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This easy curried butternut squash soup recipe is just perfect, creamy and seasoned with ginger and curry paste. Your search for the best squash soup is over!
Why make butternut squash soup when you can make curried butternut squash soup? Yes, the Thai flavors of coconut, ginger and curry are the perfect match to this lightly sweet orange squash. Before Alex and I learned to cook, I remember some friends invited us over for a cozy fall meal and made a soup like this one. I was floored that soup could taste this good. It’s silky, creamy, and warming from the inside out. It’s one of our favorite butternut squash recipes of the season (except this butternut squash risotto…and this curry and mac and cheese).
A few other options? Also try Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup or Best Butternut Squash Soup
Is it easy? Are there time savers?
Yes, we’d call this an easy curried butternut squash soup. BUT, this is with the strong caveat: peeling and chopping a butternut squash is not really easy. In fact, we’d call it a bit of a pain! However, Alex has helped me to realize that there is value in the chopping process. He turns on music and jams while he cuts: he says he finds it soothing! I’ve started to try to channel that sort of zen in my chopping: and I’ve actually started to enjoy it too. That said: chopping a butternut squash can be a little tricky: see the section below for all our secrets.
Time saver: If you’d rather shortcut wrangling the season’s most popular squash, you can shortcut it! Simply use frozen cubed butternut squash: it’s available at most mainstream groceries in the frozen aisle.
How to cut butternut squash, the easy(ish) way
Alex and I stayed away from butternut squash for years because it takes too long to peel! (And sweet potatoes taste pretty much the same…right?) But now, we’re armed with our favorite method for peeling and chopping squash! Since the easiest way to show how to cut butternut squash is to actually show you, we made you a video (below).
Tip: One of our favorite tips for peeling a butternut squash: use a squash peeler! It’s serrated, which makes it easier than a normal peeler. Here’s the serrated vegetable peeler we use.
How to make curried butternut squash soup: the basic steps
Once you’ve got the butternut squash under control, the rest of this recipe is a breeze! Here are a few notes and tips about this curried butternut squash soup:
- Chop: First, chop all of the ingredients: the squash, and then onion, ginger, and carrots. In the recipe below, we’ve linked to all our knife skills to help you navigate the prep.
- Boil: Saute the onion in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Then you’ll add the veggies and broth and boil for about 10 to 15 minutes until it’s all tender.
- Blend: The final step is to blend everything with chickpeas, coconut milk and red curry paste. The chickpeas add body to the soup and make it more filling by adding plant based protein: it’s one of our favorite tricks!
The secret ingredient: Thai curry paste
The secret to the flavor in this creamy curried butternut squash soup? Thai red curry paste! Thai curry paste is a jarred paste that combines flavors you’ll find in Thai curry: garlic, lemongrass, ginger and more. Grab a jar from the store in the international foods aisle, and it keeps for months in the refrigerator. Some Thai curry pastes are spicy and some don’t have too much heat.
Our favorite brand of Thai curry paste is Thai Kitchen, and it doesn’t add much heat to the overall dish. If you can’t find it at your local grocery, here’s a link to Thai Kitchen red curry paste on Amazon.
Do I need an immersion blender?
Alex and I used our immersion blender for this soup. Do you need one? Not necessarily. An immersion blender is also called a “stick blender” or hand blender. It’s useful for making pureed soups and sauces. Instead of transferring hot soup to a blender and then back, you can just place the stick blender right into the pot! The downside? It can be messy, leaving little orange splatters all over your kitchen! You can easily use a normal blender as well.
If you’re looking for one, here’s the immersion blender we use! Immersion blender on Amazon.
Sides to serve with curried butternut squash soup
That’s all you need to know about the method: now let’s talk about serving it! This curried butternut squash soup is tasty and hearty, and because of the blended chickpeas and coconut milk it’s more filling than most blended soups. Because it has plant-based protein, you won’t need to add as much to it to make it a meal as something like our Instant Pot butternut squash soup.
Here are some ideas for how to serve with this curried butternut squash soup:
- Top with crispy chickpeas.
- Serve with toast spread with goat cheese.
- With pita pizzas: try our Thai curry naan pizza.
- Use it as an appetizer for Spring Roll Noodle Bowl or Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai.
- Homemade croutons and roasted salted pepitas.
- As a lunch, homemade crackers and slices of smoked gouda.
- Grilled cheese! Try our spinach artichoke grilled cheese.
- With beet salad with balsamic dressing. Or beet and apple salad.
- With vegan cornbread or cornbread muffins slathered with almond butter.
- With a hearty grain salad, like farro with mushrooms.
This recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, plant-based, dairy-free, and vegan.
Cozy Curried Butternut Squash Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This easy curried butternut squash soup recipe is perfect, creamy and seasoned with ginger and curry paste. Your search for the best squash soup is over!
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
- 4 medium carrots (1 cup chopped)
- 1 medium butternut squash (4 cups chopped)*
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- 15-ounce can chickpeas
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk, plus more to garnish
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- Cilantro, for the garnish
Instructions
- Dice the onion. Mince the ginger. Peel and chop the carrots. Dice the butternut squash.
- In a medium stockpot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the ginger, carrots, squash, vegetable broth and kosher salt and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook until carrots are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- When the carrots are soft, add the chickpeas, coconut milk, and red curry paste, and carefully blend with an immersion blender (or in a blender) until the smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
- Serve with chopped cilantro, lime wedges, and extra coconut milk if desired.
Notes
*As a time saver, substitute frozen cubed butternut squash.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Thai Inspired
My mother always taught me to use a teaspoon to scrape out seeds. Tried with a dessertspoon, mom’s advice won out.
Delicious soup! I didn’t have carrots so I subbed in frozen beets which worked really well. My baby also loved it—I just took some out for him before adding the curry paste and bullion to limit salt/spice, and then added those ingredients after for the adult version.
Just made a pot of this soup in my Ninja Foodi, turned out lovely.Very taste. Going to toast up some crustini’s and top with goat cheese to round out a lunch time meal!
Two things to say. First, the tip on peeling squash w a serrated peeler – total genius. I have a three-in-one peeler and never used that part of it. It worked like a charm, entirely taking the pain out of peeling the squash! Thanks!
Second, on the soup itself. It was very tasty. Next time I make it I think I’ll leave out the chickpeas as they were a bit too earthy w the coconut for my tastes. Its a super easy soup, tasty and enjoyable.