Spiced Sausage and Butternut Squash Soup

While I like butternut squash soup on its own, it can get boring after a few bowls in the fall season. Not with this variation, that uses sausage, delicious spices such as cumin and chili powder, to pack in flavor that compliments the naturally smooth and sweet butternut squash perfectly. It’s thick and filling, but still uses a lot of veggies and avoids cream to make it a decently healthy option for a weeknight dinner. I promise that you’ll make this soup and add it in your regular fall meal line up for years to come. It’s awesome and simple to make!

Serve it with a toasted baguette or just enjoy on its own. You’ll love it either way!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Level: Easy

Ingredients - serves 4

  • 1/2 pound of ground sausage or pork

  • 4 loose cups diced butternut squash (small/medium one works fine)

  • 1 onion

  • 3 whole carrots

  • 4 cloves of garlic

  • 2 cups of chicken or veggie stock

  • 1 cup whole milk

  • 2 tbsp. olive oil

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp cumin

  • 1/2 tsp chili powder

  • 1/2 paprika

  • Black pepper

 

  1. Prep all of your vegetables: peel and dice your butternut squash, cut the onion into about 8 chunks, peel and cut the carrot into chunks, and peel and roughly chop the garlic. No need to make anything super small as it’ll all be blended later.

  2. In a large pot, heat up 1 tbsp. of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage/pork, and cook until fully browned. Remove from the pot and set aside, leaving behind oil/fat and drippings, and turn the temperature to medium.

  3. Add all of the veggies you’ve prepped along with 1 additional tbsp. of olive oil. Stir to coat. Add the seasonings: the salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and a few cranks of black pepper. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes so the flavors stick to everything.

  4. Add the stock. Bring to a light simmer, and cover the pot with a lid. Let it simmer covered for 15 minutes or until the butternut squash is super soft all throughout.

  5. Turn the heat to low. Add the whole milk. Use and immersion blender to make everything nice and smooth. No immersion blender? Add it all to a blender and mix.

  6. After it’s smooth, add the cooked sausage/pork back to the soup and mix to combine. Serve it warm, but this also makes great and flavorful leftovers!