Curried Butternut Squash Soup is a delicious way to celebrate squash season! This soup is lightly sweet, spicy, and creamy, with a velvety texture you'll love.
Pour the olive oil to a large pot over medium high heat, and saute the onion until it softens, about 8 minutes. Add in the garlic and curry powder and stir for one more minute.
Add in the water, squash, and salt, and bring the liquid to a boil over high heat. As soon as it is boiling, cover the pot with a lid and lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook until the squash is fork tender, about 20 minutes.
When the squash is tender, transfer the soup to a blender and carefully blend until smooth. For safety, remove the vent in the blender's lid and cover it with a thin dish towel. This will let steam escape without splatter, so the lid won't blow off from the steam pressure. Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender to blend the soup directly in the pot.
Return the soup to the pot over medium heat, and stir in the coconut milk, maple syrup, and lime juice. You can adjust the maple syrup and lime juice to your taste, starting with the smallest amount, and adding more of each, as needed. (They tend to go together; if you add more lime juice you will probably also want more maple syrup to balance out the tangy flavor.) You can add up to 1 tablespoon of lime juice and 3 tablespoons of maple syrup, in total. Taste the soup and add extra salt, if needed. I tend to add an extra ½ teaspoon of salt at the end.
Serve warm with fresh cilantro or black pepper on top. See notes below if you'd like to roast the butternut squash seeds as a topping, too. Leftover soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze soup for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition information is for 1 of 6 servings, about 1 1/3 cups. This information is automatically calculated, and is just an estimate, not a guarantee.
If you need to avoid coconut milk, you can use heavy cream or any other unsweetened non-dairy milk you prefer. In that case, you may want to use only a 1/2 cup of milk or cream.
I typically buy my curry powder from Whole Foods or Trader Joes, so brands like Frontier, Simply Organic, or one of the store brands should work well.
This recipe was updated in October 2022. The original recipe called for almond milk instead of coconut milk, and no maple syrup or lime juice. I hope you'll enjoy this updated version even more!