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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Absolutely and totally delish! Note to self, cook a lot more bacon to sprinkle on top next time,
I added some red pepper flakes to add a little heat and toasted the squash seeds – made a delicious meal.
Oh – and I didn’t have heavy cream, so I added a couple of dollops of sour cream. Yum.
Excellent flavor. I will make this again. I really like all the veggies and the little touch of bacon.
So delicious and easy. I’ll be making this again and again.
What could I sub for the heavy cream that is dairy free?
@Maggie, you can use cashew cream. You’ll need a high speed blender or a food processor and 2 to 12 hours to soak raw cashews but it will be as close as you can get without resorting to coconut cream and the coconuty flavor of that.
Just use canned full fat coconut milk!Jamie
I liked the soup, but it had way too much pepper for my taste. Consider starting with half the amount–you can always add more.
Considering the recipe says “to your taste,” and doesn’t even give a measurement for the pepper, i don’t see why you’re making it seem like it’s the recipes error.. there is no “half the amount…”
@Emma, It literally says, “1/2 teaspoon of pepper” in step 3 AND “freshly ground black pepper, to taste” in the ingredients. It’s an easy miss when the recipe is inconsistent and the fact that it is easy to miss is confirmed by your remarks. It’s also easy to misjudge the potency of spices. There is nothing wrong with Claudia Burns’ review–only your perception of it.
I agree with you about the pepper – I think the 1/2 teaspoon called for in Step 3 is too much. I will make it again, but I think I’ll start with 1/4 teaspoon.
I made this soup tonight and it is delicious. Could have been a bit thicker so next time I will cut back on the chicken stock. The chopping is time consuming but it is all the time you need to spend on this recipe. I used rubbed sage and dried French thyme. Will definitely make this again!
This recipe was delicious and so simple – the seasoning is perfect. My family loved it !
This sounds delicious! What can I use as a heavy cream sub? I have a lactose problem. Thank you!
Jennifer, I’ve used unsweetened coconut milk in place of heavy cream and liked it just as well!
Is there any way you could please give me the directions for making this soup in a crockpot, or on the stovetop? I don’t have an I.P., nor do I have plans to purchase one since my kitchen is so tiny. I saw your butternut squash & bacon recipe, but this one has more veggies & herbs. Thank you!
You could use tahini as a dollop or make cashew cream.
Oops didn’t mean to double comment.
To make on a stovetop…basically follow the same plan as an IP but then let the whole recipe simmer for a while (until the squash is tender). Then blend it up.
You could also roast all the veggies together on 375* for about 20 minutes and then blend with the stock, then cook back in the stovetop and add the cream.