Ingredient Notes
Butternut squash – The squash is the star of the show here. Make your life a whole lot easier and buy prepackaged cubed butternut squash. If you’re committed to prepping your squash from scratch, go for it. A 2.5 pound squash should leave you with just about the right amount of cubed squash for this recipe. Coconut milk – Light or full fat coconut milk work well in this recipe. Make sure you use coconut milk from a can, and not a carton near the almond milk. You’ll generally find this in the Asian foods aisle of the grocery store. Red Curry Paste – You’ll find curry paste near the Asian foods in your grocery store. Make sure you grab red curry paste, not green. I use this one by Thai kitchen because it’s widely available in grocery stores. Note that curry paste can be quite spicy, though it varies. The brand I buy sometimes varies by bottle. Generally it is extremely mild, but readers have reported that sometimes it’s spicy, and that some other brands of red curry paste are extremely spicy. You might want to look for one that is labeled more mild, and if you are sensitive to heat, try starting with just half the amount called for in the soup and adding more to taste. If you want to avoid spice all together, you could change the flavor profile of this soup a bit and add 2-3 teaspoons of curry powder instead. Broth – Chicken or Vegetable broth work great in this recipe. Shredded Coconut – this might seem like a really strange thing to sprinkle on top of soup. I find I actually like the crunch and it goes so well with the flavor profile! I’m using my favorite coconut chips, but feel free to use whatever you like, including regular sweetened, shredded coconut.
Instructions
Can this soup be frozen? This coconut curry butternut squash soup freezes great! I like putting it into my favorite silicone molds for easy storage. You can feel free to add additional liquid after reheating to get the consistency you prefer. Can I skip the roasting step? Roasting the squash really adds flavor to the soup, but if you didn’t have access to the oven, you could always simmer the squash in the broth until it was soft. You would probably need to add a little extra broth than the recipe calls for to make sure there was enough liquid for that.
Serving Suggestions
Since this soup is mostly vegetables and broth, it’s very light! To make it a meal you could serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches, a loaf of bread, a side salad and fruit, naan bread, or a more hearty turkey sandwich.
