This Easy Butternut Squash Soup is seriously the BEST, and it’s totally dairy-free! Sauteed collard greens make this classic comfort food heartier and healthier.
For me, soup is the ultimate comfort food, and I love that you can whip up a pot of this Easy Butternut Squash Soup on even the busiest weeknight. This soup is rich, creamy, and hearty, and you only need eight ingredients to make it.
How to Make My Easy Butternut Squash Soup
A lot of butternut squash soup recipes use roasted squash as the base. While I love the flavor of roasted squash, I don’t love having an extra dish to wash.
Instead of roasting, you are going to saute your cubed squash — along with garlic and onion — right in your soup pot. You still get some of the richness that comes with roasting with one less dirty dish.
After the saute, you just add your remaining soup ingredients to the pot. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the squash gets nice and tender.
While the soup simmers, grab a frying pan and saute your chopped collard greens. If you’ve never had pan-fried collards before, you are in for a treat! They have a totally different texture from the collard greens you’re probably used to. They’re tender and toothsome, a perfect contrast to the creamy soup.
By now, the squash is done simmering, and it’s time to puree. You can use an immersion blender or a regular blender to do this. If you use a regular blender, just let the soup cool before blending it in batches, because hot soup in the blender can explode.
Add the cooked collards to the pureed soup, and it’s time to eat!
Recipe Shortcuts
You have some time-saving options that you can use in this recipe, and I took these into account when I calculated the prep time.
First, you don’t have to start with a whole butternut squash. Sure, you can do that, but on a busy weeknight, it’s OK to splurge on pre-cut squash. You can find it in the refrigerator section of most grocery stores.
The same thing goes for the collard greens. I tend to buy chopped, bagged collards instead of buying it by the bunch. First, of course, I love the time savings. But also, collard bunches tend to be huge! A bag has an amount of collards that my family can actually eat before it spoils.
If you cook with garlic often, I also recommend investing in a garlic press. I don’t love unitaskers in the kitchen in general, but a garlic press is one that gets enough use to make sense to me. It saves so much time!
Your other time-saving option, if you don’t have a garlic press, is to buy those jars of minced garlic. That way, you can just scoop out an equivalent amount of garlic, no mincing required.
Easy Butternut Squash Soup Recipe with Pan-Fried Collard Greens
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil – divided
- 1 cup chopped sweet onion
- 4 cloves garlic – minced
- 4 cups cubed butternut squash – 1" cubes
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 3 packed cups collard greens – chopped
- salt and black pepper – to taste
Instructions
- In a soup pot or dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil on medium-high, and saute the onion, garlic, and squash, stirring frequently, until the onions soften, 10-12 minutes.
- Add the broth, thyme, and nutritional yeast. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the squash is tender, about 10 minutes.
- While the squash simmers, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan on medium high. Add the collards and cook, stirring, until the collards become bright green and tender. Remove them from the heat and set aside.
- Once the squash is tender, turn off the heat and grab your immersion blender (or do this in batches in a standard blender — see notes), and puree the soup.
- Once the soup is pureed, warm it up on medium, just until everything is heated through again, and season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with the collards.
Equipment
Notes
- DO NOT puree hot soup in a standard blender, because hot liquid in a blender can cause your blender top to fly into the air, splattering hot soup everywhere. Let the soup cool before blending, if you’re not using an immersion blender.
- The prep time assumes that you are using pre-cut squash and collards and a garlic press. You can 100% prep these things by hand, if you prefer, but it will up the total time.
- I do not recommend using frozen butternut squash for this recipe.
Kris Cochran
Is there nutrition information for this recipe?
Becky Striepe
There isn’t at the moment. I am still working to update older recipes with nutritional information (and better photos!), but I haven’t gotten to this one quite yet. Sorry about that!
Lindsay
Yum — now this is my kind of meal!
theurbanvegan (@theurbanvegan)
This looks delicious and comforting. I’m sad that I missed this event–my neighbors at the NJ shore were hard hit. Thanks for doing this!
Becky Striepe
I’m so sorry to hear about your neighbors!
Jenn
A beautiful seasonal soup – thanks so much for participating and spreading the word!
Becky Striepe
Thank YOU for putting this together! What a great way to support a worthy cause.
Susan 30A EATS
Looks very comforting and delicious! I love the addition of Collards! Glad to connect with you on Support for Sandy and Southern food Bloggers!
Becky Striepe
Thanks, Susan! Your recipe looks great, too. I am already trying to brainstorm a vegan version. I wonder if your casserole would work with winter squash, too, since our CSA has brought us tons of them!