This recipe has fresh vegetables along with the butternut squash and pumpkin pieces – though you can use pumpkin puree if you prefer – along with aromatic rosemary leaves.
Add in some coconut milk to make it extra creamy and you can even serve them in small pumpkin shells with special homemade sour cream cobwebs!
Summary
Prep: 15 minutes
Cooking: 30 minutes
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Easy peasy
Makes: 6 bowls
How to make butternut squash and pumpkin soup?
Squash and pumpkin soup is simple to make.
First you peel and dice the vegetables.
Then you place them in a large saucepan with some olive oil and rosemary leaves to heat for a few minutes and release those flavours.
Finally you add in the chicken stock (or water) and simmer for 30 minutes.
At the end you can add some coconut milk for extra creaminess and blend the soup until it’s smooth.
If you’re serving it for a Halloween dinner you could add some finishing touches by pouring it into individual mini pumpkin shells and adding some sour cream ‘cobwebs’.
Ingredients
For the squash and pumpkin soup:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 sprig rosemary, leaves only, chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 stick celery, finely chopped
- 700 grams butternut squash cubes
- 300 grams fresh pumpkin pieces*
- 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock**
- 150 mls coconut milk (optional)
- Coriander leaves, to garnish
For the pumpkin shell and cobweb presentation:
- 4 small baking pumpkins (these are in addition to the pumpkin needed for the soup above)
- 100 mls sour cream
*If you prefer you can replace the fresh pumpkin pieces with pumpkin puree
**For toddlers and younger children you can use a low sodium chicken stock, or just replace with water.
Instructions
For the squash and pumpkin soup:
- Peel and chop your onion, carrot, celery, rosemary leaves, pumpkin flesh and butternut squash. Mince the garlic clove. See our post on how to best chop butternut squash here.
- Take a large saucepan and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Set to a low heat and add in your onion and garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes until soft.
- Add in your chopped rosemary leaves and cook for another minute.
- Add in your chopped celery, carrot, butternut squash and pumpkin pieces. Heat for 3-4 minutes.
- Pour in your chicken stock and bring it to the boil.
- Simmer for 30 minutes, topping up with a little water if necessary.
- When it’s ready, blend the soup with a handheld blender or by transferring it to a heatproof mixer.
- Add enough of the water to the soup to reach your desired consistency or add 150 mls coconut milk if you like it to be creamy.
- Scatter on coriander leaves to serve, or present your soup in mini pumpkin shells (see below).
For the pumpkin shell ‘bowls’:
- Cut the tops off of you small pumpkins with a sharp knife, and remove the seeds and pulp with a spoon.
- You can either keep the pumpkin shells raw or cook them on a baking tray in an oven at 180°C (350°F) fan setting for about 20 minutes with the tops off.
- When they’re ready, fill the shells with the squash and pumpkin soup.
For the sour cream cobweb effect:
- First place sour cream in a piping tool or in a plastic sandwich bag with a small 3mm corner snipped off.
- Squeeze it out over the soup bowl so that it makes a series of circles, one inside the other.
- Start with a large circle near the edge of your bowl or pumpkin shell. Then make a smaller one inside that and a smaller one insider that, working your way to the middle.
- Make as many circles as you can, without them overlapping. You should end up with a very small circle in the middle.
- Take a toothpick and start with that small circle in the middle. Make a straight line from that circle, out to the edge of the bowl or pumpkin shell, pulling past all the other circles as you do so.
- Repeat this for a further 5 lines. You want to have 6 evenly spaced ‘lines’ out from the middle.
Classic squash and pumpkin soup – our step by step guide:
Make your pumpkin shells for serving
If you’re serving your squash and pumpkin soup in real pumpkin shells, start by cutting the tops off of the pumpkins. Scrape out the seeds and pulp.
You can use the shells as they are (raw) but if you prefer them cooked then place them on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180°C (350°F) fan setting.
Try not to let them brown too much. They should be soft but still retain their shape.
In the meantime start making your soup.
Peel and chop your butternut squash and pumpkin
See our post: How best to peel and cut a butternut squash for the easiest way to peel and cube them.
Chop them until you have 700 grams of butternut squash cubes and 300 grams fresh pumpkin cubes.
If you don’t have fresh pumpkin you can also use canned pumpkin puree for this recipe.
Chop your other vegetables
Peel and chop your carrot and onion. Finely chop the celery and mince the garlic.
Chop the rosemary leaves.
Soften the onion and garlic with aromatic rosemary
Take a large saucepan and heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over a low heat.
Add the diced onion and minced garlic and cook for a few minutes until softened.
Add in the chopped rosemary leaves and cook for another minute or two to release the flavours.
Add in your vegetable pieces and let them sweat
Add in your diced celery and carrot as well as you butternut squash cubes and pumpkin pieces.
Let it all sweat for about 3-4 minutes.
Pour in the stock and simmer for 30 minutes
Finally pour in the chicken stock and bring the mixture to the boil.
Leave it simmering for about 30 minutes. If it’s getting dry you can top it up with a little water.
Alternatively, if you prefer your squash and pumpkin soup to be creamy then add in 150 mls (about 10 tablespoons) of coconut milk near the end of the cooking time.
Blend into a creamy soup
When the soup is ready you can either use a handheld blender or pour it into a mixer.
Blend until smooth and adjust the water quantity to get your desired consistency.
Make your sour cream cobwebs
If you’re serving them in real pumpkins, then pour your soup into the pumpkin shells you prepared earlier. To make your cobwebs:
- Place 100 mls of sour cream into a piping tool. Alternatively you can place it in a plastic sandwich bag and snip a small hole (about 3mm) from the corner.
- Carefully pour the sour cream over the soup bowl to create circles. Start by making a big circle around the edge of the bowl or pumpkin shell. Then make one inside that one, and another inside that one.
- Make as many as you can without the circles overlapping with one another. You should finish with a small circle in the middle.
- Take a toothpick and start in the centre of the soup bowl (at that smallest circle) and make a straight line from it, out to the edge of the pumpkin bowl. Move it through the other circles on your way to the edge so that you’re ‘pulling’ them into a cobweb shape.
- Repeat 5 more times at even intervals to end up with 6 lines in total going round the soup bowl. If it helps, imagine that you are marking out how to cut a cake into 6 even slices.
Enjoy this warming squash pumpkin soup!
Classic squash and pumpkin soup, with cobwebs
This recipe has fresh vegetables along with the butternut squash and pumpkin pieces – though you can use pumpkin puree if you prefer – along with aromatic rosemary leaves.
Add in some coconut milk to make it extra creamy and you can even serve them in small pumpkin shells with special homemade sour cream cobwebs!
Ingredients
Squash and pumpkin soup
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 sprig rosemary leaves only, chopped
- 1 carrot peeled and chopped
- 1 celery stick chopped
- 700 grams butternut squash cubes
- 300 grams fresh pumpkin pieces
- 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
- 150 mls coconut milk (optional)
- coriander leaves to garnish
Pumpkin shell and cobweb presentation
- 4 small baking pumpkins (these are in addition to the pumpkin needed for the soup above)
- 100 mls sour cream
Instructions
Squash and pumpkin soup
-
Peel and chop your onion, carrot, celery, rosemary leaves, pumpkin flesh and butternut squash. Mince the garlic clove.
-
Take a large saucepan and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
-
Set to a low heat and add in your onion and garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes until soft.
-
Add in your chopped rosemary leaves and cook for another minute.
-
Add in your chopped celery, carrot, butternut squash and pumpkin pieces. Heat for 3-4 minutes.
-
Pour in your chicken stock and bring it to the boil.
-
Simmer for 30 minutes, topping up with a little water if necessary.
-
When it’s ready, blend the soup with a handheld blender or by transferring it to a heatproof mixer.
-
Add enough of the water to the soup to reach your desired consistency or add 150 mls coconut milk if you like it to be creamy.
-
Scatter on coriander leaves to serve, or present your soup in mini pumpkin shells (see below).
Pumpkin shells
-
Cut the tops off of you small pumpkins with a sharp knife, and remove the seeds and pulp with a spoon.
-
You can either keep the pumpkin shells raw or cook them on a baking tray in an oven at 180°C (350°F) fan setting for about 20 minutes with the tops off.
-
When they’re ready, fill the shells with the squash and pumpkin soup.
Sour cream 'cobwebs'
-
First place sour cream in a piping tool or in a plastic sandwich bag with a small 3mm corner snipped off.
-
Squeeze it out over the soup bowl so that it makes a series of circles, one inside the other.
-
Start with a large circle near the edge of your bowl or pumpkin shell. Then make a smaller one inside that and a smaller one insider that, working your way to the middle.
-
Make as many circles as you can, without them overlapping. You should end up with a very small circle in the middle.
-
Take a toothpick and start with that small circle in the middle. Make a straight line from that circle, out to the edge of the bowl or pumpkin shell, pulling past all the other circles as you do so.
-
Repeat this for a further 5 lines. You want to have 6 evenly spaced ‘lines’ out from the middle.
