Easy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

You've heard of sheet pan meals but have you heard of sheet pan soup? This Easy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup only requires butternut squash, potatoes, garlic with some spices that are roasted together before getting creamed.

This is legit the easiest soup recipe around and one I just made up trying to get rid of some butternut squash I had laying around for weeks on end. These two squash were giving me the evil eyes for far too long, and I just am not a huge fan of plain roasted butternut squash, which is highly unusual because I typically roast 95% of our vegetables. I think I always lust after sweet potatoes when I'm eating butternut squash and am just disappointed. Enter this soup.

The Easiest Soup Recipe Ever

Here's why you'll love this soup, too:

• Crazy easy. You place vegetables on a sheet pan, roast, then blend. Seriously, it's that easy. While we're stuck at home, the vegetables roast and you have a healthy lunch ready for you in 5 minutes.
• Healthy. Butternut squash is an excellent source of fiber, Vitamins A, C, B, and E, as well as calcium, magnesium, and zinc. Wooo. That's a lot to love right there. There's no heavy cream or milk despite its luxurious texture (see Tips and Tricks below). I don't mind eating three bowls of it in one sitting.
• Not a lot of clean up. Not going to lie here. If I'm covering a pan in a couple layers of aluminum foil and only cooking vegetables on it, that thing is going right back on the shelf. This soup requires a sheet pan and a blender.
• Great to meal prep. You can easily double or even triple this recipe easily and eat it all week, make for a dinner party (one day), or freeze leftovers to use later. More on freezing below.
• Even better the next day. The flavors have some time to sit with one another, and I think it's even better the next day.

Tips and Tricks

This soup is so crazy easy thanks to a couple of tips and tricks. If you know the tips and tricks and why they work, then you really have so much freedom in the kitchen to replicate these same tips and tricks with other foods.

• The Russet potato is important. I looooove heavy, cream-based soups but my stomach does not, so I've learned to easily pivot to creamy without using cream. That's what the potato does for this soup. Use a good ole Russet potato like you'd use for a baked potato. I think Russets cream up better than any other potato. If you want the soup even creamier, add another whole potato. I wouldn't be mad at it one bit.
• High heat caramelizes the vegetables. The olive oil keeps the vegetables from drying out, but there's just enough oil to also allow the vegetables to caramelize on top, which adds so much flavor to the soup. That's why you roast the squash at 400ËšF for a solid 40-50 minutes.
• Choose your own texture. It's like the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books I used to read as a kid but with soup texture. Blending the soup in a blender or in a food processor gives you the ability to make the soup thicker (blending on medium for half the length of time) or super creamy and smooth (blending on high for at least one minute).
• Go light on the stock. I think you'll want at least one cup of vegetable stock, but after you blend the soup with the stock, give it a quick check for consistency. Is it your desired creaminess? If not, add a little more stock and blend the soup a little more. Two cups of stock is always the magic amount for me. For those who like a thinner soup though, add 3 to 4.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Toppings

You know what I bet you haven't had in awhile? WATERCRESS. Watercress are the bagged leaves you rarely notice at the grocery store, but those little clover-looking things have some seriously super food health benefits.

I also like to top the roasted butternut squash soup with pepitas. Pepitas are pumpkin seeds from a particular type of hull-less pumpkin. They're great to add in all sorts of salads and soups. You can find them usually in the nut aisle at any grocery store. Another great option for more crunch are cornbread croutons, one of my all-time favorites.

You can also add some coconut milk (to keep it vegan) or sour cream and extra red pepper flakes.

Chopped cilantro or parsley is a wonderfully easy topping for butternut squash soup, too. You can even add some dried fruit -- like cranberries or cherries for a little bit of texture.

What to Serve with Butternut Squash

This soup is hearty enough to eat as an entree with a big hunk of toasted bread, but if you want to serve butternut squash as a side dish, here are my recs:

• Easy Pan Seared Chicken - We eat this chicken a LOT in our house, add it to salads for lunch, you name it
• Maryland Baked Crab Cakes - In the winter time, what a fancy meal to have on a random Monday. I'm totally into it. You can add the crab cakes toward the end of the veggies roasting.
• Rosemary and Garlic Lamb Chops -- So good, so easy.
• Superfood Kale Salad -- They don't call it Soup 'N Salad for nothin'!

xox,

kathryn

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