Hello Vegetarian Carnivores and welcome to recipe #4 of my Thanksgiving 2019 series! It is officially the beginning of flu season. Yay. I got the flu shot a few weeks ago and still managed to come down with a nasty head cold last week. It was bad, you guys. My head was so heavy I had a hard time lifting it long enough to get from Point A to Point B. Not to mention the congestion and lack of voice. In short, it was horrible. But being sick comes with a silver lining – It is an excuse to indulge in ALL the comfort foods and warm soups and stews. This creamy butternut squash soup is the ultimate seasonal comfort food. Plant based goodness, not compromising on any of the creaminess that you’d get from heavy cream.
Butternut squash is one of my favorite seasonal vegetables. It is super versatile and delicious in all forms. People tend to freak out when they handle whole butternut squashes because they are irregularly shaped and they are super tough to just cut. I never just try to cut a raw butternut squash! I don’t think my knives can handle it and I don’t have enough manpower to get through that. I usually microwave the whole squash and then cut it and roast it. Microwaving it makes the butternut squash easier to handle and softer to cut.
For this soup, I simply cut slits into a whole butternut squash and microwaved it for 10 minutes on high. Yes, I cooked the whole thing in a microwave. I did not have the patience or the bandwidth to roast it, as something else was in the oven at the same time. But dare I say, this recipe worked like a charm and I am so excited to share this super simple formula with you!
So let’s get started!
Ingredients (4 servings)
- 1 butternut squash
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 cup plant milk (Ripple is super creamy!)
- Fresh thyme leaves, for garnish
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cut 1/2 inch deep slits in the butternut squash, cover with a paper towel, and microwave on high for 10 minutes.
- Remove the skin and seeds and scoop out the pulp.
- Simmer the pulp with the broth, butter, and salt and pepper until it comes to a rolling boil.
- Use an immersion blender to cream it all together.
- Add in the plant milk and give it a good blend.
- Add salt and pepper, to taste.
- Garnish with thyme leaves.
- Enjoy!
Results!
This was such a delicious soup that I whipped together with very little hassle. Cooking with a whole butternut squash is so much easier than we think. We just need to follow some great hacks (like the one I wrote above!) and we are golden. And speaking of golden, this soup is perfect to enjoy on a cold day (plenty of those coming up) or when you are just feeling less than 100%.
So go ahead and give this a try and leave me a comment below!
See you soon!
Janani <3 <3
