Thai Inspired Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup – A Fall Classic
We love this Thai inspired butternut squash and carrot soup. It’s a perfect way to enjoy fresh, local winter squash from your garden, a farmer’s market or grocery store.
Read more: Chicken & Butternut Sheet Pan Dinner, Whole Grain Salad with Kale & Butternut Squash, Kale, Butternut & Farro Salad.
I’ve been making a variation of this soup since I started growing squash in the 1990’s! I’ve been experimenting with it ever since. Every fall, I’ve tweaked the recipe and tried something different. The recipe posted is my latest, simplest version yet. Key ingredients you’ll need beyond the butternut squash and carrots are coconut milk and Thai red curry paste.
Make it Vegan/Vegetarian
Make this butternut soup vegetarian or even vegan by sticking to vegetable soup stock and coconut milk. And, be sure to check your Thai red curry paste.
Use other Squash!
Did you know that you can easily swap butternut squash with other squash? Read more about different types of squash here.
For this soup, you could easily swap the butternut squash for large pumpkins, sugar or pie pumpkins, kabocha, hubbard, red kuri or buttercup squash. A great way to discover the differences in flavour and texture of these squash.
How Long Can You Keep Squash Soup?
This soup will last in the fridge about 4-5 days. If you don’t think you can finish it before then, freeze it right away.
Can You Freeze This Soup?
Yes! This pureed soup freezes very well. It’s best used within 6 months but will be safe long after that time.
Let it cool completely and pour into convenient portion sized containers. Leave only enough airspace in hard sided containers to allow for expansion (about 3/4 inch space).
Thaw overnight in fridge or use microwave on thaw setting.
Roasting Butternut Squash Soup
Prefer roasting the squash and veggies vs sauteeing and boiling? Here’s how you can make this soup by roasting.
1.Roast the Vegetables
- Prep the Squash and Veggies: Washt the outside of the squash and cut in half or into large chunks if you prefer. Remove the seeds, and peel if desired. (You can remove peel after roasting if you prefer). Coarsely chop carrots, and onions into chunks and add to baking sheet.
- Season and Oil: Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Roast: Place on a baking sheet and roast at 400°F (200°C) for 30-40 minutes, or until the squash and veggies are tender and slightly caramelized. Roasting times may vary depending on the size of the chunks.
2. Adjust Cooking Steps
- Skip the Initial Sautéing: You can skip this step, as they will be soft and caramelized from roasting.
- Peel squash: If you didn’t peel before roasting, remove squash from peel.
- Add Veggies to Pot: If carrots aren’t fully cooked through and not quite soft enough, if you have a big batch or if you don’t have a high speed turbo blender – add veggies to pot. Add broth, curry paste, ginger, coconut milk, lime juice and cook until extra tender. Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth.
- OR Add veggies to blender: If you have a small batch and all veggies are tender enough for your blender, add them directly to your blender with broth, curry paste, ginger, coconut milk, lime juice. Blend until smooth. You may need extra broth as the roasted veggies will be drier than sauteed veggies.
3. Final Seasoning
- Season to Taste: Taste and adjust seasonings, adding a pinch of salt, pepper, sugar or extra curry paste as needed.
Thai Inspired Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup
Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 cups butternut squash (21/2-3lb squash) peeled, halved, seeded and coarsely chopped
- 1 cup carrots (2 medium) coarsely chopped
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 1-2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 Tbsp cilantro or parsley
- 4 Tbsp toasted pepitas or cashews
Instructions
- In large saucepan, heat oil and sauté onion until soft. Do not brown.
- Add squash, carrots and sugar and sauté for 10 minutes.
- Add ginger and cilantro stems (if available) and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes until veggies are soft. Puree soup using an immersion blender or food processor. Return soup to pot.
- Add 1 Tbsp Thai red curry paste, coconut milk and lime juice.
- Taste and adjust seasoning – add more curry paste, salt and pepper or more lime juice as needed.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro or parsley and toasted pepitas or cashews.
Notes
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
Tips and tricks when making butternut squash and carrot soup
How to Chop and Peel Butternut Squash
Peeling and chopping the butternut squash is definitely the hardest part of making this soup. Here are a couple of tricks to make it easier:
- Cut the neck of the butternut squash off. This gives you nice flat edges that you can use to safely balance your squash.
- A vegetable peeler will work, but I prefer standing up the squash and using a large knife to remove the peel.
- If your squash is really tough, use a paring knife to poke a few holes in it all the way around, then pop it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. This will soften the rind a little and make it easier to cut through.
Get more squash cutting, storing and cooking tips here:
How to Safely Puree Soup
You know you’re veggies are ready to puree when they’re soft and you can easily squish them with the back of a spoon against the side of the pot.
I love using a hand held immersion blender to puree soups. It’s quick and easy, requires very little clean up and is much less tricky than using a blender. However, a blender or food processor will work too, it just requires a little extra caution.
Hot Soup in A Blender
Hot soup in a blender can be dangerous as it spurts and splatters hot soup about. This happens when the hot soup expands and hot steam tries to escape – it can lead to serious scalding. To be safe…
- fill the blender less than half way
- cover it with the lid but remove the small cover from the little opening to allow steam to escape
- cover the little hole with a folded tea towel
- start pureeing on low
- repeatedly let the steam vent by removing the towel then continue to puree at higher speeds
- empty blender and repeat with remaining soup
Given my recent haul of butternut squash from our garden, I suspect I might be making a few more batches of this soup in the coming months!
If you make this soup, let me know what you think and how everyone around the table doctored it up. Leave a comment or take a photo and tag #getgettys so I can see it and like it!
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Getty. I always lovey or recipes and your practicality.!!! I have a question:how I can I make this soup in an instant pot (or any of your soup recipes. Is there an easy way to adapt any recipe to the instant pot?
Heather
Thank you for your kind words and question. Yes, you can! For most soups, use the Sauté function to soften onions/garlic and brown any meat. Add broth, veggies and seasonings, then cook:
Veg or lentil soups: 8 minutes on High
Chicken soups: 10 minutes on High, then natural release 5–10 minutes
Soups with rice or pasta: Pressure cook without them, then stir in after and simmer on Sauté
Add any cream or fresh herbs at the end so they stay smooth and flavourful. Enjoy!
It was easy and delicious. I put a little more red chili paste in. it was the right amount of spice.
Thanks for the feedback – love that you added a little more spice! Way to make it your own.
Another delicious soup! So easy to make and always turns out right! My family just loved it! What I love about your recipes is how easy they are to follow and the spices are always well balanced.
Thank you for the feedback! My family loves this one too!
Wow! My first time cooking a butternut squash and I made this soup. I made the recipe exactly as written except I didn’t have any fresh cilantro so I used a squeeze of the cilantro paste in the tube and some dried cilantro. I love this soup – it is delicious and soothing on a cold snowy day. Thank you for another favorite recipe!
Fantastic! Thanks for the feedback Tammy and congrats on your first butternut squash!
Can I use West Indian curry instead of the red curry paste? If the soup is supposed to have a little heat I have pepper sauce I can add.
Absolutely, you can add the flavouring of your choice. As for heat – add as much or as little as you’d like depending on who’s around the dining table.Use this recipe as a suggestion and inspiration for cooking squash and turning it into soup – the exact seasonings are up to you. Enjoy.
My forth time making a double batch of this soup and freezing half. Getty will this soup be ok to serve guests in two days?
Hi Pat,
So glad you enjoy this soup! Yes, this soup will last 3-5 days in the fridge so it will be great to serve to your guests.
Hi there! Loved the tomatoe recipes! I have acorn squash this year. Will it work with your soup recipe?
Hi Katharine,
Glad you enjoyed the tomato recipes! Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, you can use acorn squash. You’ll find it’s almost impossible to peel and you won’t get the same amount of flesh from the acorn squash. I would roast two acorn squash and then puree it. When making the soup, sautee the onions, soften the carrots and add the seasonings as described, then add the pureed acorn squash with the stock. I find acorn squash a little drier and less sweet than butternut squash, so you may need to adjust the seasonings and amount of liquid a little.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Getty