by Stephanie Nale, LMT
One of my favorite things about winter is that it is the perfect season for soup. In all honesty, I could go for soup pretty much any time of the year, but the cold air and bare scenery of winter always seem to ramp up my cravings for it. And really, what’s not to love? There’s a soup out there for almost anyone’s taste preferences – hot, cold, meaty, vegetarian, creamy, clear, so on and so forth.
My personal favorite is butternut squash soup. It has everything a good, winter soup should – it’s creamy, hearty, and absolutely delicious! For a long time, I would just buy the cans or boxes of it – nothing wrong with that – but I eventually took a look at the side of the box and was surprised at how much unnecessary extra stuff was in there.
740mg of sodium for a cup? No thank you!
This seemed like the perfect opportunity to try my hand at making my own version from scratch. Which brings me to my eye-opener of the day: did you know that you can make an absolutely fantastic and nutritious butternut squash soup with just four basic ingredients?
It’s true! All you need is some squash, an apple, half an onion, and some chicken broth. (Technically you also need a super small amount of olive oil and spices, so it’s a bit more than four ingredients… but these are the four that count!)
The first step is to make sure you have everything cut up and ready to go. I’m personally pretty terrible at multitasking, so I like to have everything done before I turn on the stovetop and start cooking. All that means for this recipe is to have squash, onion, and apple peeled and cut!
I’m pretty terrible at peeling apples (or all fruits and veggies, really), so this was the best I was able to do. A little skin never hurt anyone… extra nutrients, right?!
Once everything is good to go, put your empty pot on the stove over medium-high heat, and swirl in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. (I personally used coconut oil – it’s a new obsession and I use it for almost everything now!)
(It looks a bit funny because coconut oil is actually solid at room temperature – this is in the middle of it melting!)
Once the oil is nice and hot, add in the onions and sauté until they start to turn translucent – about 2 or 3 minutes.
Once the onions are good, add in the squash and apples…
…quickly followed by the broth.
A quick note: the more you use of the broth, the more liquidy the soup will be. I tend to prefer my soup on the thicker side, so I often use a bit less than a full box of it, which equals about three cups. The amount changes every time I make this recipe, so a good place to start is to just make sure most of your ingredients are covered with the broth!
Wait until the soup starts to lightly boil, then turn the heat down slightly and cover.
Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the squash is nice and mushy. A good test is to take a piece out and pierce it with a fork. If it’s soft and breaks apart easily, you’re good to go!
Remove the pot from the heat, and transfer all the contents into a blender. My entire pot fit perfectly into my blender, but I’ve made larger batches where I’ve had to blend in stages – it’s totally ok if you need to do this!
Before you go a-blending, throw in some spices. My go-to’s are salt, pepper, a dash of cumin, a bit of cayenne, and some saffron. Use whatever you think will taste good.. at the very least, a bit of salt and pepper do just fine!
All that’s left to do is blend that baby up, and before you know it, you’ll have a nice, warm, creamy bowl of butternut squash soup!
What I love about this recipe is that it’s so simple to make, but also doesn’t sacrifice flavor despite it’s superb nutritional value. Squash and apple are so flavorful by nature that you really don’t need much but a few spices to make it savory and delicious!
So the next time you need some warmth and nutrition in your life, try out this recipe!
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Warming Butternut Squash Soup
Makes 4 two-cup servings, or 8 one-cup servings
For one cup: 67 calories, 2g fat, 13g carbs, 1g protein, 279mg sodium
Ingredients:
1tbsp olive oil
½ an onion, diced
About 1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cubed
(I prefer to skip this step and just buy pre-peeled & cut squash – typically one 20oz pack is enough. If you’re feeling gutsy and want to peel and cut your own, there’s a good tutorial on how to do so here.)
1 apple, peeled and diced
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
(I used one whole box of Nature’s Promise Low Sodium Organic Chicken Broth.)
Various spices, including salt and pepper
Instructions:
Over medium-high heat, swirl 1tbsp olive oil in pot and let warm. Add in onion and sauté until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Add in squash, apple, and broth. Stir mixture and let sit until it starts to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and let cook for about 20 minutes. Once squash is tender, remove pot from heat and transfer contents into a blender. Add salt and pepper (and other spices, if you wish), then blend until mixture is smooth. Divvy up into bowls and enjoy!
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