Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
This simple homemade butternut squash soup is the best I've ever tasted! It's super creamy (yet cream-less) and full of delicious roasted butternut flavor.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 10, 2024
Let’s cozy up with a bowl of warm, creamy butternut squash soup. Butternut squash and cool weather go together like they were made for each other—which, really, they were. I was so happy to find butternut in stock again, and came home to make my favorite soup.
My butternut squash soup is ultra creamy and full of complex roasted butternut squash flavor. This recipe has become a smash hit with readers, receiving a 5-star rating from well over 500 reviews!
This traditional butternut squash soup will round out your fall and winter meals. Serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches and salads through the end of winter. Keep it in mind for the holidays, too. I designed this soup to complement typical Thanksgiving fare, like green beans and mashed potatoes.
This easy butternut squash soup recipe is also a great make-ahead option. In fact, it tastes even better the next day. Let’s get to it!
The Best Butternut Squash Soup
Here’s why readers love this recipe:
Simple Ingredients
I kept the ingredients list simple so the squash flavor can shine through, but the end result offers exceptionally rich flavor. You’ll only need eight basic ingredients to make this luscious soup: butternut squash, olive oil, butter, shallot, garlic, vegetable broth, maple syrup and nutmeg.
Butter is Better than Cream
A little bit of butter rounds out the flavor and makes it truly irresistible, without weighing down the soup like heavy cream tends to do. (You can substitute olive oil for vegan/dairy-free soup. It’s already vegetarian.) That’s a little trick that I used in my tomato soup in my cookbook, too. It’s by far the best butternut squash soup I’ve ever tasted, and infinitely better than any canned or boxed option.
Roasted Butternut Yields Major Flavor
Most of this soup’s flavor comes from the cooking method, which starts with roasting the butternut squash to bring out its caramelized best. Bonus! That means you don’t have to peel and chop the squash. Once the squash is out of the oven, you can start sautéing some shallot and garlic.
Serve It Now or Later
If you’re planning to make this soup for company, you can serve the soup straight from your blender. Or, make it the day before and reheat it in your blender or in a pot on the stove. Thanksgiving table real estate is always limited, so you might want to serve this soup in matching mugs or tea cups to leave room for the salad plates.
Garnishes Are Optional
This soup really doesn’t need a garnish, but feel free to add a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper or some toasted pepitas (green pumpkin seeds) for extra visual appeal.
How to Blend Butternut Soup
This is when the soup deviates from other butternut squash soups. You usually have two options, and I don’t recommend either of them:
- You can add the remaining ingredients to the pot and then try to blend it with an immersion blender, which inevitably leaves the soup disappointingly gritty.
- You can very carefully transfer hot soup to a blender in batches, which is always a little harrowing but yields creamier results.
I found a better way with this soup. We’re going to use a stand blender, since it yields creamier soup (see recipe notes if you’re determined to use an immersion blender).
Here’s the gist: Instead of warming all of the ingredients in the pot, simply transfer scoops of roasted butternut squash and sautéed shallot and garlic to the blender. Then, pour in the vegetable broth and remaining ingredients. Blend it until it’s ultra creamy.
If you have a regular stand blender:
Any stand blender will do! Once you’ve blended the ingredients into creamy oblivion, pour the soup back into your soup pot. Warm it up on the stove over medium heat, stirring occasionally. That’s it.
If you have a fancy blender with a soup preset:
Use the soup preset, and you can serve your hot soup straight from the blender. I used my Vitamix (affiliate link/provided by Vitamix) and it worked great. The container is 64 ounces, which allowed me to fit all of the ingredients for this soup without surpassing the maximum fill line.
If you have a fancy blender without a soup preset:
(By fancy, I mean a high-end performance Vitamic, Blendtec, KitchenAid or similar.) Oftentimes, blending your soup for 4 to 6 minutes will heat it up sufficiently to serve directly from the blender. Consult your manufacturer’s directions for details.
Or, simply pour the mixture back into your soup pot and reheat on the stove. That will certainly work.
More Butternut Squash Recipes to Enjoy
Extra butternut squash? Here are some fun recipes to use it up:
- Balsamic Butternut, Kale and Cranberry Panzanella
- Butternut Squash Chipotle Chili with Avocado
- Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto
- Roasted Butternut Squash Tacos
- Roasted Butternut Squash, Pomegranate and Wild Rice Stuffing
Please let me know how this butternut soup turns out for you in the comments! Your feedback is so important to me, and I hope you love this soup as much as I do. It’s my absolute favorite.
Watch How to Make Butternut Squash Soup
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
This homemade butternut squash soup is the best I’ve ever tasted! This recipe is super creamy (yet cream-less) and full of delicious butternut flavor. Leftover soup tastes even better the next day. Recipe yields about 4 bowls or 6 cups of soup.
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash (about 3 pounds), halved vertically* and seeds removed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- ½ cup chopped shallot (about 1 large shallot bulb)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 to 4 cups (24 to 32 ounces) vegetable broth, as needed
- 1 to 2 tablespoons butter, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the butternut squash on the pan and drizzle each half with just enough olive oil to lightly coat the squash on the inside (about ½ teaspoon each). Rub the oil over the inside of the squash and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
- Turn the squash face down and roast until it is tender and completely cooked through, about 40 to 50 minutes (don’t worry if the skin or flesh browns—that’s good for flavor). Set the squash aside until it’s cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, warm 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat until shimmering (if your blender has a soup preset, use a medium skillet to minimize dishes.) Add the chopped shallot and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, until the shallot has softened and is starting to turn golden on the edges, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute, stirring frequently. Transfer the contents to your stand blender (see notes on how to use an immersion blender instead).
- Use a large spoon to scoop the butternut squash flesh into your blender. Discard the tough skin. Add the maple syrup, nutmeg and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper to the blender. Pour in 3 cups vegetable broth, being careful not to fill the container past the maximum fill line (you can work in batches if necessary, and stir in any remaining broth later).
- Securely fasten the lid. Blend on high (or select the soup preset, if available), being careful to avoid hot steam escaping from the lid. Stop once your soup is ultra creamy and warmed through.
- If you would like to thin out your soup a bit more, stir in the remaining cup of broth. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil, to taste, and blend well. Taste and stir in more salt and pepper, if necessary.
- If your soup is piping hot from the blending process, you can pour it into serving bowls. If not, pour it back into your soup pot and warm the soup over medium heat, stirring often, until it’s nice and steamy. I like to top individual bowls with some extra black pepper.
Notes
*How to safely slice your butternut squash: You’ll need a sharp chef’s knife and a slip-free cutting board (place a lightly damp tea towel beneath your cutting board to keep it from moving around). Use the knife to cut off the tip-top and very bottom ends of the squash. Stand the squash upright with the thickest flat side as the base. Carefully slice through it from top to bottom to divide it in half (your fingers should never be in the blade’s way). Lastly, use a large spoon to scoop out the seeds and discard them.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Substitute high-quality olive oil for the butter. It will make your soup taste luxurious and lightly herbal.
Storage suggestions: Let leftover soup cool to room temperature before transferring it to a proper storage container and refrigerating it for up to 4 days (leftovers taste even better the next day!). Or, freeze this soup for up to 3 months.
If you are working with an immersion blender: Cook the shallot mixture in a large soup pot. Then add the scoops of cooked butternut squash, all 4 cups of broth, maple syrup, nutmeg and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes so the flavors have a chance to meld. Carefully use your immersion blender to blend the soup completely, then add 1 to 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil, to taste, and blend again. Taste and blend in more salt and pepper, if necessary.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I have a made a million butternut squash soups, this one is the best and so simple! No more apples or pears, just the simplicity of this one for now on! I added 1/2 cut of cream and I’m in love.
I love this soup recipe! It is incredibly easy, flavorful and is the perfect soup for the table in the fall.
Very simple recipe & delicious !
My family loves it
I thought this was delicious! The only change I made was to add some ginger to the garlic and onion. I don’t normally like to add butter or cream to my food, but the addition of a little butter at the end smoothed the soup out. I used the immersion blender and had no problems. Unfortunately, none of my kids liked it but that means there was more for me!
I made this last night, cold windy and damp. The soup warmed to the bone! I omitted the maple syrup to save the calories, let me have TWO huge bowls…..Great “Go to” soup recipe- thanks
This was INSANELY delicious and easy! I used an immersion blender with wonderfully creamy results, and the nutmeg gave it a nice extra kick of flavor. Thanks for this recipe, it will be a staple for fall from now on!
Kate, I had been wanting to make a Squash soup and I came across your recipe and so glad I did! Made it today for dinner. Excellent! Will be making again! Thanks for sharing!
Lora
This soup is perfection. Made it last night for the family who raved about it. Your instructions are easy to follow. I used a pot and a hand held blender which worked perfectly. Thank you. Will be making often this winter and adding it to our Thanksgiving menu.
Thia was amazing. I cheated a bit, steamed my squash then added everything to the blender (only 2 cloves of garlic since they were not cooked). AMAZING. Somehow I was out of nutmeg so I put a smidge of pumpkin spice in there instead and it tastes like Fall Heaven. Def serving this at Thanksgiving!
Made this today after having oral surgery on Wednesday and have been limited as to what I can eat. Great decision on my part! I used organic chicken broth instead of vegetable broth because that is what I had on hand at the time, and I left out the maple syrup. Only because when I tasted the squash right out of the oven, it was so good and had a sweet taste to it. I did not was my soup to taste like a “dessert” so I left it out. I also used my food processor to blend everything and it turned out to be amazing. I will be able to eat this for the next several days – if I can keep it away from my husband! Very easy to make and pretty quick too. I will be making this again throughout Florida’s bitter winter!
I just completed my first roasted butternut squash soup in the older model vitamix. I put in way too much garlic, as had mindset of whole garlic as opposed to 4 cloves lol. I need to put out that fire, any suggestions? Thank you!
I just made my first Roasted butternut squash soup in an older vitamix. lovely recipe, however, had mindset of whole garlic rather than cloveslol. Any suggestions how to put out this fire so little grandson can enjoy it? Thank you
This was delicious! It is warming, a bit spicy, creamy and oh so Fall-like. I cannot wait to make this again!
Note – I do not have a Vitamix blender, but no problem! After roasting the squash, I smooshed it up before adding it to the pot with the sauteed onions & garlic. After adding the brother and simmering for awhile, I used my immersion/hand blender to smooth out the soup.
Just made this for dinner tonight, and it was incredible! It was very simple and straightforward. I will always roast my butternut squash from now on. The flavor is great, and you don’t have to break a peeler trying to skin a raw squash.
This is great! I usually make a vegetable stock with water, 1 large onion, 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, 2 smashed cloves of garlic, a twined herb blend of thyme, oregano, parsley, and bay leaf, salt and pepper. Let that simmer for about 45 min while the squash is roasting. Then I’ll strain the stock into a large pot, add a diced potato, let that cook for about 15 minutes, then add the squash and finish with the immersion blender. Quick, easy, and couldn’t be tastier!
This soup is amazing! Very creamy and perfect for a cold rainy day. I left the nutmeg out because I’m not a big fan of the flavor. I will definitely be making this one again!
LOVE this soup! I roasted the shallot and garlic in the same pan as the butternut squash (threw them in with about 15 mins left) because I didn’t want to make another pan dirty, and the roasted garlic flavor was fantastic. Delicious!
I made this today with an immersion blender, sans maple syrup. It is delicious! I think I would appreciate the syrup but I don’t have it on hand. It is still yummy and I love the hint of nutmeg. Thanks, too, for the immersion instructions. I wasn’t disappointed with the results at all.
I made this soup last night and it was delicious! I grew butternut squash in my garden for the first time this year … wasn’t expecting it to get so big and sprawl all over the other plants! :-) I am SO glad I came across your site and found this wonderful recipe. I made it exactly as stated and used my new immersion blender. Perfect!!!
Garlic completely overpowered the taste of this soup. Wish I had cut the amount of garlic in half. I followed the recipe exactly as written.
This may be my new favorite butternut squash soup recipe! Every other one I’ve made had used yellow onion. I think the shallot is a much better combination. I’ve also made others that had some sort of twist to it, but I agree that the simplicity of this one really does let the butternut squash flavor shine. Thanks Kate!
I usually don’t leave comments on blogs after trying a recipe (I guess I am too lazy) but I just have to comment about this soup: It’s simply too delicious! Thanksgiving dinner or not, it just really is creamy and simple yet perfect. (I used coconut oil instead of butter, though, and I didn’t have any nutmeg so I put a little bit of caraway) We had a guest for dinner who was unsure he wanted to taste a soup with maple syrup in it, but even he loved it.
I wanted to make a Butternut Squash Soup and found your recipe on the net. I had all the ingredients except scallions, so I substituted the white parts of green onions instead. The soup turned out great. It was so easy to make and tasted terrific!
I just made this soup for my family. I think it is the best soup I have ever made. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.
Just made this recipe this afternoon. Yummy! Pretty easy, I must say. I don’t own a Vitamix or immersion blender, so I used my regular old blender it worked great. I used my little mini food processor to grind up the onion and garlic (yes, a mild sweet onion….store didn’t have shallots!) Will make this again!!
Not enough flavor in this recipe. We make another squash soup with cumin, chili powder, and cayenne. I had hope this would be just as good but is very disappointing.
Best butternut squash soup ever! The roasting appears to be the key. Absolutely perfect.
Wishing for nutrition info!
Just made your scrumptious soup and had it for dinner. Even though I have a cold, I could taste all the yumminess.
I’m trying to avoid syrups and sugars, so instead of maple syrup, I squeezed an orange and added a tablespoon of the juice. Wow! It was simple, delicious and heartwarming. This one is definitely on repeat. Thank you sooooo much!!!
Love this recipe!!!! It was so good!
Wait. This soup is unreal. Like, actual magic. I was fully convinced it wouldn’t be enough for my flavor obsessed palette, especially because I didn’t have butter or maple syrup, but I opted to go for it anyway and WOAH. How can such a simple soup be so incredibly delicious and savory and hearty?! How can so few ingredients create such nuanced flavors?! Would I turn into a butternut squash if I ate this every single day?! Would I mind?! These are questions I’ll be asking myself for the next few hours while I fight the urge to finish the entire batch. My mind is blown. Thanks Kate!
OMG This is good! I didn’t measure all the ingredients exactly, but they were pretty close. I also didn’t add any maple syrup but I didn’t think the soup needed it. Even with my slight deviations from the recipe the soup is creamy and flavorful!
I have a Ninja blender, so will prep and blend ingredients until smooth as you indicated then put into my crockpot to simmer until serving time!
Thank you for this awesome recipe, Kate!
This is my go-to Butternut Squash Soup recipe and I’ve made it several times since you posted in last year. It’s so simple and easy to make so it’s a winner all around. You’re the best!
I may have missed this, but can this be frozen ahead of time and thawed for Thanksgiving?
OMG Soooooo good i think this is a new favorite of my family’s.
This soup was super easy to make and turned out fantastic!
I upped the nutmeg to 1.5 Tsp and added 1/8 Tsp of ground cloves.
The cloves gave it a nice spice, so to complement the heat of the cloves I also added 1/2 Tbs of sour cream on top to each serving of soup and sprinkled with fresh parsley!
YUMMY!
Just made this soup — really liked the consistency.
I used 2.5 cups of broth for a 3lb butternut squash and found it to be enough.
I read a lot of comments from people saying the garlic was overpowering– I halved the garlic and still found the garlic overpowering– and I think the problem might be the 30 second cooking direction. Next time I’m going to let the garlic cook more, and I think then it will be really good.
Otherwise– it was great!! Really excited to try this recipe again :) I think rosemary might be really good with the garlic too :)
A bit of work but worth it. A very good tasting squash soup! I would recommend it.
So delicious!!! Someday I will have a VITAMIX!!!!
Can you please explain how you cut your squash in half? Thank you Kate and happy Thanksgiving to you a Cookie!
Made this a couple weeks ago for our book club’s 10th anniversary dinner. Rave reviews! Soooo yummy and so simple! Another recipe to add to my cookieandkate.com collection. :-)
This roasted butternut squash soup recipe is Yummy and creamy. I made it in two steps. Roasted the squash Friday and made the soup Saturday. I used the pot method and immersion blender, so picked a deep pot so wouldn’t have splatter issues. My husband thoroughly enjoyed it and he is not a soup kinda guy. Thanks for sharing
Hi Kate, looking forward to making your soup. Can it be made ahead and reheated in a slow cooker?
Hi I followed instructions to a tee. This soup is easy, beautiful, creamy but I found it very bland. Any suggestions?
Thank you, made it for Thanksgiving. I’m sure everyone will love it. Love that there’s no dairy. Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi, would a food processor work for this recipe too?!
Followed your recipe for this TG and it was super delish, thank you!
Great recipe! Tried it for my family for the first time tonite! Vitamin makes it so easy.
I’m making this for the second time. My elderly friend loved it. I love it to. She asked me to make her butternut squash soup so I searched and found yours. Your recipe is simple yet the outcome is elegant. Thank you!