Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup
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This easy roasted butternut squash soup is so silky smooth, so dreamy, and so creamy! The secret is roasting the butternut squash first!
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Have made this recipe 3x in the past 3 weeks! Everyone LOVES it. From my parents, to my 5 year old and 1 year old nieces. The goat cheese is amazing with it, it’s so savory and satisfying. It also couldn’t be any easier to make! Thank you for such an incredibly easy and delicious recipe, this is a staple in our house now!
Why you’ll love this Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- Dreamiest butternut squash soup. With its silky smooth texture, this is the only recipe you will need this fall (and winter) season for years to come.
- Smoky goodness. The secret to the recipe is roasting the butternut squash with bacon, onion, bell pepper, and garlic first. That way, you have that smoky, garlicky-bacon goodness built right into the soup.
- The garnishes are simply the best. A sprinkle of crumbled, crispy bacon, goat cheese, and fresh chives simply takes this soup to the next level. It’s truly just so much coziness in a single bowl.
How to make Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- Prep the butternut squash. Place the butternut squash, onion, bell pepper, and bacon on a greased baking sheet. Stir in the olive oil, garlic, salt, and peper, tossing until evenly coated. Pro tip: for a quick weeknight shortcut, use pre-cut butternut squash.
- Roast the butternut squash. Spread out the vegetables in a single layer, avoiding any overlap. Bake at 400°F for 25-30 minutes, or until the squash is fork-tender, stirring or flipping halfway through.
- Cook the bacon. Dice the raw bacon slices into small pieces and add to a hot Dutch oven over medium heat. Spread the bacon out in a single layer and cook, stirring often, until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Blend. Stir in the roasted butternut squash and thyme in the leftover bacon grease until fragrant. Then stir in the chicken stock, pureeing with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
- Simmer. Reduce the heat to a simmer until thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Pro tip: if the soup is too thick, add a small splash of chicken stock.
- Serve. Serve warm, ladled into bowls and garnished with the crispy bacon, crumbled goat cheese, chopped fresh chives, or any other garnishes (see below) as desired.
Garnishes to add
- Crunchy: croutons, crumbled bacon, chopped nuts, or pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- Creamy: dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt, drizzle of heavy cream, or swirl of full-fat coconut milk
- Herbs: chopped fresh chives, green onions, cilantro, or parsley
- Fruit: pomegranate seeds
- Cheese: crumbled goat cheese, crumbled blue cheese, or freshly grated Parmesan
what to serve with butternut squash soup
Tools For This Recipe
Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I substitute sweet potatoes for the butternut squash?
Absolutely! You can substitute about 3 pounds sweet potatoes.
How can I make this vegetarian?
You can omit the bacon and substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.
What if I don’t have an immersion blender?
A countertop blender (such as a Vitamix or Blendtec) or food processor should do the trick! When using a countertop blender, cool the soup slightly and blend in batches.
What toppings can I add?
Toasted pumpkin seeds, fried sage leaves, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), heavy cream, or blue cheese crumbles are all great options!
Is butternut squash soup freezer-friendly?
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the garnishes in individual freezer bags, thawing overnight and gently reheating on the stovetop, adding fresh garnishes just before serving.
Can I make butternut squash soup in the Instant Pot?
Absolutely! Click here for a favorited Instant Pot version.
Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup
This easy roasted butternut squash soup is so silky smooth, so dreamy, and so creamy! The secret is roasting the butternut squash first!
Video
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 ½ cups chicken stock, or more, to taste
- ¼ cup crumbled goat cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
for the roasted butternut squash
- 1 butternut squash, about 3 pounds, peeled, seeded and cut in 1-inch chunks
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Add the roasted butternut squash and thyme, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in chicken stock and puree with an immersion blender.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5-10 minutes. If the soup is too thick, add more chicken stock as needed until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve immediately, garnished with bacon, goat cheese and chives, if desired.
for the roasted butternut squash
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or coat with nonstick spray.
- Place butternut squash, onion, bell pepper and bacon in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Add olive oil and garlic; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Gently toss to combine.
- Place into oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until butternut squash is tender, stirring at halftime.*
Equipment
Notes
- Grab pre-cut squash. To cut down on prep time even more, use pre-cut butternut squash or sweet potatoes.
- Roast the butternut squash. Roasting the butternut squash beforehand will add more rich and caramelized flavors all around.
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your soup. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety. Homemade stock is even better.
- Blending is key. With the help of an immersion blender or a countertop blender, the soup will yield an even creamier, smoother consistency.
- Add garnishes. Garnishes are always optional but a fresh sprinkle of chives or some crispy bacon will certainly take your soup to the next level, adding more flavor, texture and contrast.
- Mix it up. Use sweet potato in place of butternut squash, or a blend of both.
- Freeze without the garnishes. Butternut squash soup can keep in the freezer for up to 3 months, freezing in single-serving sizes (for easy thawing) and reheating gently on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Did you make this recipe?
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This was honestly the most delicious soup I have ever made! I did a double batch instead of a single one and I still don’t have enough! A few tweaks I made because of personal preference: I omitted the thyme, seasoned the veggies/bacon with onion powder and garlic powder and used a food processor instead of the immersion blender and sour cream instead of goat cheese. Thank you so much for this recipe!
I made this and must say it was delicious! I also videotaped myself preparing it and hope some of you get some help from it….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf2Ta2gy3J4 .
So the isnructions say to lay the bacon out on the baking sheet with the squash etc, but then two steps later it says to cook that bacon in a skillet. Do you cook the bacon twice?
Sarah, the recipe lists 4 slices bacon for the soup, which is roasted with the butternut squash, and an additional 4 slices bacon for the topping, which is cooked in a skillet.
I used this recipe as a base tonight. Instead of bacon, I used smoked turkey sausage (browned in the skillet), added mushrooms and one cup of cooked wild rice. It was so delicious. I’m sure it’s great with the bacon, but my husband would certainly complain that it’s not hearty enough (men!). Love your recipes!
This soup is absolutely the best butternut squash soup EVER! Made it for the second time a couple of nights ago, and three adults and a toddler were ‘mmmmming’ through every bite! I omitted the vegetable roasting by accident while rushing to get the squash in the oven during a few free minutes while my 3-month-old granddaughter was content on her own. It was nevertheless absolutely delicious, and is now one of our top 5 soups! Thank you!!!
Gul Dang! It’s soo so good. Thank you!
Made this tonight and it was amazing. Added a side of brie, carmelized onion and bacon panini and together it was tasty!
This soup is amazing!!!!!!! My husband is not a big fan of soups but he loved it!!! We also made it for our guests whom we invited at our house during Christmas holidays and I got a 10 points for it!!!! 🙂 Thanks a lot!!!!
Do I need a 3 lb butternut squash or 3 lbs of the cut up chunks?
The recipe calls for one 3-pound butternut squash to be peeled, seeded and then cut into 1-inch chunks.
I used 3 lbs of already-cut-up squash chunks. The soup came out very well, but it needed a total of 4 cups chicken broth because the squash soup was too thick to puree well. Delicious, too.
I have made this twice. My 1 year old son is obsessed, as am I. I actually didn’t have the goat cheese or the chives either time. This soup is amazing and tasty on its own. Thank you SO much for sharing. Delicious!
I made this for the first time a week before Thanksgiving. My husband insisted that we make it again for Thanksgiving! THEN we decided to have it every holiday! and have since dubbed it holiday soup. I am making our Christmas batch of holiday soup right now. Thank you so much for such a wonderful recipe ^_^
I made this soup exactly according to your recipe. This is by far the best butternut squash soup i have ever tried.!!!
better than a restaurant style ! i will be making this again and again!
Just made this. Came out delicious. I don’t tend to like thyme, so I went with a tiny bit of cilantro, oregano and parsley instead. Loved it. The goat cheese made it extra awesome. Am thinking of experimenting with pumpkin and with sweet potatoes in the future so I can have a whole repertoire of variations. Your recipes never disappoint! It came out delicious and the instructions are always spot on, making the process seamless and pointless!
Oops, not “pointless” … “painless!” 🙂
I want to make this for Christmas Eve lunch, but want to do most of the cooking for the day ahead of time. How well do you think the prepared soup will freeze (for 2 days)?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Possible to ‘convert’ this into a slow cooker version? Love the idea, suppose could do the ‘roasting part’ in the slow cooker and go from there after it softens?
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to give exact conversion information to translate a traditional stovetop recipe to be used in a slow cooker without further recipe testing. However, here is an article worth checking out on a possible conversion guide. Hope that helps!
Can you reheat this?
Yes, absolutely.
I made this today! Absolutely delicious! I omitted the red bell pepper as I didn’t have any. I browned up some ground sausage and added to the soup. My husband loved it!
I thought of doing this as well, adding sausage. Wonder if it would overwhelm the squash flavor though?
I actually think it’s a great idea but it may be best to use “mild” flavored sausage.
I have made this soup several times and it is always a hit! I decided to comment this time (veggies roasting now) to add a quick tip:
I clean the seeds from the squash and boil them in salted water for a few minutes, drain, dry and then roast on parchment with a drizzle of olive oil/ salt/pepper/garlic powder/ a sprinkle of curry and a dash on cayenne until they “pop”. I serve them on top of the soup with goat cheese and chives (Sans the extra bacon…I know I know) . It just feels “right”.
I also remove the red pepper pieces before blending (personal preference.)
Thanks for the amazing recipe!
can u prepares oup day before and reheat and cook bacon for top day of serving?
Yes, absolutely.
Does goat cheese have to be used? I don’t know where to buy.
Feta would be a great substitute!
What if you don’t like goat or feta? Just omit the cheese altogether? I would be ok with that…just asking! 🙂
Yes, please feel free to omit as needed.
I do not have an immersion blender, and alternate options?
A blender should work just fine.