This squash soup tastes like soup season. If you could distill fall and winter into a food, it would be this.

I was trying to figure out another more elegant way to describe it than that, but really it's just the ultimate in cold weather comfort food. It's rich, creamy and a little spicy. Especially on winter weeknights, I live for recipes like this that are super-quick and can be made with almost all pantry ingredients. 

Because it calls for canned butternut squash puree, it only takes 20 minutes to make, but it tastes like you spent all day roasting vegetables to make it happen. You could also adapt this recipe easily for your tastes with different herbs, spices and more. (And you could start by roasting your own squash, of course. I have a recipe for that too!)

Curry-Sage Butternut Squash Soup

gluten-free, paleo, whole30-approved, vegetarian, vegan recipe | serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cans of butternut squash puree
• 3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
• olive oil for frying and garnish
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 tsp fresh sage leaves, chopped
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• dash of nutmeg
• dash of cayenne pepper
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Grab a stock pot. Fry the onions in olive oil on medium-high heat until they are transparent (about 3 minutes).
2. Throw in the garlic, sage, curry, cumin and coriander into the pot and stir to release the fragrant goodness for a couple minutes.
3. Add the squash puree and stir in the chicken broth. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Blend the mixture until very smooth using a food processor or regular blender (an immersion blender will work too, but it won't get as smooth).
5. Return the soup to the pot and simmer until you are ready to eat.
6. Add the lemon juice, nutmeg, cayenne, sea salt and pepper to taste at the end.
7. Garnish with a thin drizzle of olive oil, a light sprinkle of extra curry powder and fresh sage leaves.
    

Notes

• You could use roasted butternut squash if you can't find canned (you'll probably want to buy two squashes). It's only a little extra work, and I recommend using the same method as my Easy Cumin Roasted Butternut Squash.
• You could stir in some shrimp or chicken and make a stew.
• Try frying the sage before you throw it on top.
• Keep it a little thicker with less stock and literally eat it as gravy on your Thanksgiving turkey or a roast chicken.
• Make a vat. Eat it every damned day. It keeps very well in the fridge and in the freezer. 

This recipe was originally published in November 2014, but got new pictures in 2017.