This quick and easy Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup recipe combines the delicious flavours of roasted butternut squash and roasted red peppers, with just a touch of garlic and fresh basil… The result is a delicious and nutritious meal that can be on the table in just 35 minutes!
A quick and easy dinner
This Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup is a great quick and easy dinner option for when time is tight but you still want to eat well.
All you need to do is roast chunks of butternut squash and red pepper in a hot oven. Mean while fry up some onions and garlic. Add the roasted squash and peppers to the pan together with some stock and basil, then blitz until smooth.
Easy peasy… and ready in just 35 minutes!
Packed full of goodness!
Not only is this soup quick and easy, it’s also packed full of goodness. Thanks to the red onions, garlic, butternut squash, red pepper and basil, this soup is rich in vitamins, minerals, beta-carotene, antioxidants and fibre.
Butternut squash peeling hack…
Peeling butternut squash is a bit of a pain. A little hack to speed things up is to cut the butternut squash into thick disks, then place each disk on your chopping board and chop the skin off using a knife, cutting downwards all the way around. I find this far quicker and easier than peeling!
Make it your own
This easy peasy recipe is delicious just as it is. But there are plenty of ways to adapt it, if you want to. You could, for example:
- Swap the red peppers for yellow or orange ones
- Add carrots, parsnips or sweet potatoes to the roasting tray
- Add fresh ginger
- Add some red chilli flakes
- Add a teaspoon of turmeric, cumin and/or garam masala
- Add a teaspoon or two of curry powder
- Bulk the soup out with red lentils
- Add a tin of butter beans, cannellini beans or haricot beans
- Swap some of the water for coconut milk
- Add some shredded leftover chicken (after the soup has been blended)
I’d love to hear if you come up with any really good combos! Let me know in the comment section below.
What to serve with Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup?
I love to serve this soup with crusty bread – especially homemade soda bread!
Guinness and Treacle Soda Bread
What to do with leftover Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup?
Place any leftovers in a lidded container in the fridge, where they will keep for up to 3 days.
To reheat, tip into a saucepan, along with a small splash of water. Reheat over a medium heat until piping hot all the way through.
Alternatively, you can reheat this soup in the microwave.
Can you freeze Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup?
This easy peasy Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup is such a great ‘fill the freezer’ meal… I usually make a double quantity of this soup. We eat half freshly made and half I divide into individual portions and freeze for a near instant meal when I’m in a hurry or have no energy to cook! Far healthier (and cheaper!) than a ready meal or takeaway.
Place the cooked and cooled soup in a lidded container in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months. (Or freeze in individual portions, for maximum flexibility.)
Reheat as above.
If you like this recipe…
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Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Soup
Ingredients
- 500 g butternut squash peeled and chopped into small chunks (roughly 2cm cubes – See Note 1)
- 2 large red (bell) peppers chopped into chunks (roughly 2cm x 2cm)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic grated or crushed
- 500 ml vegetable stock from a cube is fine (I used Kallo Organic Vegetable Stock)
- Salt and black pepper to taste (See Note 2)
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil chopped finely
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.
- Place the chopped butternut squash and red pepper in a large roasting tin. (Big enough so the vegetables can be in one layer and not touching each other.)
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the vegetables and toss everything together, so the vegetables are well coated in the oil. Then arrange in one layer, ensuring the vegetables are not touching each other.
- Place the roasting tin in your pre-heated oven and roast for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove from the oven and turn the veggies. Take care to ensure the vegetables are well spaced out again.
- Put the roasting tray back in the oven and roast for a further 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and have just started to go brown round the edges.
- While the vegetables are having their final 10 minutes roasting time, place the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the diced onions in a fairly large saucepan and gently fry for 4 minutes, with the lid on, until softened but not brown. Stir occasionally.
- Add the garlic and fry gently for 1 more minute, stirring occasionally.
- When the roasted vegetables are ready, add them to the saucepan, together with the vegetable stock, salt and pepper and turn up the heat. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down and simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on.
- Tip the soup into a blender, together with the fresh basil, and blitz until completely smooth. PLEASE TAKE CARE AS THE SOUP WILL BE VERY HOT! (See Note 3.)
- If necessary, return the blended soup back to the saucepan and warm back up to your desired temperature. You may also wish to check the seasoning at this point too. If the soup is a little thick for your tastes, add a little extra water at this point to achieve your desired consistency.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with homemade bread.
Notes
- Peeling butternut squash is a bit of a pain. A little hack to speed things up is to cut the butternut squash into thick disks, then place each disk on your chopping board and chop the skin off using a knife, cutting downwards all the way around. I find this far quicker and easier than peeling!
- I prefer to only add black pepper to this soup, as the salt content of the stock cube makes this soup salty enough for my tastes.
- If you prefer, you can use a stick blender.
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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