Easy Coconut-Ginger Butternut Squash Soup

No two butternut squash soups are ever the same, even on my blog. This one, however, is very close to one of my favorites, FRIDAY FISH: Instant Pot Coconut-Ginger Butternut Squash with Grilled Shrimp. But here there’s no INSTANT POT and I’ve skipped the shrimp. Instead, we have a fast soup based on pantry ingredients and you don’t have to peel the butternut squash!! Swap in vegetable broth for the chicken broth and skip the sour cream topping for a vegan version. Recipe doubles, triples, etc., easily.

6 Servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large plump cloves of garlic, minced
1 ½ tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 large carrots, unpeeled, trimmed, and sliced into 2-inch pieces
½ fennel bulb, trimmed, and sliced (optional)
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch crushed red pepper or two dashes Tabasco
2 15-ounce cans butternut squash (or mashed frozen butternut squash, thawed)
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
½ cup water
13.5 -ounce can unsweetened coconut milk such as Thai Kitchen (Comes in a Lite version for less calories.)
½ cup sour cream for garnish
Thinly sliced green onion for garnish

Instructions

HEAT OIL in an 8-quart soup pot over medium flame. Add garlic and ginger; cook one minute, stirring.
ADD VEGETABLES (onion, celery, carrots, and fennel, if using), season with salt, pepper, ground cumin, and crushed red pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring regularly, or until soft. Cover to decrease cooking time.
STIR IN BUTTERNUT SQUASH, CHICKEN BROTH, AND WATER. Taste and adjust for seasonings. Cover, bring to a boil, uncover, and reduce heat to simmer for 20-30 minutes or until all of the vegetables are tender.
PURÉE soup to desired texture using a handheld immersion blender or carefully in batches with a regular blender (hold lid down with a dishtowel) or food processor. (May refrigerate or freeze at this point if not serving the soup today.)
POUR IN COCONUT MILK and heat through. If you’ve refrigerated or frozen the soup, heat to a good simmer before adding milk. Taste one last time for seasonings. Do not boil.
SERVE HOT garnished with a small dollop of sour cream and a few slices of green onion.
Store 3-4 days tightly covered in the refrigerator. If you’d like to freeze the soup, do so before adding the coconut milk. Freeze up to 10 months.