Paleo Butternut Squash Soup – 5 Slow Cooker Varieties.
Choose your own adventure soup…
This recipe marks the start of a new trend here at PaleoPot. This is a recipe concept, complete with suggestions for how to finish it off to your liking. Face it, we don’t always follow a recipe we find online down to the letter. It’s normal to have different preferences, while the important thing is the concept that helps you bring real food to your table. Today you will learn how to make a super easy paleo butternut squash soup, along with four different flavor suggestions that may just increase your odds of actually making it. If you do make this, you’ll never buy that squash soup in a box stuff ever again. I promise.
Bacon Jalapeno Butternut Squash Soup
Your Core Ingredients:
- 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed. This should result in about 6 cups of squash. If you are one of those folks that buys the precut veggies, you will likely need 2 packages. My large squash that weighed just over 3 pounds ended up yielding just over 6 cups of cubes.
- 1 can of coconut milk (14 ounces). I used TJ’s light coconut milk yet a “full fat” brand will result in a creamier end product.
- 2 cups of chicken stock. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t make your own, but you should!
- 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and cubed.
- 2 medium to large carrots, peeled and chopped into small pieces.
That is your core recipe! Notice there are no seasoning or special flavors added. We’ll get there soon. The point is that for one large squash you need a can of coconut mik, some chicken stock, an apple, and a couple of carrots to help make the color pop! With this basic recipe you now have the template for making an array of super easy and super awesome butternut squash soups! I wish there was more magic to it than this, yet it really is this easy. Oh and since we’re talking concepts, 4 to 6 hours on your low setting will get it done. After that you just need to stick your immersion blender in your crock pot for a minute and puree that goodness up. Oh you don’t have an immersion blender? Well, I guess you’ll just have to get your food processor or blender dirty. These recipes should yield you just over 2 quarts of soup.
Traditional Butternut Squash soup:
- 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
- 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
- 2 cups of chicken stock.
- 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and cubed.
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon.
- 1 tbsp ground nutmeg.
Carrot Cashew Ginger Butternut Squash Soup:
- 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
- 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
- 1 cup of chicken stock.
- 6 carrots, peeled and chopped.
- 1 cup of raw cashews, chopped.
- 1″ piece of ginger, grated.
- 2 tsp of ground cumin.
- 2 tsp of ground cinnamon.
Apple Cider Spice Butternut Squash Soup:
- 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
- 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
- 2 cups of apple cider.
- 2 apples of your choice, peeled, cored, and cubed.
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped.
- 1 tbsp of ground cinnamon.
- 1 tbsp of ground nutmeg.
Thai Curry Butternut Squash Soup:
- 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
- 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
- 2 cups of chicken stock.
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
- 2 heaping tbsp of red curry paste.
- 1 small red onion, chopped.
- 1″ piece of ginger, grated.
- 6 cloves of garlic, chopped.
Bacon Jalapeno Butternut Squash Soup:
- 1 large butternut squash (about 6 cups cubed)
- 1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk.
- 1 cup of chicken stock.
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
- 1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and cubed.
- 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped. Remove the seeds if you desire less heat.
- 6 ounces of crisped bacon, chopped.
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped.
- 2 tsp of Spanish smoked paprika.
Cooking Instructions:
- All recipes are to be cooked on low heat for 4 to 6 hours.
- Blend or puree when cooking is finished. That’s it. An immersion blender is ideal for this. If you don’t have one, let your mix cool before transferring it to a blender or food processor.
- Garnish with anything from cinnamon and nutmeg, to curry powder, pumpkin seeds, and of course bacon.
Technically that is five varieties of soup, not counting the simple base recipe concept. I hope some of you will whip up your own creations based off of the base recipe, and of course share it with us in the comments below. Enjoy!
You should cook these too:
Category: Soup
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Have this cooking in the crockpot now- added some green onion to it and instead of a granny smith I used 2 small fuji apples. Can’t wait to taste it!
Yum! I made the apple cider variety and it turned out so good. Perfect for the first rainy day of fall. Thanks for the ideas!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the kind words.
Great ideas!
I’m making the bacon jalapeño version today. Thanks for all of the variations! Excited to try them all.
A simple suggestion for fast lunch leftovers: shred up leftover chicken & pour your leftover soup (any of the versions above) on top. Heat & eat. Going to try the Ginger recipe tomorrow. Thank you for such a versatile reminder of easy ways to fix Butternut Squash!
Yum! Can’t wait to try this out! I had paleo butternut squash soup at a dinner party a couple weeks ago and it totally satisfied my craving for baked potato soup (especially since we topped it with bacon and chives!).
Can you taste the coconut from the milk? Wanted to try this recipe out for a Thanksgiving appetizer but we don’t have a lot of coconut lovers here. Thanks.
I’m fairly confident that nobody will taste the coconut milk, especially with the flavored varieties. I say go for it.
trying Jalapeno and bacon right now! Using the auto shift setting, hopefully it will work…wondering do I add the crisp bacon now or is it for use as a garnish? Talk about spur of the moment! I hope you see this soon! Thank you.
Hey Beth, sorry if my instructions were not clear enough. I added the crisped bacon to the soup for cooking. Using it as a garnish as well… hard to go wrong there! Hope you enjoyed it, do let me know.
I made the Bacon and Jalapeno version – it is tasty and filling. Next time, I may add some meat – such as spicy sausage
This sounds delicious! Just one question… can I substitute something else for the coconut milk?
Coconut milk is the best thing ever, but if you simply do not have any, and are someone that tolerates dairy you could swap out heavy cream. Hard to get a creamy component to a soup like with without dairy or coconut milk. Thanks for the kind words, let me know how you end up cooking it…
I made the traditional version which turned out nice but it took 8 or so hours, so missed the dinner cutoff time. We are going to use it next day. Could be our slow cooker is slower cooker.
I just made this, but accidentally cooked it on high. After a couple hours it was ready! I added cilantro, jalapeno and avocado to my bowl as garnishes (since my husband prefers it plain.) Thanks for a great recipe.
Thank you for taking the time to write! Cilantro sounds like a nice touch for a garnish, thanks for the suggestion.
I made the bacon, jalapeno last night. It was delicious. I didn’t bother blending the soup afterwards. I like the texture of chunks in my soup. I mashed it up a bit, but left it thick. It was very good.
I am just about to turn the crockpot on to prepare the Apple Cider Spice version, but I just realized that I am not clear on one thing: The ingredients for the variations are In Addition to the core recipe? For example, the core recipe call for two cups of stock, and the variation calls for two cups of cider. Is that in place of the stock or in addition to it? I appreciate any response–I have all the ingredients in the crockpot right now staring at me and I’m drooling to taste the finished dish!
Just follow the apple cider spice recipe as listed. It substitutes the basic version’s chicken stock with apple cider. Sorry about the confusion.
Thank you! This entire idea is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for! Excited. :0)
I made the Thai curry version last night but it was SO hot I made another batch to try and temper the heat and it still didn’t work. Did anyone else have this experience? I don’t picture myself a lightweight when it comes to heat. I wonder if the Thai red curry paste I bought was especially spicy? I bought it at a local Thai market and have used it before.
Sounds like you got some good authentic Thai paste! Most US brands are not as hot. I love the heat though!
I’ve got this in my crockpot now. I did the base version and just mixed up the spices a little. I used 1 tsp Garam Masala, 1 tsp cinnamon, a dash of garlic powder and a little salt and ground black pepper. I can’t wait!
Im making the bacon jalapeno version tonight, just got one question, do you add the coconut milk to the slow cooker to cook with all the other ingredients, or add at the end just before blending?
Add it in to cook with all of the other ingredients.
I am making this for the second time in less than a week it was such a hit. I made the basic version the first time and it was delicious! I wanted a little heat and family members didn’t, so I added spicy peppers to mine as garnish. This time I am making the basic version again with onions and adding a little bit of Goya Adobo with Pepper (gluten free of course) for a little more flavor. It’s going to be perfect for the frozen rain weather we’re having at the moment. Thanks for such a great and versatile recipe!
I just made the Thai Curry version of this soup. OMG. It’s to die for! Having a teensy bowl as an afternoon snack and can’t wait to enjoy more for dinner – - after my Crossfit workout!
I made a double recipe because my squash was large. Do you think I could freeze half?
Thanks for sharing!
I made the traditional version. I used baby carrots and cooked for 6 hours. The carrots were still not cooked enough to mash. Also mine turned out dark brown due to the cinnamon and nutmeg. Are you sure about the 1 tbsp each. I did not even put that much and thought the cinnamon taste was too overwhelming.
Yes with the spice amounts. Something is off with your report because it is not that much per the quantity of soup. Also, I suspect something is wrong with your slow cooker. Cooking for 6 hours and having the carrots not be soft enough to mash is just abnormal. Sorry it didn’t work out as planned for you…