Butternut Squash Soup
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
This creamy butternut squash soup is full of flavor and surprisingly easy — ready in under an hour and pure fall comfort in a bowl.
If you’re looking for a butternut squash soup that’s as easy as it gets, this is it! It starts with my favorite time-saving trick: pre-cut squash cubes from the supermarket. From there, everything goes into one pot to simmer before getting puréed into silky perfection. One important note—please follow the recipe as written. Every ingredient, including the full measures of sugar, salt, and cream, is key to the rich flavor and texture that make this soup so special.
For the finishing touch, you get to choose your own adventure: keep it classic with fresh thyme or give it a different twist with curry powder. Either way, you’ll end up with a bowl that’s warm, comforting, and worth making again and again.
I love this butternut squash soup with crusty bread or buttermilk biscuits, or for a lighter fall meal, alongside my shaved Brussels sprouts salad.
“So good and so easy!”
What You’ll Need To Make Butternut Squash Soup
- Butternut squash & red bell pepper: The squash brings a naturally sweet, nutty flavor and blends into a silky texture, while the pepper adds a gentle sweetness and bright color. Skip frozen squash—it tends to make the soup watery.
- Onion & garlic: The aromatic base that gives the soup its depth right from the start.
- Water & heavy cream: Water keeps the flavors clean and balanced, while a splash of cream at the end makes the soup luxuriously smooth.
- Salt, sugar & thyme or curry powder: Salt pulls everything together, sugar enhances the veggies’ natural sweetness, and your choice of thyme or curry powder sets the flavor tone—to herbal and earthy with thyme, or warm and lightly spicy with curry.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1. Prep the vegetables. Add all of the vegetables, salt, and sugar to a large soup pot, then pour in enough water to cover them.
Step 2. Cook until tender. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 35 minutes.
Step 3. Purée the soup. Use a hand-held immersion blender (or a standard blender) to blend until silky smooth.
Pro Tip: If using a countertop blender, remove the center cap from the lid and cover the opening with a folded kitchen towel—this lets steam escape and prevents a soup volcano.
Step 4. Add the cream. Pour in the heavy cream and stir until combined.
Step 5. Finish and serve. Bring the soup to a simmer and stir in the fresh thyme (or curry powder). Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Serve hot, or make ahead—the soup keeps nicely for 3 days in the fridge or can be frozen for longer storage.
Pro Tip: If you want to dress up the soup with a garnish, try pomegranate seeds for a sweet-tart burst, toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for a warm crunch, or homemade croutons for buttery crispness that soaks up the soup in the best way.
More Fall Soups That Warm You from the Inside Out
Butternut Squash Soup
Creamy, flavorful butternut squash soup that’s easy to make and perfect for a cozy fall meal.
Ingredients
- 2½ pounds pre-cut butternut squash (7 to 8 cups, cubed; see note)
- 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 7 cups water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¾ cup heavy cream, plus more for serving
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon curry powder, for a different flavor profile)
Instructions
- Combine the squash, pepper, onion, garlic, water, salt, and sugar in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 35 minutes
- Using a hand-held immersion blender, purée the soup until silky smooth. (Alternatively, cool the soup slightly, then purée in a blender in batches, making sure to leave the hole in the lid open to allow the steam to escape.) Stir in the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Mix in the thyme (or curry powder), then taste and adjust seasoning (depending on the sweetness of the vegetables, you may need a touch more sugar). Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with more cream if desired, and serve.
- Note: For the best flavor and texture, use fresh butternut squash in this recipe. Frozen squash can release extra water when cooked, which may dilute the soup and make it thinner or less flavorful.
- Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The soup can be prepared up to 3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. It can also be frozen, without the cream, for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator for 12 hours and then reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat until hot. Once heated through, add the cream and bring to a simmer before serving.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (6 servings)
- Calories: 217
- Fat: 11 g
- Saturated fat: 7 g
- Carbohydrates: 31 g
- Sugar: 11 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Sodium: 1192 mg
- Cholesterol: 34 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I have tried several butternut squash soup recipes and yours is my keeper. This is the second time I’ve made this recipe and this time I changed it up slightly. Instead of adding the 2 Tbs of sugar, I chopped up a couple of carrots and an apple and added those to the pot. I also found that using the purée option on my blender is much easier for me than using the immersion blender. It is the perfect consistency and tastes wonderful.
It was delicious, but I did a few things differently for lack of planning. I boiled the squash and red pepper in water with a little salt. When they were spft after simmering, I put them in the blender. After they were creamy, I added a tad of brown sugar and blended again. Then realized I had no cream, and added plain non-fat yogurt. Yum! The little sour kick os delicious! Not much needed in the mix, as each member in the family added a little more to their taste directly to their plate. Seriously awesome!
Oh, by the way, I drained after simmering and only added less than a cup of water. It was all squash with the one red pepper. Consistency was creamy, thick even. Yummy!
This is the first of youe recipes I have made and both my wife and myself enjoyed it however like many Noth American recipes and products we fond it overly sweet , our personal taste probably. Next time it will be with less sugar and maybe only six cups of water. Congratulations on an excellent site.
Made this recipe as the weather in NY is still decently cold and wanted a nice healthy bowl of soup to cuddle up on the couch with! As far as squash soup, I prefer mine to be on the sweeter side, so for about every 1 1/2 cups of soup, I added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and at the end an extra teaspoon of sugar. Additionally, instead of heavy creamer I used unsweetened almond milk and it helped lessen the taste of the pepper which seemed to be a bit overwhelming to me at first. I would definitely make this again for sure!
My soup came out very lumpy. How can I make it a creamier consistency?
Hi Alexandra, Just keep blending it; it takes a while to get smooth, especially using a stick blender.
I just returned from surgery from a fractured jaw and came across this recipe while looking for liquid food recipes. I realized while I was cooking though that I forgot to buy onions 🙁 Will this make a huge difference to the flavour?
Hi Bulelani, Unfortunately, yes, you need the onions. Sorry!
So i was too tired to go back for the onions, I mad it anyway though and it still turned out pretty good. But the onions definitely would’ve made it perfect.
By the way, the water left over from boiling, should you add it all in or just enough to get a decent consistency?
You add it all; if you had added the onions, it would have been just right but it was probably too watery without them. Hope you’ll try it again 🙂
That’s exactly it, it was too watery. It was still great and delicious nonetheless. I have a whole bag full of butternut so I’m definitely going to try this recipe again 😀
I absolutely love the flavour of this soup and I am planning to serve it for Easter dinner for a crowd of 15. I wanted to know if I could make the soup ahead and then freeze it? If so, how long can it be frozen for without changing the taste or consistency??
Hi Hilary, It’s fine to make the soup now and freeze for Easter, however I would wait to add the cream until you defrost it.
Forgot to add that I substituted Alpro Soya Cream as it was being served for a meat meal. (Kosher dietary rules).
Thank you for this excellent recipe. I stumbled across it whilst browsing for a simple and speedy soup. It was served last week for the Purim festival feast and everyone loved it! Looking forward to now working through your extensive menus.
Would love to make this soup but I cannot tolerate garlic is there a substitute I could use.
Hi Gill, It’s fine to just leave it out.