If apple cider muffins and pumpkin pie scream fall in desserts, this roasted butternut squash soup screams fall in a savory manner. Buttery, creamy, and with just the right amount of warming fall spices, this soup is sure to be a hit. This version of the soup is for the butternut squash purists and keeps the winter squash as the star of the show, and the soup is naturally vegan, but can also be modified in so many ways.
If you’ve never had butternut squash before, it’s similar to pumpkin and has a sweet, nutty flavor to it. When roasted, it takes on a buttery flavor that most people compare to a sweet potato.
This version of my butternut squash soup is a little easier to make than my Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup recipe since it cuts back on a lot of ingredients. Where that one utilizes fall herbs and creates layers of flavor with apple and vegetables, this version puts the squash front and center, with complimentary warming spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

Ingredients for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
The ingredients here are mostly simple and include some pantry staples. Unlike my Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, you don’t need fresh herbs here, and you’re cutting down the other vegetables to just an onion and some garlic.
Butternut Squash – To make a good butternut squash soup, you’ll obviously need the main star. Look for a squash that’s give or take about 3 pounds.
Onion – You can use pretty much any onion you prefer here, but I typically use 1 yellow onion.
Garlic – Depending on their size, 3-5 cloves is a good amount here.
Spices – A little bit of ground cinnamon and nutmeg tastes great in the soup. Sprinkle some on the squash before roasting and add the rest while cooking the soup.
Syrup – Butternut squash is already a little sweet by itself, but a decent quality maple syrup adds just a touch more sweetness and a great flavor as well.
Broth – Use vegetable broth here to keep things vegan, but if you’re not worried about that, feel free to use some chicken stock instead, which tastes great.
Cream – Unsweetened coconut milk gives the soup a great flavor and keeps things vegan friendly. If you’re not concerned about it, you can substitute with heavy cream, crème fraiche, or even sour cream to make the soup vegetarian instead (as long as you still use vegetable broth).
Olive Oil – Use about two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil to cook everything within the pot, and some more for drizzling over the squash before roasting. If you don’t need to stay vegan, feel free to use butter instead.
Salt and Pepper – Add some salt and pepper to the cut-side of the butternut squash before roasting, and some more into the pot when cooking the onions. Once the soup has been cooked and pureed, taste it and add some more to your preference.
How to Make Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Before going into the directions, I wanted to mention that there are numerous ways to make this soup. This is just my own preference, and other methods aren’t necessarily better or worse, just alternatives. I’ll go over some of them in the section below on alternatives for the soup.
Preheat your oven to 425°F/220°C.
Prepare the butternut squash by slicing off the top and a little of the bottom. Stand it up and cut straight down the middle, splitting the squash into 2 equal halves. In the wider section at the bottom, you’ll see a lot of seeds and fibers. Use a serving spoon, regular spoon, or even ice cream scoop to remove all of that. Set that aside if you wish to reserve the seeds as a topping, or toss.
Combine the ground cinnamon and nutmeg in a small dish. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set the two halves of squash on the sheet. Drizzle with some olive oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with less than half of the ground cinnamon and nutmeg mixture. Place the two halves cut side down and place into oven. Roast the squash for 30-40 minutes. Begin checking around 30 minutes by gently probing with a sharp knife. If the knife easily slides through the skin, it’s ready. Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to handle.
Once the squash has been removed from the oven, heat a large, heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add your oil. Once heated, add the diced onion, and cook until it starts to become translucent, about 4-5 minutes. While the onion is cooking, scoop the flesh out of the butternut squash and set aside. If the squash is still hot to the touch, use a paper towel to hold it while scooping. Add the squash, garlic, maple syrup, and the reserved ground cinnamon and nutmeg to the pot and mix to combine. Cook another minute or two and then add vegetable broth and coconut milk, stirring to combine. Bring everything to a boil, then lower temperature to a simmer and let it cook for 10-15 minutes.
After it has cooked in the pot, turn off the heat and allow it to cool about 5 minutes before transferring the mixture to a blender in batches. Be very careful when blending a hot soup and don’t fill the blender too much beyond halfway. Loosen or remove the plastic feeder cap from the lid and cover with a kitchen towel. Start slowly on a mix or chop setting, then increase to a puree, blending until the mixture looks like it has all been combined and is smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Alternatively, use an immersion blender and blend everything directly in the pot until smooth.
After the soup is fully blended, place back into the pot over low heat. Use a ladle or large spoon to check the consistency. If the soup is thicker than you like, add some more broth or water until it’s at your preferred consistency. The soup should be thick, but still pourable from a ladle or spoon without looking thin and watery. Now taste and adjust for salt and pepper and sweetness. Depending on the broth or stock that you use, you made need to add more salt or none at all. If you want a little more sweetness, add some honey or more maple syrup. If you like the cinnamon flavor to come through more, you can also add more cinnamon or even some pumpkin pie spice.
Serve in soup bowls and top with your choice of toppings or none.
Toppings and Alternatives for Butternut Squash Soup
Toppings for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Toppings are completely optional and down to personal preference. They can really enhance a soup like this by providing extra flavor and added texture. Here’s a few options to consider, and feel free to combine some of your favorites.
Seeds – Save and toast the squash seeds you removed or use seeds like sunflower or pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Also consider toasted sesame seeds.
Herbs – Top with some fresh herbs like basil, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage. If you use sage, I do recommend flash frying it first.
Spices – Freshly cracked black pepper is great, but also consider things like cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, red pepper flakes, etc.
Cream – Use more of the cream you used in the soup, or switch it up with heavy cream, crème fraiche, sour cream, coconut milk, etc.
Cheese – Add some crumbly cheese like queso fresco, feta, blue cheese, or a harder cheese like grated parmesan.
Bacon – Either store-bought bacon bits or some chopped up bacon made for the soup.
Croutons – Again, either some store-bought ones you like, or some homemade garlic croutons.
Oils – A little splash of extra virgin olive oil goes well or use an infused oil for added flavor.
If you’re curious about the toppings in my photos, I used a splash of coconut milk, fresh black pepper, ground cinnamon, and pepitas.
If you want to reserve the seeds from the squash, pick them out of the fibrous part of the flesh you removed after cutting the squash and place in a bowl of water. Clean them as best you can, then strain them out and place on some paper towels and roll them around to finish cleaning and dry them some. Place in a small skillet over med-low heat and toast them to finish drying them and cook until just beginning to show color. Remove from the pan and add some oil. Once the oil is hot, toss the seeds back in and fry another minute or two until just turning brown and remove them to cool.
Alternative Methods and Options for Butternut Squash Soup
As mentioned earlier, there are several ways to make this kind of soup. The method I use is to roast the squash separately and cut in half with the skin still on, while cooking the other vegetables in some oil in a pot.
Roast Together – Another method is to roast all the vegetables together. For this method skip lining the baking sheet for the most flavor. After cutting the squash in half, use a peeler to remove the skin, or just cut it off with a knife. Chop the butternut squash into large cubes, a good inch or two in size. Chop the onion into large chunks as well, about a ½ inch to 1 inch in size.
Place all the ingredients into the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at the same 425°F, but only for 20-25 minutes. Check the squash with a knife and cook until it’s easily pierced and gaining some color. Place all the ingredients into a pot and then add a little water to the baking sheet so you can scrape up any fond left behind. Add that to the pot as well, and then cook as directed, starting where you add the garlic and spices.
All in One Pot – You can also skip the oven altogether and try to get some color in the pot instead. You’ll need a good-sized pot to do this in as stirring can become difficult. Use the same method as above for cutting the vegetables. Get the pot on medium to medium-high heat with a few tablespoons of oil. Start with the squash and let it cook for a few minutes without moving it around. When you can start seeing the squash on the bottom browning, start stirring it every few minutes. Keep stirring the squash so that a good amount can gain color before adding the onion. Once you’re happy with the color on all the vegetables, continue the recipe from where you add the garlic and spices.
Blending – When blending soups into a smooth puree, you’ll want to use a quality blender. You absolutely don’t need a high end Vitamix, but you do need one that can puree all the ingredients smoothly, and honestly, most blenders under $100 just don’t do a great job at this. If you don’t have a blender, you think can manage it, a less expensive alternative is a decent immersion blender which some people prefer when making soups.
Also, be very careful when blending a hot soup and don’t fill the blender too much beyond halfway. Loosen or remove the plastic feeder cap from the lid and cover with a kitchen towel. Start slowly on a mix or chop setting, then increase to a puree, blending until the mixture looks like it has all been combined and is smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
Storing Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Once the soup has cooled completely, place it in a large enough container and store it in your refrigerator for 4-5 days.
This soup also freezes perfectly. Again, allow the soup to cool completely and transfer it to an airtight, freezer safe container. The soup should last for 3 months frozen. Thaw overnight in your refrigerator or run the container under hot water until it’s loosened and drop into a pot to simmer until you’re ready to eat.
📋 Recipe
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 1 3-pound butternut squash, cut in half and seeds removed/reserved
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 large yellow onion, roughly diced
- 4-5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Before going into the directions, I wanted to mention that there are numerous ways to make this soup. This is just my own preference, and other methods aren’t necessarily better or worse, just alternatives. I’ll go over some of them in the section below on alternatives for the soup.
- Preheat your oven to 425°F/220°C.
- Prepare the butternut squash by slicing off the top and a little of the bottom. Stand it up and cut straight down the middle, splitting the squash into 2 equal halves. In the wider section at the bottom, you’ll see a lot of seeds and fibers. Use a serving spoon, regular spoon, or even ice cream scoop to remove all of that. Set that aside if you wish to reserve the seeds as a topping, or toss.
- Combine the ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon and ⅛ teaspoon of ground nutmeg in a small dish. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set the two halves of squash on the sheet. Drizzle with some olive oil on both sides and season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with less than half of the ground cinnamon and nutmeg mixture. Place the two halves cut side down and place into oven. Roast the squash for 30-40 minutes. Begin checking around 30 minutes by gently probing with a sharp knife. If the knife easily slides through the skin, it’s ready. Remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to handle.
- Once the squash has been removed from the oven, heat a large, heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add your oil. Once heated, add the diced onion, and cook until it starts to become translucent, about 4-5 minutes. While the onion is cooking, scoop the flesh out of the butternut squash and set aside. If the squash is still hot to the touch, use a paper towel to hold it while scooping. Add the squash, garlic, 2 teaspoons of maple syrup, and the reserved ground cinnamon and nutmeg to the pot and mix to combine. Cook another minute or two and then add 3 cups of vegetable broth and ½ cup of unsweetened coconut milk, stirring to combine. Bring everything to a boil, then lower temperature to a simmer and let it cook for 10-15 minutes.
- After it has cooked in the pot, turn off the heat and allow it to cool about 5 minutes before transferring the mixture to a blender in batches. Be very careful when blending a hot soup and don’t fill the blender too much beyond halfway. Loosen or remove the plastic feeder cap from the lid and cover with a kitchen towel. Start slowly on a mix or chop setting, then increase to a puree, blending until the mixture looks like it has all been combined and is smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Alternatively, use an immersion blender and blend everything directly in the pot until smooth.
- After the soup is fully blended, place back into the pot over low heat. Use a ladle or large spoon to check the consistency. If the soup is thicker than you like, add some more broth or water until it’s at your preferred consistency. The soup should be thick, but still pourable from a ladle or spoon without looking thin and watery. Now taste and adjust for salt and pepper and sweetness. Depending on the broth or stock that you use, you made need to add more salt or none at all. If you want a little more sweetness, add some honey or more maple syrup. If you like the cinnamon flavor to come through more, you can also add more cinnamon or even some pumpkin pie spice.
- Serve in soup bowls and top with your choice of toppings or none.
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