Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

One of my favorite all-time soups, this is probably the easiest recipe I ever came up with. All you have to do is chop, roast, drop in the pot to heat, and finally blend together until smooth. The flavors are so comforting and savory. And it freezes beautifully so you can have soup any time you want!

Makes 8 servings

Prep time: 12 minutes. Total time: 44 minutes.

Word to the wise when making this recipe or any other blended soup recipe…get yourself a hand-held immersion blender and save the rush trip to the E.R. to treat the burns you’ll get from trying to transfer hot soup from the pot to a traditional blender. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way! 🙁

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 2 medium apples, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 medium-sized carrots, peeled roughly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• 7 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into ¾-inch pieces (get precut at the store if available)
• 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth or stock (I prefer 2 cups of broth or stock and 4 cups water; if you want thicker soup, leave out 1 cup water)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh sage
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash, onion, carrot and apples on 2 baking sheets and drizzle with oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Cut ends off of garlic cloves and drizzle with oil. Wrap in foil. Roast for 40-45 minutes in the oven, or until you see good charring. Remove pans from oven.
2. Place all cooked veggies in your Dutch oven or stock pot and add broth (and/or water). Add chopped sage. Blend with immersion blender until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Nutrition Facts

Per serving (1½ cups): 127 calories, 4g fat, 29g carbs, 8g protein, 6g fiber, 182mg calcium, 2mg iron, 248mg sodium.