Paleo Butternut Squash Soup – 5 Slow Cooker Varieties. – PaleoPot

 

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.

Equipment Needed:

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 tsp ground cinnamon.
• 1 tsp 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 tsp of ground cinnamon.
• 1 tsp 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:

1. All recipes are to be cooked on low heat for 4 to 6 hours.
2. 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.
3. 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!