Hot-Honey Butternut Squash Soup
It is fall which means it is butternut squash season, which means let’s make soup baby. I mean there are certainly other things to do with butternut squash... but it's just so good as a soup, especially when you double down on the savory sweetness, add some spice, and add some texture! “How would one do that?” you might ask (or not, but let’s pretend you did), well, let me introduce you to my friends Hot-Honey and homemade Croutons. The Hot-Honey adds amazing sweetness and spice to an already savory soup, and the croutons add an incredibly flavorful crunch to the whole mix. This soup is the ultimate fall comfort food in my book. Want to try it? Check out the recipe below.
Ingredients
Makes: 10 servings
1 butternut squash: peeled, halved, core scooped, cut into 1” cubes
1 medium onion: roughly chopped
1 shallot: roughly chopped
6 cloves of garlic: peeled, butt-end removed
7 tbsp olive oil
4 tsp salt
¼ cup honey
3-4 jalapeños: roughly chopped
½ loaf of bread (or 4-6 slices): 1” squares
2 tbsp Italian seasoning: or 1 tbsp dried oregano + 1/2 tbsp dried basil + 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tsp garlic powder
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme: optional
4-5 sprigs of fresh oregano: optional
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 °F
Chop your jalapeños, and add them along with your honey and 1 tbsp of olive oil to a small saucepan on very low heat. Cover and let cook. Stir every 10-20 minutes.
Peel and dice your squash, onion, and shallot, and to a large bowl with 3 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of salt, and all of your garlic cloves. Toss to coat, and place on a large parchment-lined baking tray in an even layer. Once your oven is preheated, insert the tray, and stir with a spatula every 10 minutes until the squash and onions have gotten tender and begun to brown (likely around 30 minutes).
While that is cooking, dice your bread. Add to a bowl with 3 tbsp of olive oil, the Italian seasoning, and the salt, and toss to coat. Add to a medium parchment-lined baking tray in an even layer and insert into the oven. Turn over the pieces of bread after ~10 minutes (they should develop a deep golden brown color on the side touching the pan), then bake for another ~10 minutes on the other side.
Once your roasted vegetable mixture has cooked, and your croutons are done, remove both from the oven. Transfer croutons to a large plate to cool.
Add your vegetable broth to a large pot on medium-high heat, add in the roasted vegetable mixture, and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool for another 10 minutes.
Remove your hot-honey from the heat, transfer into a heat-safe container, and let cool in the refrigerator.
In batches (no more than ⅓ of the way up), add your soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Continue this until the entire soup is smooth. Add back to your main soup pot and simmer until your desired thickness. If you want to add your whole thyme and oregano, add it now.
Once you’ve reached your desired consistency, you’re ready to serve and eat! Garnish with a generous drizzle of your hot-honey, and croutons to your heart’s content! Optional additional garnishes include pumpkin seeds and fresh-cracked black pepper!
Best Practices:
As always:
Avoid packaged produce, or really anything packaged for that matter. This is not to say that you’ll always have the option, but when you do, go for it! For example, you may sometimes see onions or pre-sliced bread in plastic wrap, garlic in nylon mesh, garlic in plastic cling-wrap, or even pre-chopped squash in plastic tubs. These are all typically available without the plastic, and, at least with the bread, can be bought fresh! That said, it can often be difficult to find spices and honey for example, without packaging/containers (though not impossible!).
Try to source honey from local producers! You can often find them at farmers markets or read about where the honey is sourced on labels. Supporting local bee-keepers is an awesome way to support local ecosystems!
Try to bring your own bags when you go shopping for these ingredients, and choose local, in-season produce when you can.
Make sure you’re not buying more than you think you’ll reasonably use! Things like squash, onions, and honey will last for a while if stored properly, so with those if you buy a bit more than you needed, you’ll have plenty of time to use them in the future. But the jalapeños and fresh herbs will go bad if you don’t use them relatively quickly, so purchase with care!
These ingredients have been chosen with several things in mind:
We are posting this recipe in the fall, so butternut squash is seasonal! It is also seasonal in most parts of the US in the summer!
Most of these ingredients are household staples (like the bread, honey, olive oil, onions, garlic, and seasonings) that are relatively inexpensive and last a long time.
We chose to make our own croutons here as a way to use up old, stale bread (#useitup)! The recipe we’ve given for homemade croutons in this recipe is one you can use for salad-croutons as well.
Did you enjoy this recipe? Let us know! If you really loved it, share it on social media and tag us (@groundedgrub), or, better yet, share it with your friends and family!