Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Apples

This curried butternut squash soup gets great depth of flavor from sweet melted onions and tart green apples cooked in with the buttery squash and fragrant curry powder. If you’re looking for a great soup to start a holiday meal, look no further.

This soup is my favorite way to start Thanksgiving dinner. The recipe is adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook and it is the best butternut squash soup I’ve ever tasted, a silky puree with the perfect balance of sweet, tart, and spicy.

I usually make a double or triple batch a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving and freeze it. On the day of, I reheat it, adjust the seasonings, and top each bowl with some freshly grated sour apple or a dollop of sour cream.

This is an easy soup to make. The hardest part is peeling and cutting the squash. But you can skip that step if you find pre-peeled or even pre-cubed squash at the market.

HOW TO MAKE CURRIED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

The recipe goes like this: Melt chopped onions in butter. Add curry powder, broth, squash and apples. Simmer for 25 minutes, puree, stir in apple cider, and you’re done!

1. Cook the onions (lots of onions) in butter, covered, for about 18 minutes, until they’re soft, sweet and translucent. (the house will smell amazing!)
2. Add the curry powder and cook for a minute, stirring, to toast the curry powder. (The house will smell even better!).  
3. Add broth, cubed squash and diced apples. 
4. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes
5. Puree with an immersion blender or in batches in your food processor or blender.
6. Stir in apple cider and season with salt and pepper.
7. Done!

MORE DELICIOUS BUTTERNUT SQUASH RECIPES

• Curried Butternut Squash, Chicken and Lentil Stew 
• Garlicky Roasted Butternut Squash
• Jamaican Curried Chicken Stew with Rum and Mango
• Roasted Squash Stuffed with Roasted Vegetables  
• Blue Cheese and Sage Roasted Butternut Squash Appetizer

Serve curried butternut squash soup piping hot with a garnish of tangy, freshly grated green apple. Or see below for other topping suggestions.

This elegant seasonal soup is perfect for Thanksgiving but I also love it for a mid-winter soup and salad dinner.

SUGGESTED TOPPINGS FOR BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

There are lots of possibilities!

• Grated green apples with the skin on. Grate just before serving. Toss immediately with two teaspoons of lemon or lime juice to prevent browning. For more info, read this great article from Serious Eats on how to prevent cut apples from turning brown. 
• Coconut Milk. Put it in squeeze bottle so you can make a nice swirl in each bowl.
• Sour Cream. A dollop in the center of each bowl would be delicious.
• Toasted cumin seeds. A pinch of cumin seeds to top each bowl.
• Toasted Sunflower Seeds
• Do you have a favorite topping? If so, I’d love to hear about it!

Here’s the recipe for Curried Butternut Squash Soup.  If you make this, I hope you’ll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I’d love to know what you think. 

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

A velvety, richly flavored soup of sweet butternut squash, tart apples, onions and curry powder. Perfect for a festive occasion or a soup and salad meal.

• Author: by Lisa
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
• Yield: 5-6 1x
• Category: Soup
• Method: stove top
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 large yellow onions, peeled and chopped (about 4 cups)
• 5 teaspoons curry powder (I recommend Madras Curry Powder)
• 1 large butternut squash (about 3 pounds) peeled, seeds removed, cut into 1-inch dice (8 cups of diced squash)
• 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped.
• 3–4 cups good quality low salt chicken broth* (I recommend Swanson’s)
• 1 cup apple cider or apple juice
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt plus more, to taste
• Fresh ground pepper, to taste
• Optional Toppings – Choose one:
• 1 Granny Smith apple with skin, shredded and immediately tossed with 1-2 teaspoons of lemon or lime juice to prevent discoloration**
• 1/2 cup coconut Milk. Put it in squeeze bottle so you can make a nice swirl in each bowl.
• 1/2 cup sour cream. A dollop in the center of each bowl would be delicious.
• 2 tablespoons toasted cumin seeds. A pinch of cumin seeds to top each bowl.

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a large soup pot or dutch oven oven over medium heat. Add onions and toss to coat with butter. Cover onions and turn heat down to a simmer. Cook for 18 minutes or until onions are softened and translucent.
2. Add curry powder and turn the heat up to medium. Cook, stirring constantly, for a minute, to toast the curry powder.
3. Add squash, apples and 3 cups of broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 25 minutes, until apples and squash are very tender.
4. Turn off heat. Puree soup with an immersion blender right in the pot. Or puree in batches in a blender or food processor and return to the pot. Add cider. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Thin with additional broth to your desired consistency.
5. To Serve: Serve hot. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with shredded apple or the topping of your choice.

Notes

MAKE THIS VEGETARIAN OR VEGAN: use a good quality vegetable stock in place of chicken broth and a vegan butter substitute for vegan.

TIPS FOR GARNISHING WITH SHREDDED APPLES: wait until right before serving to shred the apples. To prevent discoloration, prepare a bowl with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. Shred the apple into the bowl and toss to coat. Drain and add to soup bowls.

Keywords: curried squash soup, butternut squash soup, squash soup