This Vegan Butternut Squash Soup only requires five basic ingredients and comes together quickly for a comforting yet healthful main course. Make it as a light meal or as a side dish or appetizer for serving guests.
For all those times you’re itching for comfort food and carbs but want to keep it mindful, this simple butternut squash soup recipe is designed to satisfy.
Truly, if you’re having a personal crisis, let this creamy soup butter your bread. On both sides. It’s like therapy for your tastebuds.
It’s sweet and cozy, has warmly-spiced fall flavor vibes infused in it, and will leave you feeling energetic and nourished.
This creamy dreamy healthy butternut squash soup happens to be dairy-free but you’d never guess it based on the luxurious texture.
The recipe comes together so quickly that if you’re looking for a last-minute show-stopping side dish or appetizer soup, this one fits the bill.
Flavorful and light yet just the right amount of filling, it’s easy to make in volume.
You can leave it in the pot on low heat and serve as needed when you have company over.
BOOM! Averting crises.
When it comes to creamy soups, I’m all about super simple recipes with few ingredients that you can find at any grocery store.
Roast up a winter squash or sweet potatoes, sauté up a yellow onion and garlic, blend it all up with some broth and/or coconut milk, warm spices for some pizzazz, and when all’s said in done you end up with a silky-smooth creamy soup that was quite simple to prepare.
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for this amazing soup.
Ingredients For Butternut Squash Soup:
Butternut Squash: Use one small butternut squash, or for a larger batch use a large butternut squash. You may need to increase the other ingredients to your personal taste if you make a large batch.
Onion & Garlic: Onion and garlic bring a creaminess and also bold flavor to the soup. With onion and garlic, you don’t need very much else to flavor this easy butternut squash soup recipe.
Olive Oil: A little olive oil or avocado is used to sauté the onion and also to drizzle over the butternut squash flesh prior to roasting it in the oven.
Full-Fat Canned Coconut Milk: Used as the liquid portion of this creamy soup and also delicious fat content for flavor, full-fat coconut milk brings a tremendous creamy texture and also flavor.
For the best results, I don’t recommend replacing it with any other non-dairy milk, as other dairy-free milks like soy milk or unsweetened almond milk don’t contain much fat and therefore will not provide very much flavor to the soup.
You can use light coconut milk to maintain the creamy consistency but less fat than full fat coconut milk.
Pure Maple Syrup: A touch of pure maple syrup gives this healthy soup such luxurious flavor. You can replace it with brown sugar, regular cane sugar, or omit it altogether.
Ground Cinnamon: Cinnamon brings warm flavor to the soup for an interesting nuance. Skip it if you don’t love cinnamon.
Sea Salt: Add sea salt to your personal taste until the soup tastes perfectly rich and creamy.
Optional Additions:
- Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of curry powder or 1 tablespoon of red curry paste to make curry butternut squash soup.
- Stir in 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper if you like it.
- For thinner consistency, or for less fat, replace some of the coconut milk with vegetable stock. You can also use chicken broth if you don’t need this recipe to be vegan.
- This recipe makes two large servings or four small servings. You can easily double the recipe if you’re serving more people.
- If you have fresh herbs on hand like fresh thyme or parsley, feel free to add a little to the soup.
- Add one peeled, cored and chopped granny smith apple for flavor and sweetness.
- Serve the soup with a little fresh lime juice or lemon juice for an acidic counterbalance to the creaminess.
- If you love fresh ginger in your butternut soup recipes, add 2 to 3 teaspoons of fresh ginger.
Back in my single days, this was one of my go-to recipes that I made when it’s just going to be me, myself, and a steamy pot of creamy soup is this butternut squash bisque.
I would sip on it in volume while binge-watching trashy chick TV shows on Netflix, and save the leftovers for lunch or snack the next day.
In this sense, this healthy butternut squash soup can be used as a complete meal for those times you’re looking for a cozy creamy soup.
Now that we’re familiar with the basics, let’s make it!
How to Make Vegan Butternut Squash Soup:
Order of operation here? The full details are in the recipe card below, but here is the basic gist.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the butternut squash on a cutting board and chop the tip and tail. Scoop out the seeds and innards and discard them or make roasted butternut squash seeds the way you would pumpkin seeds.
Drizzle olive oil over the flesh and sprinkle with sea salt and a dash of cinnamon. Place both halves face-down on a baking sheet cut-side down and roast on the center rack of the oven for 40-50 minutes or until the flesh is very soft and fork tender.
In a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil while the butternut squash is roasting. Add the sliced onion. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion is browned, about 10 minutes.
When the roasted butternut squash is cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh out of the skin. Place the flesh in a blender. Add the sauteed onions and garlic, coconut milk, maple syrup, cinnamon and salt to the blender and blend until completely smooth.
Note: you can also use an immersion blender and blend it in a pot if you have one. Transfer the soup to a large pot or saucepan and heat it, stirring frequently, until hot.
Serve soup with a drizzle of coconut milk on top for a pretty little swirl along with some crusty bread and fresh sage or fried sage.
If you’re making this soup for a holiday gathering like Thanksgiving or Christmas, keep this creamy butternut squash soup in a large pot (such as a Dutch oven or large soup pot) on the stove on low heat. You can also keep it on low hear in a slow cooker. Stir it from time to time until you’re ready to serve your guests.
How to Make Fried Sage:
If you have a hot minute to really put some finishing touches on this vegan butternut squash soup, you can fry up some sage leaves in a skillet. It may seem trivial, but fried sage is indescribably incredible! It really gives the soup a special touch.
To do so, Heat the avocado oil to medium-high in a small skillet. Carefully place the sage leaves flat on the surface of the oil when the oil is hot. Cook 20-30 seconds, flip, and cook another 10-20 seconds. Use a fork to carefully transfer the fried sage leaves to a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle with sea salt.
It only takes but a few seconds per side and what comes out is this herby little chip-like apparatus that crisps and melts in your mouth. You’ll love the way fried sage turns out if you’re into the herbage!
Store any leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
If you enjoy this recipe, you may also love these comforting soups:
More Vegan Soup Recipes:
- Vegan Corn Chowder
- Creamy Carrot Soup
- Thai Coconut Soup with Vegetables
- Creamy Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup
- Sweet Potato and Quinoa Stew
Enjoy the best butternut squash soup recipe with a hunk of crusty bread!
Vegan Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash
- ½ yellow onion chopped
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1½ tsp sea salt
For the Crispy Sage:
- 6 leaves to 8 Sage
- ¼ cup avocado oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Chop the tip and tail off the butternut squash and scoop out the seeds and innards.
- Drizzle olive oil or avocado oil over the flesh and sprinkle with sea salt and a dash of cinnamon.
- Place both halves face-down on a baking sheet and roast on the center rack of the oven for 40-50 minutes or until the flesh is very soft when poked with a fork.
- In a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil while the butternut squash is roasting. Add the sliced onion. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onion is browned, about 10 minutes.
- When the roasted butternut squash is cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh out of the skin. Place the flesh in a blender. Add the onions, coconut milk and maple syrup to the blender and blend until completely smooth. Transfer the soup to a saucepan and heat it, stirring frequently, until hot.
Make the Crispy Fried Sage (Optional):
- Heat the avocado oil to medium-high in a small skillet. Carefully place the sage leaves flat on the surface of the oil when the oil is hot. Cook 20-30 seconds, flip, and cook another 10-20 seconds. Use a fork to carefully transfer the fried sage leaves to a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Serve butternut squash bisque with fried sage leaves and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe on November 25, 2015. I updated the photos and copy but the recipe itself is the same.
Can you just add dried sage to soup? I can’t eat onions. So I usually cook chives or green onion tops or leek tops in butter in place of the onion. Then blend.
Hi Lola! You can add dried sage to soup. For this recipe I would do 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon. Love the idea of using chives and leek 🙂
I could eat butternut soup all day every day! Love that this is vegan and coconutty to boot. Best of all worlds.
yes! great idea, I’ve never thought to serve soup on Thanksgiving….
That crispy sage looks fabulous with the squash!
Sage and butternut as so good together!! Totally loving the coconut creaminess!