With the cooler fall weather upon us, I’ve been craving soup day in and day out. Butternut squash is the ultimate fall vegetable and I’ve been lucky enough to find a local farmer who grows possibly the sweetest squash ever. Cozy up with a bowl of this soup on a cold night and it’ll warm your soul right up!
Butternut Squash + Coconut Milk = Love
Let me tell you how much I love coconut milk. Seriously, we have a major love affair going on. I cook with it all the time! I didn’t discover the magic of coconut milk until recently. Don’t you just love when you stumble upon a new ingredient that totally changes your cooking?! If you haven’t used coconut milk in your cooking – you’re missing out. Lucky for you, I’m here to introduce you.
I love this recipe because there’s hardly any prep work. Not to mention, it’ll be on the table in less than 30 minutes! With my husband working evenings, I’m always on the lookout for quick easy meals that I can throw together for lunch.
No salt for the mini mouth of our family!
Babies’ kidneys can’t handle more than 1g/salt per day, so I leave out salt altogether from my recipes. My husband and I just add our own. Easy solution!
Since we’ve started our BLW journey with Ariana recently, I have to be mindful of how I can cater the recipe to make it easier for her to eat. This one is a great option for us because it has spinach leaves and beans she can fish out. Served with a side of crusty bread, she (theoretically) can use her piece of bread as a dipper in the soup puree. Plus, my daughter is actually a rabbit and loves chewing on lettuce leaves. I don’t think she actually eats much of them, but that’s fine. Hopefully this habit stays with her as she keeps growing.
Let’s get started!
First of all, let’s get these veggies chopped up! Peel and dice your butternut squash. You only need about two cups of it. Scoop out those weird stringy innards and remove the seeds. You can roast the seeds with some olive oil and salt, if you’re into that sorta thing. Chop up your onion and carrot pretty small. It doesn’t have to be super fine, since these are all going to get pureed anyways.
Sauté your squash, onions and carrots over medium heat until your onions are translucent. Keep an eye on it and stir frequently so the squash doesn’t stick to the bottom.
Pour in the coconut milk, diced tomatoes, and vegetable broth. Here’s an easy recipe for broth if you want to make your own. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or so. Check to make sure the butternut squash is tender. If so, let’s move on!
Be careful blending it!
Now we’re going to turn this delicious butternut squash medley into puree! If you haven’t blended up hot liquid before, be mindful that the steam will create pressure within your blender. I blended this soup in three small batches so that the steam was manageable. I also used the “pulse” function on the blender and then would open the lid to let the steam out. Pulse, crack the lid. Repeat until it’s a nice creamy puree. Yum, yum, yum. Almost done!
Pour your puree back into your soup pot. Add your two cans of beans and your baby spinach. If you’re using regular spinach, that’s cool too. Just chop it up roughly so your pieces aren’t huge. Reheat the soup just until the spinach leaves start to wilt.
Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, with a side salad or some crusty bread. Or both! That’s what we opted for.
If you try this recipe, please let me know what you think!
I love sharing my latest creations with you and getting feedback. Hopefully you enjoy this soup as much as my family does! Drop a comment below, hit subscribe for new blog post updates, and follow me on Instagram to stay connected. I love hearing from you!
Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 can coconut milk 14 oz can
- 1 chopped carrot about one cup
- 1/2 large diced butternut squash about two cups
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 c. veg broth
- 3 c. baby spinach
- 2 cans northern white beans 15 oz cans, drained and rinsed
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
Instructions
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Saute onion, carrot and butternut squash in olive oil on medium heat until onions are translucent (~5 mins).
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Add coconut milk, diced tomatoes, and vegetable broth. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer until carrots & squash are tender (~10 mins).
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Transfer to blender and puree, then return pureed soup to stovetop. Do small batches in the blender so that the steam doesn't build up too much!
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Add beans and spinach, then cook until spinach begins to wilt. (3-5 mins). Add salt and pepper to taste.
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Serve immediately with warm crusty bread or a side salad.
Thanks Jennifer,
I’m going to try this and will let you know. Sounds really good.
Awesome! I hope you enjoy it!
I looooooove this soup! I had to tweak the recipe to accommodate my ingredients on hand. I used black beans instead of the northern, and instead of homemade vegetable broth, I added a bouillon cube to the water. Also, we added tofu (just diced from the carton) and warmed up when the spinach and beans were added. I loved it so much we made it the following night with a Thai influence. There was a similar recipe from a Vitamix email I had, but it was more elaborate. So, the only tweaking I did to the first recipe was add a clove of garlic, a tablespoon of fresh ginger to the simmering segment of 10 mins. and then added a half of lime (no peel) to the blender and mixed it all up, adding the black beans, tofu, and spinach at the end to warm through. Served with rice, it was super yummy. Thank you, Jen, for all the inspiration! Love the ideas!
Wow that sounds so good!! Using whatever you have on hand always makes sense to me, that’s how I came up with this recipe too. Thanks for your feedback Melissa!