Butternut Squash Soup: Easy Crock Pot Recipe

My mother is the best - whenever she comes over she brings me food. Like those awesome giant bags of pre-cooked udon from costco, man I love those and she always brings them to me. But the best is when she hands over fresh vegetables from her or her neighbor's garden. This year's backyard farm caught a fungus and all my curcurbits bit the dust, so her latest delivery of a pile of butternut squash was so awesome.

I wanted to make a soup in the crock pot (to save time and also stove top space over the holidays), but couldn't find a really good crock pot butternut squash soup recipe out there.

I perfected this one over a few days and it really is so easy and turned out so yummy that I wanted to share it. I hope you give it a try, because this is one healthy soup that even kids will gobble up.

Butternut Squash Soup Easy Crock Pot Recipe


Ingredients
One large or two medium butternut squash
One yellow or white onion
One apple (granny smith is best but work with what you've got)
2 cups chicken stock

Everything else is optional, but I like to use:
1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Bay Leaf
Creme fraiche or sour cream

Directions
First you want to roast your squash and onion. You could use pre-made butternut squash puree, or you could just dice the squash and put it in the crock pot, but roasting brings out the sugars and makes it much more delicious. Also, if you choose to roast, you don't have to cook your onions on the stove top. If you don't roast, you'll want to dice your onions and cook in a pan until translucent. So preheat your oven to 400 and prepare your squash and onions.

First cut the butternut squash in half. Cutting a butternut squash is a pain, but here's the secret. Stick the whole thing in the microwave for 3-5 minutes (depending on how powerful your microwave is). Then slice a bit off the top and bottom so you can stand it up straight with the larger end as the base. Now push your knife down from the top to bottom. It should be fairly simple but if it gets stuck you can tap the knife to push it through.


Now scoop out the seeds and drizzle olive oil on a roasting pan, then place the squash, cut sides up, on it. Also cut your onion in half, leaving the paper on, and place the two pieces cut sides down on the same pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.


Roast for about 40 minutes, until you can stick a fork in the squash and it's nice and soft.


The onion will also get soft and sort of smoosh apart to the touch.


In the meantime, peel, core and dice an apple. Throw it in the crock pot.


When the roasting is done, scoop out the flesh of the squash and throw it in the crock pot.


Remove the paper from the onion and separate the layers (or chop a bit if you want to) and add it to the crock pot as well. Now you've got apple, squash, and onion in there.


Pour two cups of chicken stock on top, and add a bay leaf or two. Set crockpot to low and let it cook. Anywhere from 2-4 hours on low is good.


Then all you need to do is remove the bay leaf and blend the mixture with an immersion (stick) blender (or use an actual blender if you like) to your desired consistency. Stir in your spices (I like coriander and white pepper), salt to taste, and half a cup of creme fraiche or sour cream. This soup is so thick you don't need the cream, but if you like it, it does add a little tang. You could use heavy cream too if you like that, but this soup is so healthy and thick without it, I say don't waste the calories and have a cookie for dessert instead.


Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream and a sprinkle of chives (or whatever herbs) and devour. My kid hates onions but she's never the wiser with this soup.


Also, I'm loving my MIL and the new dishes she brought me for hanukkah, hello I'm so lucky it hurts.

I love a good easy crock pot recipe and am always looking for inspiration, got any recipe links to share?