Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
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Now you can make butternut squash soup in just half the time in the IP! Quick, easy, and velvety smooth.
Featured Comment
This is hands down one of my favorite feel-good, soul-warming soups during the colder months. Loaded with sweet butternut squash, caramelized onions, carrots, celery, Granny Smith apple, garlic, and fresh herbs – all topped with crispy bacon bits.
why i love this recipe
- Made in just a fraction of the time. By using an Instant Pot® pressure cooker, this butternut squash soup comes together lightning fast. Roasting butternut squash takes 30 minutes to 1 hour in the oven, but the cooking time in the IP is just 12 minutes!
- Flexible recipe. The soup will come together so beautifully with butternut squash, sweet potatoes or sugar pumpkin.
- Freezer-friendly. This recipe yields a generous amount of soup, perfect for freezing for a quick and easy lunch or weeknight dinner down the road.
tips and tricks for success
- Fresh herbs are best. Although you can certainly substitute dried herbs, fresh herbs are ideal here, delivering the best kind of flavor.
- Grab pre-cut squash. To cut down on prep time even more, use pre-cut butternut squash or sweet potatoes.
- 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.
- Blend, baby, blend. 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.
what to serve with butternut squash soup
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
You can substitute about 2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes.
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
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.
Toasted pumpkin seeds, fried sage leaves, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), heavy cream, or blue cheese crumbles are all great options!
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers without the heavy cream (cream soups tend to separate when frozen) in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop, adding heavy cream and garnishes when serving.
No Instant Pot, no problem. Here is our favorite stovetop version!
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- ½ medium sweet onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 fresh sage leaves, minced
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 ½ pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
- 3 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 rib celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped
- 4 cups chicken stock
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Instructions
- Set 6-qt Instant Pot® to the high saute setting. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in garlic, sage and thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in butternut squash, carrots, celery, apple, chicken stock, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 12 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions; remove and discard thyme sprigs.
- Stir in heavy cream. Puree with an immersion blender until desired consistency is reached; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, sprinkled with bacon and chives.
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Holy moly this soup is so good!! I like that you can be a little flexible with it. I accidentally used 1 full onion, only had thyme leaves instead of sprigs, and didn’t have sage and it still turned out great! SO GOOD!
If I’m feeling lazy and I want to used already diced butternut squash, how much should I use?
My son loves it. Delicious
I made this last night… was very tasty I did use half an onion and 2 small butternut squash… used vegetable stock and added the thyme and sage…after cooked and blended well I stirred in 1/3 cup coconut milk and 1 1/2 Tablespoons of honey with a little cinnamon sugar… like only 3/4 teaspoons… I will definitely make again
Oh wow. That sounds right up our alley!!! Trying to make it wfpb and that does the trick!
This is the most perfect fall soup; warm, savory, with a little sweet. I didnt even use heavy cream I used 1/2 cup dairy free milk and it was still super creamy! Everyone here is obsessed already
AMAZING!!! I used pancetta instead of bacon (because that’s what I had) and it was a great substitute, one i’ll probably continue to make. This is going to become a staple in our house this Fall and Winter.
This is excellent! No changes needed. Soooo good.
The soups always attract me. May I know in step 1, which level should I choose in the pot?
Is it ok if I skip the Sage? I have every other herb except for this.
can we omit the sage and thyme? I cant seem to find it at my grocery stores
Best butternut squash soup ever!!!
This will be my go to from now on. Easy, quick with instant pot and incredibly yummy!
I made exactly as recipe states, try this it’s definitely a winner!
So so good! Made as stated but will definitely try with other ideas listed in comments! So so good!
My family LOVES this soup! My 14 year old request it all the time. It’s easy to prep, one dish, freezes perfectly and taste great. Thank you!
This was delicious! I added 1/3 cup sugar just for preference, but it was great without the sugar too. Topped with homemade croutons.
Same! I like mine sweeter so I added some brown sugar. 🙂
Delicious! Definitely my go-to recipe from now on!
Fantastic I made the recipe exactly as listed and it was just delicious. thank you.
Love this recipe! I make it often, adding red chili pepper flakes for a bit-o-spice. I usually toast the squash seeds to add to the bacon on top. Yummy.
My butternut squash is only 1 lb- Would you decrease any other ingredients in the recipe?
Very good soup but Wish it would have given nutritional information for this recipe.
This is an amazing recipe! Only thing I did different was add 1 tsp Curry and 1 tsp Garam Masala. Will definitely be a regular meal in our house!
Turned out delicious! Thanks so much! Definitely will make again.
Hmm Butternut Squash soup seem a good pair with bread.
This soup is perfect! My sister and I tried this recipe and loved it. We thought the addition of a pinch of nutmeg really boosted the flavor. Thank you, Chungah!