Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

This soup comes together so quickly and easily, you can hardly even call this a recipe! You could rotate out the butternut squash for just about any other veggie (acorn squash, sweet potato, delicata squash, pumpkin, carrot, broccoli, etc). The base is easy and the rest is easy to customize! 

Squash is perfectly in season now, making this soup a warming dinner dish to add to your colder weather meal rotation. You can leave out the sausage for a lighter fare, or keep it in to round this out as a full dinner dish. Add a side salad and you're golden (like this soup!) 

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

(Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Paleo, AIP, Vegan)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients: 

• 4-6 cups butternut squash, cubed
• 2 cups bone broth (use vegetable broth for vegan option)
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 8 oz pastured pork sausage, other ground meat, or bacon (omit for vegan option)
• 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
• fresh sage
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil or ghee
• smoked sea salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste (omit for AIP)
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 cup coconut yogurt (can be omitted, but adds extra creaminess)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Dice (or purchase pre-cut) butternut squash into small cubes
3. Toss butternut squash cubes onto a Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Alternatively, you could lay bacon slices over the squash to bake together (for more on what that looks like, see this recipe)
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes until softened and browning; let cool slightly
5. While squash is cooking, thinly slice onion and add to a skillet over medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil or ghee. Season with salt and pepper and reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally until softened and caramelized, approx. 15 min. Remove and set aside. 
6. Once onions are caramelized, add your sausage or bacon to the pan, increasing heat to medium. Season and cook. Remove from pan and set aside. 
7. For crispy sage: add sage to the same pan you used for the sausage and onion (if using bacon, you will want to remove most of the bacon grease). Add a drizzle of olive oil or a little ghee, tossing sage until cooked and crispy. Remove and set aside.  
8. In a high speed blender, add bone broth, coconut milk, coconut yogurt, garlic, turmeric,  and squash. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. 
9. Serve warm straight from the blender, or you can add the soup to a medium pot and warm on the stove to reheat and give the flavors more time to build and mesh. 
10. Top soup with caramelized onions, crispy sage, sausage or bacon, more coconut yogurt, pumpkin seeds, etc (the sky's the limit!)

Soup is such a perfect fall/winter dish (although I would argue that soup has a place year-round!) It's warming, easy to customize, great for sharing, and it takes minimal time and effort to throw together. 

Add this golden, luxurious soup to your winter meals and your insides will be sure to thank you! 

In loving health, 

Ashley 

Ps For another fabulous soup recipe, check out my Creamy Pumpkin Chicken Chowder! 

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