Butternut Squash & Chilli Soup

by Laura

Squash soupWelcome to the first Recipe Round-Up.  I love food so much (as demonstrated by my dress size) and I’m a little obsessed with taking photos of what I’m cooking and eating and sending to my (bored of me) friends.  So I decided to begin sharing my food ideas The Butterfly Mother instead!

Disclaimer: I’m a perpetual yo-yo dieter and food obsessive so prepare for the devil and angel sides of my food persona to be displayed here – i.e. they’ll be healthy recipes packed with your five-a-day nestled among home-cooked versions of junk food naughties & chocolate-laden desserts.  I also follow Slimming World (sometimes) so I’ll make sure I mention when the recipe is “food-optimising” friendly.

Today I wanted to share my take on Butternut Squash soup – I’m not an enormous veg-lover when they are served straight up so I love trying to hide them in curries, bolognese, soups etc and this is a great example of this.

What You NeedSquash soup 3

  • 1 butternut squash (chopped chunky & seeds removed – sorry, that’s the hardest part of this recipe I promise)
  • 1 onion
  • 1 red chilli (half for soup, half for garnish)
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 large carrots
  • Generous handful of spinach
  • 1 litre chicken stock
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp garlic salt
  • 2 tsp dried thyme (or fresh if you can be bothered)
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Creme fraiche to serve

Squash soup 2What You Do

  • Roughly chop the squash, onion, garlic, half red chilli & carrots and gently stir-fry in a large pan for 2-3 minutes.
  • Add the stock, thyme, paprika, garlic salt and seasoning, stir and bring to the boil.
  • Simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on, or until all veg is softened.
  • Take off the heat & add the spinach to wilt slightly
  • Once cool, blend in the food processor, reheat and serve with a swirl of creme fraiche and sprinkle with the remaining chilli, finely chopped.

Tips & tags

*Healthy Halo/Perfect For Kids/Freezable*

  • Use Fry Lite & exchange the creme fraiche for fat free natural yoghurt or leave out completely to make this “free” on Slimming World.
  • Use less stock and whizz for less time to make a thicker soup as a great meal for your baby-led weaning tot.

Hope you enjoy this soup and please subscribe or follow me on Twitter & Facebook for future recipes as well as general parenting mayhem.

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22 comments on “Butternut Squash & Chilli Soup”

    1. Yeah making your own soup is sometimes a lot of effort, I’m totally with you. But can be worth it if you make a big batch and freeze 🙂 Thanks for reading xxx

      Reply

  13. Oooh yummy, I LOVE butternut squash soup, so delicious! I make a version involving coconut milk, but this one looks fantastic too – I like the idea of adding spinach, I imagine that helps to make it less sweet (I can find it a bit cloying sometimes) and anything with smoked paprika is always a winner in my book!! Love the idea of using it for weaning too – I often made soups when mine were babies that could be a puree for them and a soup for me, so we could eat the same! Thanks for linking up to #CookBlogShare! Eb x
    Eb Gargano recently posted…4 GBBO Inspired Recipes and #CookBlogShare Linky Week 36My Profile

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  20. We love butternut squash soup here! It’s always great to find a variation on the recipe to try out too! I normally just Throw it all in the slow cooker and blitz at the end. Handy tip of the day. Use an ice cream scoop to de seed the butternut squash 🙂

    Reply

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