Healthy Butternut Squash Soup
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Healthy Butternut Squash Soup made without cream! Easy to make in the crockpot, Instant Pot or on the stove. Vegan, paleo and gluten free.
This post was originally shared in December of 2018 but has since been updated.
Is there anything more delicious and cozy than butternut squash soup? This easy healthy butternut squash soup recipe is a staple in our home during the fall. Made with only a few ingredients – it’s quick to make and so tasty!
This paleo butternut squash soup is naturally gluten free, dairy free, whole30 friendly, and vegan!
We love butternut squash. It’s delicious roasted or even made into chips or in Ground Beef Butternut Squash Skillet! However.. we all know that butternut squash soup is where it really shines.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Wholesome ingredients – Typically butternut squash soup is loaded with lots of funky ingredients, heavy cream, and loads of cheese. This soup doesn’t have that and still has great flavor and that creamy texture!
- Creaminess from veggies – Most butternut squash soup recipes have a lot of heavy cream in them, but this soup is dairy free!
- Easily customizable – Whether you need to make this lower salt, lower carb.. there’s a substitution for basically everything below!
- Veggie loaded – There is one serving of veggies per serving of soup, and you can easily bulk up that amount by adding more carrots, celery, or onions.
Ingredients:
You’ll also need an immersion blender for this recipe.
Substitutions
Can I use frozen or pre-cut butternut squash? Absolutely! Both will work. No need to thaw the frozen butternut squash. Just sauté it right from frozen!
Can butternut squash be roasted? You can roast the butternut squash and veggies in this soup rather than sautéing or cooking in the crockpot/instant pot. Coat all vegetables in olive oil and roast at 400 for 30 minutes. Make sure to roughly chop veggies rather than dicing them if roasting them. You can also follow our Roasted Butternut Squash Soup recipe.
Herbs: Feel free to add fresh thyme, rosemary, or sage to this recipe. 1/2 teaspoon of dried herbs will be the perfect amount!
Milk/Cream: You can add regular milk, cream, almond milk, or coconut milk to this soup. Make sure that the milk has come to room temperature and add when the soup has finished cooking. Blending the soup with milk will make it thinner in texture while making it creamier.
Broth: You can use beef or chicken broth instead of vegetable broth.
Sodium: If you’re looking to reduce sodium, omit the salt and use a salt free broth. The nutrition facts reflect using a low salt broth.
How to cut butternut squash:
- The first step to cutting/preparing a butternut squash is to peel it. This is the best vegetable peeler!
- Once your squash is peeled, cut the neck off (the cylinder shaped side).
- Remove the bulbous (round) shaped slice and slice longways. You’ll find that this part of the squash has seeds in it. Scoop the seeds out and discard (or save them and roast them up for a snack!)
- The top half (or ‘neck’) of the squash doesn’t have seeds in it. You can use this part of the squash as is. At this point, you can cube the squash.
Now that your squash is cut, let’s go over how to make butternut squash soup. I’ve included instructions for the crockpot, instant pot, and stove – but the photos show the crockpot.
How to Make Healthy Butternut Squash Soup:
- Heat olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Sauté squash, carrots, onions + garlic until slightly browned + soft on edges.
- Place cooked vegetables in crockpot. Cover with stock and add spices. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- Allow soup to cook + blend it up! My Vitamix always gets jobs like this done in no time! You can also use an immersion blender or food processor.
- Top with bacon and pumpkin seeds if desired. That’s literally it… it doesn’t get any easier than that!
What is the best way to blend soup?
You can blend this soup with an immersion blender, regular blender, or even a food processor.
I strongly recommend using an immersion blender to blend your soup. If you don’t have an immersion blender, here are a few tips:
Make sure to be very careful when blending soup in a regular blender. If you are blending hot soup, it can lead the blender to steam up or build pressure which can result in the lid popping off. To avoid that:
Remove the center cover from the blender and cover with a towel instead. Most blender tops have a removable plastic piece in the center. Take this center piece out and put a clean dish towel over the opening while blending. (You don’t want soup on the ceiling!). Doing this allows the steam to vent out and prevents pressure from building up in the blender. Make sure to hold your hand over the dish towel to avoid it from moving/splattering.
Allow the soup to cool for a few minutes if you can. It’s best not to take this right off the stove/instant pot/crockpot and put it in the blender. Give it a few minutes uncovered/off heat to release some steam.
Blend the soup in batches. It’s best to divide this in half and blend it 1/2 the batch at a time. By doing this you’re leaving room in the blender for the soup to move around.
how to serve
Butternut squash is filling and delicious. You can serve it alongside these Stuffed Acorn Squash, Healthy Chicken Tenders, Strawberry Avocado Goat Cheese Salad for a well balanced meal. Here are a few ways we like to serve it:
Garnish it with Toppings:
- chopped bacon
- toasted pumpkin seeds
- chopped chives
- heavy cream
- croutons
Storage
Storage: This butternut squash soup will last for 4 days in the refrigerator.
Can this soup be frozen? Yes! You can freeze this soup for up to 3 months. We have more tips on how to freeze soup! Let the leftover soup cool to room temperature before transferring it to a proper storage container. I love these airtight containers for freezing leftovers!
Can this be made ahead? – Yes, you can also make it the day before and reheat it in your microwave or in a pot on the stove!
Other healthy soup recipes:
We love soup SO much that we actually have a free healthy soup ebook! We also have a post filled with Healthy Soup Recipes!
Healthy Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 lbs cubed butternut squash about 5 cups
- 1 cup diced carrots
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 quart vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Stove Top instructions
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the squash, carrots, onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Once the veggies have cooked, add the stock and dried spices to the pot. Stir together. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once the soup has cooked, blend with an immersion blender until smooth and serve warm. If you don't have an immersion blender there are tips for blending the soup in a blender in the post!
Crockpot Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the squash, carrots, onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Place the cooked vegetables in crockpot. Cover with stock and add dried spices. Stir together. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.
- Once the soup has cooked, blend with an immersion blender until smooth and serve warm. If you don't have an immersion blender there are tips for blending the soup in a blender in the post!
Instant Pot Instructions
- Set instant pot to Sauté. Heat the olive oil over medium heat. the squash, carrots, onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Once the veggies have cooked, add the stock and dried spices to the pot. Stir together.
- Cover the instant pot and set to sealing, Pressure Cook for 8 minutes.
- Once the soup has cooked, allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes. Quick release any remaining pressure.
- Blend with an immersion blender until smooth and serve warm. If you don't have an immersion blender there are tips for blending the soup in a blender in the post!
I didn’t have any carrots so I substituted sweet bell peppers. It came out great.
So creamy and delicious! I’d add a touch of maple syrup next time but overall yummy!
Love it!
I love this! I use chicken bone broth- easy and healthy!
Great recipe!Easy to make and very flavorful! Will be adding this to our soup rotation.
This was a easy and very tastefully, thick, and the squash gave it the real flavor.
Amazing recipe without the guilt of butter and cream! I added an 1/8 tsp of ground cloves! Absolutely delicious!
This soup was so easy and so delicious. It was so full of flavor too. The best by far butternut squash soup o have ever had.
Made this for the second time! So hearty and yummy, I always feel like it’s a “fancy soup” but it is so easy!
Delicious with the combination of spices that are subtle, yet fall flavors are enhanced.
Hands down the best squash soup recipe I’ve tried. I was a little worried how it would come out because I used smoked paprika (that’s all I have on hand), but still simply amazing.
This soup is delicious! Don’t miss the dairy at all!
5 stars as usual! This was SO EASY to make, and incredibly delicious. We added a little cayenne for a bit of a kick, which was a great complement to the flavors already there. Will definitely be making this all winter!
This is delicious and on heavy rotation in our house during the Fall!
Delicious!!
I had my doubts about this soup due to not having a milk or cream base. It was so flavorful! The taste of the squash, turmeric and cinnamon was a delight to my palate.