Butternut squash (pumpkin) chipotle soup

After standing on a frosty oval watching soccer, early on a weekend morning, there is something about coming home (and warming up) to a bowl of chipotle spiked butternut squash soup. It’s simple to make, hearty, and ridiculously inexpensive. Some people warm the soul with whisky, for me, it’s soup. It’s also probably a bit too early for me for a glass of whisky at lunchtime! Not a week goes by in the cooler months, that there isn’t a pot of some sort of soup made in our house.

Now, granted, you could make this easy butternut chipotle soup recipe ten different ways. Personally, I love roasting soups in my cast iron pots, in the oven for an hour or two. This one, I usually cook in my Le Creuset 24cm french oven. Yep, it’s definitely a lot slower than a boiled soup on the stove or pressure cooker, But by slow roasting everything in the oven, the pumpkin and onion caramelize, giving the soup a good bit of depth and flavour.

What you are going to love about this butternut squash and chipotle soup

It has a good amount of heat from the ground chipotle chilis, but it’s not overly spicy. More warmth than heat is how I would describe it. Just remember, you can always add chili, but you can’t take it out!

It’s super easy to make. Kind of a set and forget kinda soup recipe. Want to speed up the cooking time? I’ve also cooked this in my pressure cooker when I’m totally time poor and it’s a total winner.

Generally, soup recipes are always quite easy to make double/triple batches. So batch cook away and you’ll have lunch for days. It also freezes well so portion it out in reusable, freezer friendly containers and pop into the freezer for a later date.

What you need

• Butternut Pumpkin – In my little corner of the world butternut pumpkins are readily available throughout the year. It’s rare that I don’t have one in the fridge. If you can’t get your hands on one, try another pumpkin variety. I’ve used a couple of different types of pumpkin with this recipe over the years. I always seem to come back to my love for butternuts though. If you’re lucky enough to find these miniature pumpkins (pictured) around, they make a great soup bowl. There’s a cracking description on how to make them here
  

• Chipotle powder – for me is a pantry staple. Adding a teaspoon or two of chilli is a really good, quick way to add a little depth and heat to things like roasted pumpkin, or say a chili con carne. I love this stuff and can’t get enough. Alternatively, you could also try using canned chipotle chilis.
  
  
• Vegetables – Potato, brown onions
  
  
• Pantry Staples – sea salt flakes, pepper, unsalted butter

The details

1. Preheat oven to 140°c.
   
   
2. In a cast iron casserole on a low heat, melt the butter. Add the sliced onions and gently stir. Cook them until soft and translucent (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally.
   
   
3. Add the garlic. Stir in, and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the pumpkin, potato and water. Increase the heat to medium and bring to a simmer.
   
   
4. Once simmering over medium heat, remove the soup from the stovetop and pop into the oven for 90 minutes.
   
   
5. After 90 minutes the pumpkin and onions should be nice and caramelized, and the liquid partly reduced. Blitz the soup with a stick blender and add the ground chipotle. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.

Equipment

A cast iron French oven – I use my 24cm Le Creuset for this soup. You’ll also need a chopping board and a knife big enough to be able to cut through the pumpkin. I find a 20cm cook’s knife is the perfect size for me.

A good stick blender (Bamix, immersion blender) is essential for blending soups in the pot. Alternatively you could use a regular blender. It’s just a bit messier and more time consuming.

Try…

Serving Butternut pumpkin chipotle soup with a dollop of sour cream. I love to make a loaf of Irish brown bread or my bacon chive and cheese soda bread to go with soups, but a good chunk of sourdough to go alongside works just as well.

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A few more Autumnal recipes I think you’ll like…

• Apple & walnut ANZAC crumble
• How to dehydrate Autumnal fruits
• Spiced apple cider doughnuts
• Persian lentil sweet potato soup
• Irish Stew

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