pot or saucepan over medium heat and stir occasionally until hot. Heat it until it barely reaches a simmer, but don’t let it boil. Garnish with the heavy cream, diced apples, and fennel fronds when you’re ready to serve.
Top Tip for Apple Butternut Squash Soup
The variety of apples you add to this soup will add either another layer of sweetness, or a little tartness. Apples such as Granny Smith, Pink Lady, and McIntosh will give more of a tart back note. For a sweeter flavor, choose sweet apples like Fuji, Gala, Ambrosia, and Honeycrisp. Cortland, which is sweet with a gentle tartness, sits nicely in between.
Serve with crusty bread and butter for dipping.
Apple Butternut Squash Soup
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet or baking dish
- 1 blender
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and diced into cubes medium
- 2 apples, cored and cut into quarters, plus extra for serving
- 1 fennel, quartered Reserve a few fronds for garnish
- 1 head of garlic, top removed
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups broth
- fresh sage
- heavy cream for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Arrange the butternut squash, apples, fennel, and head of garlic on a baking sheet.
- Drizzle olive oil over the top. Season with salt and pepper. Add the sage.
- Bake the vegetables for 30 minutes or until they are fork tender.
- Transfer the vegetables to the blender.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic into the blender. It should be soft and golden.
- Add the broth and blend until you've reached your desired consistency.
- Divide the soup between bowls.
- Drizzle heavy cream over the top.
- Garnish with cubed apples and fennel fronds.
