Smooth, creamy, and sweet roasted Acorn squash is the star ingredient in this delicious soup. Paired with homemade cornbread croutons, to this squash-loving chef at least, it’s perfection!
Even in Florida, we get some chilly evenings. Those are my favorite lately, though. Those cool dark evenings where there’s a spectacular sunset under low hanging clouds, and then the temperature drops and there’s a sudden storm. The only thing that makes that storm better is sitting in a comfy chair with a big cup of delicious comforting soup or a hot chocolate.
Squash soup is probably the perfect comfort food. It’s heavy enough to fill you up but light enough that you don’t feel like you’re going to explode, as some stews can make you feel. You can dress it up in dozens of different ways, from spicy with chiles to rich with all the beautiful fall spices.
We lean toward the sweet side with this particular version, which starts with a roasted acorn squash, filled with melted butter, brown sugar, and fall spices and broth, and roasted onion, garlic, and carrots. All of those together blend into a nice, hearty, but not too creamy mixture that I love to dress up with creme fraiche or sour cream and some freshly toasted cornbread croutons.
For this recipe, I just halve and season, so to speak, an acorn squash – filling it up with butter, brown sugar, salt, and spices – and add a halved onion and halved head of garlic, flipped cut side down {not up as shown in the picture}, and roasted until everything is nice and tender.
Once everything’s roasted, you scoop out the squash, squish out the garlic, and peel the onion, and add all that with broth and a little sour cream and salt and pepper to your blender, and let the blender do the work. You can warm it back up when you’re done, but for me, it was about perfect when it came out of the blender.
If you’re looking for a good homemade broth recipe, this is my favorite way of making chicken broth. It’s an easy recipe to modify for veggie broth – just don’t add the chicken bones and bits.
Then you can add croutons of your liking or make these delicious cornbread croutons we love. This is a great way to use up extra cornbread, and the best part is it doesn’t matter if it’s stale!
Here’s how you make it:
Sweet Southern Acorn Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 1 large acorn squash
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 head garlic sliced in half lengthwise
- 2/3 cup baby carrots
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- fresh parsley chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Halve the squash lengthwise and discard the seeds and strings. Drizzle the inside of the squash with olive oil. Rub with the brown sugar, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Halve the onion and slice the garlic head in half.
- Place the halved squash, garlic, onion, and carrots on the baking sheet, cut side up, and drizzle everything with olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Then flip everything cut-side down.
- Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes or until the squash is tender. Let everything sit on the counter for about 10 minutes, or until safe to handle.
- Add a cup of the vegetable stock to your blender. Scoop out the flesh of the squash, peel the onion, squish the garlic out of its skins, and spoon up the roasted carrots and add to your blender. You can also place in a large pot and use an immersion blender or blend in batches.
- Blend until the mixture is very smooth. Continue adding stock and blending until the soup is at the consistency you want. At the very end, blend in the sour cream.
- Divide into bowls and served garnished with sour cream, a touch of fresh cracked pepper if you have it, and the fresh parsley.
Nutrition
To make the cornbread croutons, heat your oven to 350F. Cut your cornbread {and this is preferably a couple days old cornbread, going stale} into 1-inch cubes and spread out over a baking sheet. Drizzle or spray lightly with olive oil. Bake for about 3 minutes and flip, and bake again for another 3. Adjust to your desired level of crispiness!
What’s your favorite kind of comfort soup?
