This recipe for roasted vegan butternut squash soup is creamy, full of savoury depth, and has no coconut milk! Toasted pecans are blended with vegetable stock and a mix of roasted squash, apples, and onions, resulting in a luscious and richly textured soup that is so satisfying. The oven does most of the work with this recipe, leaving you to just blend everything until smooth at the end. This vegan soup also features ginger, garlic, chili flakes, apple cider vinegar, and Tamari to really enhance the mellow sweetness of squash. It’s truly amazing how roughly 10 simple ingredients can result in such a silky and enticing soup.
The First Mess Cookbook
For more seasonal inspiration, my cookbook features an incredible butternut squash lasagna as well as a squash parcel supper with quinoa!
It felt like we were lacking my version of classic vegan roasted butternut squash soup on here, so I just had to get this one up for you! A lot of versions rely on coconut milk for creaminess, but I’m not always in the mood for the strong flavour of coconut. I always like to give my vegan soup recipes a little something extra, so I blend toasted pecans in this dairy-free squash soup, and this really brings a toasty richness. Also, cooked butternut squash gets super creamy on its own when blended with liquid.
Complimentary flavours like ginger, garlic, apple, and onions all mingle on one tray in the oven. Roasting and blending is an ideal method for this vegan squash soup. The dry heat helps to concentrate the flavours of the vegetables and apples, and it’s a little more hands-off, which is nice sometimes. Your house will smell so good!
How to prep butternut squash for soup:
- I like to select squashes that are more cylindrical and uniform in thickness from top to bottom (ie avoid an overly round base where all the seeds are). I find these ones easier to peel and they usually have less seeds.
- I personally develop a light skin reaction when touching raw squash, so I always wear gloves when I handle it.
- I start by cutting the top and bottom ends off of the squash.
- Then, I peel the squash with a Y peeler. I really recommend taking the skin off of butternut squash for soup. This yields a prettier colour and finer texture.
- From here, I’ll place the squash upright, the flat bottom on the cutting board. Then I cut it in half lengthwise with a sharp chef knife.
- I remove the seeds with a spoon and cut the squash into cubes! You can keep the prepped squash in a sealed container in the fridge for a week. See my photos above for visuals!
Blending with vegetable stock adds another layer of flavour that you won’t get with water alone. I used a stock that was heavy on sage and thyme flavours, which worked out nice! I finish this easy vegan butternut squash soup with umami-rich Tamari and bright apple cider vinegar. This step helps to simultaneously add depth and lift up all of the other flavours. Squash is mellow and slightly sweet, so it needs a little extra help to ✨sparkle✨.
I recommend serving this with some nice bread and a green salad on the side. Fans of this soup may also like my creamy vegan orzo risotto with butternut squash or my vegan butternut galette with apples and shallots.
Roasted Vegan Butternut Squash Soup with Apples & Pecans
Roasted butternut squash soup with apples and pecans is super creamy and rich with no coconut milk! 45 minutes of inactive roasting time leads to tender squash, apples, and onions that blend up into a silky soup with toasty pecans and a bit of heat from ginger and chili.
Servings 6 -8
Ingredients
- ¾ cup pecan halves divided
- 5 lbs (2.26 kg) butternut squash (about 2 large)
- 1 lb (454 grams) apples (about 2 large)
- 2 large yellow onions
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes or ground chilies
- ¼ cup olive oil
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Tamari
Notes
- I used 2 medium butternut squashes and one small honey nut squash in these photos. Using purely one of either type or a mix like I did is great! As long as you have about 5 lbs total.
- Once toasted, ½ cup of the pecans goes into the blended soup while the remaining ¼ cup is saved for garnish.
- I love to also garnish this with a mixture of: chili crisp, drizzles of maple syrup, extra black pepper, and little sage leaves from the plant in my garden. Of course it’s delicious with just the pecans too!
- My Vitamix blender pitcher holds 8 cups, so I can blend this soup in 2 batches. Adjust accordingly for your blender. Because of the pecans, I do not recommend a stick blender here.
- I used Macintosh apples that were slightly tart. The level of sweetness and acidity worked perfectly here. Granny Smith or Paula Red are also good choices.
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 400°F. Scatter the pecans on a small baking sheet and let them toast while the oven heats up, for about 6-7 minutes. Set a scant ¼ cup of the pecans aside for garnishing your soup and chop them up roughly. You’ll be blending the remaining ½ cup with the soup.
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Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (or 2 medium).
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Peel the squash and remove the seeds before dicing into 2-inch chunks. Place the diced squash on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
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Peel and core the apples and then dice them into chunks as well. Add them to the baking sheet. Peel the onions and chop them roughly. Add them to the baking sheet.
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Add the peeled garlic, sliced ginger, chili flakes, and olive oil to the baking sheet. Season generously with salt and pepper. Toss to coat everything evenly and then spread out into an even layer. Slide the tray into the oven.
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Roast the squash, apples, and onions until soft and browning a bit on the edges, about 40-45 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly.
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Transfer half of the roasted squash mixture to an upright blender. Add half of the toasted pecans to the blender and 2 cups of the vegetable stock. Blend this mixture on high until smooth, about 1-2 full minutes. Pour the blended soup into a large pot. Repeat this process with the remaining roasted squash, pecans, and stock.
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Once you have all the blended soup in the pot, stir in the apple cider vinegar and Tamari. Give it a stir and check the seasoning. Adjust if necessary (more salt, vinegar, chili etc). Bring the soup to a boil over medium heat. If the soup is too thick for your liking, add some water to thin it out. Serve the soup hot with toasted pecans on top.
