I love butternut squash and started making soup in the instapot, so it was a no brainier. Of course it took me several tasty attempts to make one I love. I started from the allrecipes.com version and mixed in some coconut milk ideas from evolving table. I don’t really do vegan, but can enjoy some flavor changes. I mostly always garnish with Parmesan cheese and basil or jalapenos. This soup makes an awesome meal prep and is very hearty.
The winner
This one is the right mix of texture creaminess and retains the flavor of the butternut squash. It does make a bunch, a bit over 8 pints as seen. 5 pint jars, 3 pint bowls and one bowl to eat right away.
- 1 whole butternut squash cubed about 8 cups.
- 4 cups of water
- 1 onion rough chopped
- Garlic to taste about 5-6 cloves for me.
- 1 teaspoon of mild curry powder.
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper.
- 4 teaspoons Caldo de pollo
- 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
Set the instapot to “saute” and soften the onions and garlic. Toss in the squash, water, Caldo de pollo, and spices into the instapot and stir. Cook on “Soup” setting on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before doing a quick release and then stick blend adding coconut milk. Add any extra salt at this time if needed, and brown sugar if extra sweetness is desired. If a vegan soup is desired chicken base (Caldo de pollo) can be skipped or vegetable base/stock used.
Runner up
The runner up based on Butternut Squash soup II used a bit of carrot along with onion and garlic powder. It was a bit sweeter and the carrot changed the color and texture of the soup. I did also use yogurt instead of the coconut milk.
You can see the final color is a bit more orange and the ginger did add a bit more heat. I of course garnished with fresh jalapenos, so it was not too noticeable. The yogurt was nice addition, but did not make as smooth of a soup.
First attempt.
The first attempt based on the allrecipes version was good but it called for too much water/stock and had to be thickened with instant mashed potatoes which dulled the butternut flavor. you can see the color is more subdued too due to the thickening.
