Lentil & Pumpkin Squash Soup Recipe
Today we are making an easy recipe for Lentil & Pumpkin Squash Soup Recipe! This was the first time I actually used a butternut squash! I never knew how to cut it, much less what to do with it or what it looked like on the inside. The first recipe I was determined to try with this was a soup – hot soup is easy, right? Onions, garlic, ginger base + the vegetable + seasoning + stock. Except … the butternut squash was as hard as a rock on the inside. How do I cook this?
I eventually figured out that you can cut this up (after some difficulty, because it’s pretty hard to cut) and then you can either stir fry it (like sweet potatoes) or you can roast it in the oven, and this made the squash so nutty. The flavor was this nuttiness that I can’t describe, until you try it for yourself.
It’s common sense for more experienced chefs, but I recently started experimenting with more soups and roasted veggies, so this was an eye-opener for me. I hope this introduces you to the world of roasted vegetables, ESPECIALLY butternut squash (and the flavor is amazingly soft and sweet. You could even eat the roasted squash with some salt and seasonings!)
Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Squash Soup Recipe
Curl Up On a Rainy Day Soup: This creamy butternut squash soup is the type of comforting soup that makes you want to curl up on the sofa and watch your favorite fall movies (Hocus Pocus anyone)? Not to mention, squash is full of Vitamin C (great for when everyone is getting sniffles during that time of year!), and the ingredients list isn’t too extensive either.
It’s a simple recipe of sauteeing the vegetables, adding the broth and using a blender to make it into a soup, all with easy to find ingredients at your grocery store!
Substitutions
Fresh Butternut Squash: This is also known as a butternut pumpkin. You can also use a fresh pumpkin squash / fresh pumpkin.
Olive Oil: Substitute with avocado oil or refined coconut oil (the type that doesn’t smell like coconuts!)
Lentils: I used orange/red lentils, but you can also try yellow lentils. Brown lentils will not work the best here.
Vegetable Broth: You can use vegetable stock, chicken stock or chicken broth as non-vegan options. Alternatively, make homemade stBOTHock using leftover vegetable peels, or buy broth cubes and combine them with hot water rather than buying carton broth.
Note that stock is bone-based, whereas broth is vegetable-based (or meat-based, if it’s not specifically vegetable broth).
Pumpkin Squash Soup Recipe Notes
- To make this recipe have a more creamy texture, you can use coconut milk. Use the canned stuff, not carton. Full-fat, canned coconut milk will bring an ultra-creaminess to this recipe. Although it will also add a coconut flavor (if you’re cool with coconut-ty soup)! This acts as a replacement to heavy cream. However, vegan heavy cream can also be an option, and it will not have as strong of a coconut flavor.
- After de-seeding the pumpkin, you can reserve seeds to roast them or use them in other future recipes, rather than throwing them away. Check out this post on what to do with extra pumpkin seeds!
More Healthy Recipes You’ll Love
If you make this Pumpkin Squash Soup Recipe, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Squash Soup Recipe
Equipment
- Immersion Blender or Food Processor / Regular Blender
- Large Pot
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium white onion diced
- ½ inch fresh ginger grated
- 1 medium clove garlic grated
- ½ medium raw butternut squash or pumpkin cubed // if using a pumpkin, use only about the same size as half a butternut squash, as pumpkins can be much larger
- ¼ cup dry red lentils
- 1½ cups vegetable broth
- cayenne pepper optional
- fresh thyme optional
- ½ tsp pink salt
Optional Toppings
- black pepper
- pinch of nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice
- sprinkle of brown sugar
- lemon juice
Instructions
- Cut the pumpkin or squash in half. Remove the pumpkin seeds and set aside on a paper towel. Cube the rest of the squash into medium cubes. Smaller pieces will make for easier roasting.
- Turn the oven to 375 F, and place the squash or pumpkin cubes on a baking tray lined with parchment paper (or oiled).
- Put the squash in the preheated oven for an hour to roast. It should be very soft and able to be easily pricked by a fork when it's done (about 30-40 minutes).
- Once the squash is ready, warm up a large pot on the stove to medium heat.
- Add the oil. Once it's hot, add in the onion, garlic, and ginger. Sautee until the onions are tender, for a couple minutes.
- Add in the butternut squash, and sautee this for another couple minutes.
- Then add in the rest of the ingredients (as well as the cayenne and thyme, if using). Turn the heat to medium-low for about 20 minutes, until the lentils are very soft.
- Once the lentils are soft and able to be squished easily, use a handheld blender to blend together the squash mixture until it is a soup. If fresh thyme is in the pot, then remove it before blending.
- Bring the mixture to a boil by turning the heat to high, constantly stirring.
- Once this boils, remove it from the heat.
- Pour into serving dishes and serve warm, topping with the optional ingredients listed above.
Notes
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Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
