Deliciously warm and comforting Butternut Squash Soup with a delicate hint of spice from Harissa. Easy, tasty and healthy!
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
There’s not much better in the way of comfort food than a delicious bowl of warming soup. It can also be an incredibly healthy meal, and a great way to add more nutritious vegetables to your diet.
Butternut squash is the star of the show here. Not only is it delicious but it is full of fibre, low in calories and rich in minerals and nutrients like vitamins A, C and E plus magnesium, potassium, calcium and iron.
Roasting the butternut squash for this soup really brings out the best in its flavour, and adds a lovely sweet hint of nutty caramel.
What is Harissa?
Harissa is a deliciously complex spiced chilli sauce, popular in North African and Middle Eastern dishes. As well as chilli peppers, recipes typically contain spices like garlic, caraway and coriander seed plus cumin and olive oil. I prefer to use Rose Harissa, which also contains rose petals for a more delicate flavour, but still with a nice spicy kick.
Harissa paste is readily available in most UK supermarkets and since it has so many uses it is a great condiment to add to your pantry. It is excellent for adding extra flavour to soups, stews and casseroles. You can also use it as a marinade for grilling meat, mix with olive oil for a flavourful dressing for roast vegetables, or mix with hummus or yoghurt for a delicious dip.
I prefer to use Rose Harissa* for this Butternut Squash and Harissa soup, but the regular type also works well. If you can’t get hold of harissa, you can substitute it for another spicy red chilli paste such as sriracha, gochujang or Chinese garlic-chilli sauce. Or try making your own Rose Harissa.
How to serve Butternut Squash and Harissa Soup
This spicy squash soup pairs so perfectly with a grilled cheese toastie! It is also great with any kind of bread for dunking, though my preference is some seeded wholegrain sourdough. I love it with crackers too, or some crunchy herb croutons.
For garnish, I like to add some fresh chopped coriander plus a mix of chilli flakes and sunflower or pumpkin seeds for a bit of crunch. You could also swirl in some cream or crème fraîche if you like.
I hope you like this recipe as much as I do! Please leave a comment or tag me on Instagram @carrieskitchen_ if you make it!
Looking for more comforting soup recipes? Try one of these:
Roasted Butternut Squash and Harissa Soup
Equipment
- large baking tray
- large pot
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut Squash about 600-700g
- 2 red or yellow peppers
- 6 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp Rose Harissa Paste* more if you like it spicy!
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1.2 litres vegetable stock
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200°c/180 fan/gas 4/350f.
- Peel the butternut squash and cut into cubes. Slice the peppers. Peel the garlic cloves and crush using the flat of a knife.
- Add the squash, peppers and garlic to a large baking tray and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil plus a generous pinch of salt and pepper.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes, tossing everything after 20 minutes. The squash should be soft and beginning to caramelise.
- Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 5 minutes until soft. Stir in the harissa paste.
- Tip the roasted squash, peppers and garlic into the pot then pour over the stock.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Blend the soup using a stick blender or by transferring in batches to a stand blender.
- Season to taste – feel free to stir in some more harissa paste or add a drizzle of cream!
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe has been linked to CookBlogShare
This sounds so delicious and the colour is so vibrant and pretty. A tasty and comforting soup.
Thank you!
How beautiful and so healthy too! Thank you for joining up to #CookBlogShare