Slow Cooker Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Apple

November 19, 2019 by Nancy

Creamy butternut squash soup that’s slow cooked in a crockpot makes a delicious warm and comforting main dish, side dish or appetizer.

Inspiration for coming up with recipes comes from various experiences such as having really delicious food at a restaurant, seeing mouthwatering pictures of food, or even just cravings that come about out of nowhere.

For this butternut soup recipe, my inspiration comes from the butternut squash soup at Panera.

Panera is a bakery-café type restaurant chain that’s fast-casual and serves soups, sandwiches and salads.

When I go there, one of my favorite things to order is their Vegetarian Autumn Squash Soup which is actually made with a combination of pumpkin and butternut squash.

In this slow cooker recipe, I use just butternut squash.

And this recipe has chicken broth in it so it’s not vegetarian like it is at Panera.

Also included in this recipe is a tart Granny Smith apple, carrot, onion and garlic.

The flavor is savory yet has a familiar comfort food taste that comes from a hint of sweet (from the apple and carrot), cinnamon and curry powder.

After the ingredients slow cook in the crockpot (on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours), the ingredients are blended with an immersion blender right in the slow cooker pot.

If you don’t have an immersion blender the ingredients can be transferred to a blender that’s made to be used for hot soup.

TIP – The ingredients in the blender will be hot so it’s important to use caution when blending because steam can build up and blow the lid off of the blender.

Tips on using a blender to blend hot/warm ingredients are below in the step-by-step instructions and also in the recipe at the bottom of this post.

Once the soup is blended to a smooth consistency, half and half, and lite coconut milk are stirred in.

Then it’s ready to be served while its warm.

Each serving bowl is topped with dried cranberries, walnuts and a dollop of sour cream.

This flavorful soup is light, creamy and has just the right amount of thickness and heartiness to it.

Serve this scrumptious slow cooker butternut squash soup as a main dish, side dish or even as an appetizer.

If serving this soup as a main dish, this easy homemade garlic bread or cream cheese garlic bread would go great with it.

Here are more soup recipes you may like “Slow Cooker Split Pea and Ham Soup“, “Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato and Smoked Sausage Soup” and “Eggplant Supper Soup with Ground Beef and Pasta“.

Let’s check out the ingredients.

For the Soup – Butternut squash, onion (white or yellow), garlic, carrot, Granny Smith apple, chicken broth, cinnamon, curry powder, dried red pepper flakes, salt, ground black pepper, half and half, and lite coconut milk

For the Equipment – A 4-quart slow cooker (crockpot), immersion blender (or a regular blender with a pitcher that’s made to be used for hot ingredients)

For the Toppings – Dried cranberries, walnuts and sour cream

A printable recipe with the measurements and instructions is located at the bottom of this post.

Here’s how to make it.

For the Soup:

For the Onions and Garlic – Chop the onions…

…and garlic.

In a large skillet add olive oil.

Heat the skillet on low to medium heat and…

…add the chopped onions and stir.

Add the chopped garlic…

…and stir.

Continue stirring until the onions start to turn translucent (about 6 minutes).

If the garlic is cooking too fast (starting to turn a golden color), turn the heat down a little.

Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

For the Squash – Peel the skin off of the butternut squash.

Carefully cut the squash in half lengthwise.

Then cut the each halved piece in half again widthwise so that the squash is cut into quarters.

TIP – Cut the squash so that the seeds are left only in the “bulb” section of the squash. This should make it easier to remove the pulp and seeds all at once.

Next, with a dinner-size spoon…

…scrape out the pulp and discard.

Cut the squash into medium-size chunks.

Core and coarsely chop the apple (keep the skin on the apple) and peel and coarsely chop the carrot.

To the slow cooker pot, add the squash, apple, carrot, onion and garlic.

To the pot…

…add curry powder…

…ground cinnamon…

…dried red pepper flakes…

…pepper…

…and salt.

Next,

…add chicken broth.

Stir the ingredients together until combined.

Cover with a lid.

Cook in the slow cooker on the low setting for 8 hours (or set on high and cook for 4 hours).

After the soup is cooked and while it’s warm…

…use an immersion blender…

…to blend the soup…

…until smooth.

If an immersion blender isn’t available, a regular blender with a pitcher that’s made for hot ingredients can be used.

Use a large ladle to transfer the hot soup into the blender pitcher (please see below for more details).

If Using a Blender to Blend the Soup:

Blending the Hot/Warm Ingredients – When using a blender for hot liquids it’s very important to use caution; since the ingredients are hot, steam can build up and blow the lid off of the blender.

Here are some tips when using a blender for hot liquids:

– add the soup to the blender jar in batches that are no larger than 1/3 full

– remove the center piece from the blender lid

– place the lid (minus the center piece) on the blender jar

– cover the lid with a clean towel folded to a size slightly larger than the lid

– hold the towel over the lid while blending on the lowest speed

Blend the soup until creamy and transfer it from the blender pitcher back into the slow cooker pot.