Name: Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Apples
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 3 or 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 T unsalted butter; 1 C yellow onion (about one medium-large), finely chopped; 3 teaspoons mild curry powder (preferably West Indian); 1 butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds); 1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped; 1 1/2 C chicken stock; 1/2 C apple cider; salt and pepper to taste

There’s nothing better and more comforting than hot soup on a chilly, blustery day. This curried butternut squash soup with apples is perfect for cold fall or winter weekends when squash are plentiful. I had quite a bit of squash left over from making roasted cinnamon nutmeg butternut squash, so this was the perfect way to use it up. I have adapted the recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook, with a few tweaks.

First, I cut the recipe in half, as the original recipe made 6 large servings. Plus, I only had most of one squash left (not two!). I also substituted apple cider for the apple juice called for in the recipe. This gives it more flavor than just plain apple juice.

One more note, I recommend that you use a mild curry in this recipe (not something super-hot and spicy as it will overwhelm the flavor of the squash and the apples). I have a West Indian curry blend which is more savory than spicy; it works perfectly. If you can’t get the curry, try a teaspoon of ginger and a teaspoon of brown sugar.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Apples

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Category: soup

Cuisine: American

Servings: 3 or 4 servings

curried butternut squash soup with apples

An easy soup that's perfect for chilly fall or winter days.

Ingredients

2 T unsalted butter
1 C yellow onion (about one medium-large), finely chopped
3 teaspoons mild curry powder (preferably West Indian)
1 butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 1/2 C chicken stock
1/2 C apple cider
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Melt the butter in a three quart dutch oven or soup pot.
Add the chopped onions and the curry powder. Cover the pot and let the onions cook, on low heat, about 20 minutes.
Peel the squash and cut it into chunks. You don't have to be too neat about this as you're going to puree the soup. The easiest way is to take a large, sharp knife and cut the squash in half (width-wise) and then into smaller hunks. Make sure you scrape out the seeds and discard them. I find a grapefruit spoon works nicely.
When the onions are soft, add the stock, the chunks of squash, and the apple to the pot.
Raise the heat to medium-high and bring the soup to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook (with the cover partially off the pot), until the apples and squash are soft. This should take about half an hour.
Turn off the flame and remove the pot from the heat.
Now, take a stick blender and puree the soup until it's smooth.
Add the apple cider and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Tools and Ingredients for Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Apples

Cuisinart Immersion Hand Blender

The original recipe called for straining the soup, then putting it through a food mill or food processor, and then pouring it back into the original pot.

Doable, but a pain in the neck, and it means two more things to clean. The immersion blender is much easier to use, and a lot easier to clean up too. You just pop off the end and wash it.

Chief West Indian Curry Powder

Flavorful, but not too hot, this curry blend comes straight from Trinidad. It works well with butternut squash, a quick chicken curry, or over some cauliflower or roasted potatoes.

Oxo Swivel Peeler

Butternut squash is notoriously hard to peel, but this gadget makes the job a snap. Using this peeler, peeling a squash is no harder than peeling a carrot.

The little hole in the pointed end is great for removing the eyes from potatoes, or taking out bruised spots from veggies. Oxo was originally designed for people with arthritis, so the handle is soft, round, and easy to grip.