Soup

Warm up to Fall with Southwestern Butternut Squash Soup

November 2, 2013December 1, 2023

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Every silky golden spoonful of Southwestern Roasted Butternut Squash Soup will make you feel like you’ve captured the beauty and flavors of Autumn in a bowl! A batch of this fabulous soup is also super simple to make! Here in Idaho, we’ve just had our first snowfall of the season. When the weather turns cold I turn to hot soup for a weeknight meal. It’s nice to sit over a hot bowl of deliciousness while watching the clumps of snowflakes float gently down out my window.

Butternut squash is arguably the most popular species of winter squash~ and is a good source of fiber and vitamins C, A, and E. It’s a close relative to the pumpkin, and in Australia is even called a butternut pumpkin! When choosing your squash at the supermarket, look for ones that have a nice big long neck. That’s where most of the flesh is that you will eat. The seeds are in the lower, more bulbous part of the squash.

Slicing up a butternut squash may look difficult, but it’s actually simple when you follow the steps. When you have your squash picked out, slice off the stem and root end. Then slice the bulbous end away from the neck. Next, make sure you have a good vegetable peeler on hand (I LOVE this one) because you’ll need it to peel the skin off both parts of the squash. And watch out, the squash is slippery when peeled! Chop the bulb end in half and scoop out the seeds. Now you can chop your squash into chunks (1 inch to 1 and 1/2 inch size) for roasting in the oven!

This recipe also uses chipotle chiles canned in adobo sauce, which is full of great flavor. I personally try to scrape most of the seeds out of the chipotle chile before dicing it. They are FULL of seeds. The chicken broth can be replaced with vegetable broth for a more vegetarian-friendly version. One more note on this recipe~ do NOT substitute onion for the shallot, the flavor is way too strong for this recipe. Shallots have a sweeter, milder flavor that goes great with the squash. And I have to admit, I don’t care for cilantro. Yep. I said it. But I don’t think I’m the only one out there who doesn’t like it. If you happen to be like me, just leave it out :0) Don’t worry about substituting anything for it. The soup is just as delicious without it. :0)