{"id":193130,"title":"Butternut Squash Soup","modified":"2026-10-26T08:33:04+01:00","plain":"A velvety French-style butternut squash soup, thickened with potato and finished with cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche and nutmeg.\n\n\n\nThe evenings are getting shorter, it\u2019s dark before dinner, and suddenly the craving for a thick soup is back. This one arrives a deep orange, thick and smooth, with the mellow, nutty flavor of butternut squash, ever so lightly brightened by the nutmeg. \n\n\n\nCr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche rounds it out, toasted squash seeds add crunch, and a final grind of pepper gives it just the right kick. You finish your bowl already thinking about the second one.\n\n\n\nThe same squash, cubed and roasted: try the air fryer butternut squash\n\n\n\nWhat Is Butternut Squash Soup?\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s a smooth, creamy member of the fall vegetable soup family. Butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes, cooks with a potato, an onion and garlic in vegetable broth, then everything is blended with cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche until smooth. Its skin stays tough even after long cooking, hence the peeling. \n\n\n\nThat\u2019s the big difference from red kuri squash soup, which is cooked with the skin on.\n\n\n\nIn France, it\u2019s also called a butternut velout\u00e9. The word comes from one of the mother sauces of French cuisine, a white stock thickened with a roux and a cousin of b\u00e9chamel sauce. Applied to soup, it now means something blended very finely and softened with cream.\n\n\n\nA Squash Born in Massachusetts\n\n\n\nButternut is a recent squash. Charles Leggett, an amateur plant breeder from Stow, Massachusetts, developed it in 1944 while looking for a squash that was smaller and easier to prepare than the big squashes of the day. He named it butternut, as in butter and nut, for its smooth flesh and sweet flavor.\n\n\n\nAnother silky-smooth soup for the week: roasted pepper soup\n\n\n\nSquash soup, on the other hand, goes back much further in France. La Varenne was already including a pumpkin soup made with milk in Le Cuisinier fran\u00e7ois in 1651. When butternut squash reached European markets, it found its place in these soups, with flesh that is denser, less watery and sweeter than pumpkin.\n\n\n\nThe Main Ingredients in Butternut Squash Soup\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA butternut squash weighing about 1.2 kg forms the base. This fall vegetable has sweet orange flesh that falls apart as it cooks. A medium potato thickens the soup with its starch, with no flour or added starch. Yellow onion and garlic provide the aromatic base, cooked gently without browning, a far cry from the crispy fried garlic of Asian cooking.\n\n\n\nThe vegetables cook in a liter of vegetable broth after a quick turn in olive oil. Thick cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche gives the soup its soft, creamy body. A pinch of nutmeg and some pepper are all the seasoning it needs, and the salt only goes in at the end.\n\n\n\nAnother classic for cold nights: French onion soup\n\n\n\nTo serve, add a swirl of cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche, some toasted squash seeds and a twist of the pepper mill. The butternut\u2019s own seeds do the job nicely: rinsed, dried, then toasted for 5 minutes in a frying pan. Slices of toast rubbed with garlic turn it into a complete meal.\n\n\n\nTechnique Pointers for a Velvety-Smooth Soup\n\n\n\nThe onion and garlic sweat for 3 minutes over low heat until translucent, without taking on any color. The squash and potato cubes then spend 2 minutes in the oil before the broth goes in.\n\n\n\nThe soup simmers, covered, for 25 minutes. The squash is done when the cubes offer no resistance at all to a fork.\n\n\n\nFor dessert, squash makes a comeback as pumpkin pie\n\n\n\nThe cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche goes in off the heat, before blending. Blend for a good long while: the longer you blend, the silkier the soup. Only salt it at this point, after tasting, since the broth is already salted.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tButternut Squash Soup\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\tPreparing the Vegetables1 butternut squash (about 1.2 kg, preferably organic)1 yellow onion2 cloves garlic1 potato (medium (about 150 g))Cooking2 tablespoons olive oil1 L vegetable broth1 pinch nutmeg (grated)PepperBlending and Seasoning15 cl thick cr\u00e8me fra\u00eecheSaltFinishingPumpkin seeds (toasted)\t\n\t\n\t\tPreparing the VegetablesPeel the butternut squash with a vegetable peeler: its skin stays tough even after long simmering.Cut it in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.Cut the flesh into 2 to 3 cm cubes.Peel and thinly slice the onion and garlic.Peel the potato and cut it into chunks.CookingHeat the olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat.Sweat the onion and garlic for 3 minutes, until translucent, without letting them brown.Add the butternut and potato cubes.Stir for 2 minutes to coat them well in the oil.Pour in the vegetable broth.Add the grated nutmeg and pepper, but no salt at this stage.Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 25 minutes, until the squash cubes are tender and offer no resistance at all to a fork.Blending and SeasoningRemove the saucepan from the heat.Add the cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche off the heat to preserve its creaminess.Blend thoroughly with an immersion blender or in a countertop blender until perfectly smooth and velvety: the longer you blend, the silkier the soup.Taste, then season with salt to taste and adjust the pepper if needed: this is the only time the soup gets salted.FinishingPour into well-warmed bowls.Add a drizzle of cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche.Sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds.Add a twist of the pepper mill.Serve piping hot.Serve with slices of toasted bread rubbed with garlic for a complete meal.\t\n\t\n\t\tThis recipe follows the classic French velout\u00e9 method: the aromatics sweat gently without browning, the squash and potato are coated in fat before simmering, and the cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche is added off the heat. Nutmeg and pumpkin seeds are the traditional finishing touches for butternut squash.\nThe creaminess comes down to three things. The starch in the potato naturally thickens the velout\u00e9 without adding any fat. Blending time matters too: the longer you blend, the silkier and airier the texture. Finally, the cream always goes in off the heat.\nSalt goes in only at the end, after blending. The broth already contains salt, and as the soup reduces while it simmers, it can end up too salty if you salt it too early.\nNutmeg is potent, so use it sparingly. For the broth, opt for homemade vegetable broth or a good-quality bouillon cube, and add just enough to cover the vegetables so the flavors aren't diluted.\nDon't throw away the squash seeds. Rinse them under running water, dry them thoroughly, then toast them in a frying pan for 5 minutes with a drizzle of olive oil, some salt and a pinch of smoked paprika.\nButternut squash skin stays tough even after long simmering, so it needs to be peeled. If it resists, microwave the whole squash on low power for 5 to 7 minutes. Another option: cut the squash in half and roast it at 180\u00b0C for 40 to 50 minutes, then scoop out the flesh with a spoon.\nFor a deeper flavor, the butternut cubes can be roasted in the oven at 200\u00b0C for 25 minutes before being added to the broth.\nThe soup keeps for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator with the cream, or 5 to 7 days without, in an airtight container. It can be frozen for 3 to 6 months without the cream: add the cream when reheating the soup over low heat, stirring.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tSoupes et bouillonsFran\u00e7aise","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}