roasted red pepper and butternut squash soup
with crispy homemade croutons
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I’m on the road this week (currently at my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill!), and it’s just as rainy and cold here as it is back in California, so we’re making a cozy vegetable soup to usher out the final dregs of winter. Soon we’ll be awash in spring produce and wanting to light up the grill for cook outs and al fresco dinners. But for now, we’ll hunker down with a restaurant-quality creamy roasted red pepper and butternut squash soup.
To start, we’re going to roast a sheet pan worth of nutritious veggies — two bell peppers, an onion, a cup of butternut squash, and a whole head of garlic — and flavor them with smoky paprika, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Halfway through the cook time, we’ll add some cubed bread to make crispy croutons to top our bowls with — a move you’ll want to repeat again and again, if you aren’t already in the habit of making homemade croutons. Once the veggies have roasted, we’ll blend them up with some broth, then add sour cream to balance out the sweetness of the roasted red peppers and to make things super creamy. This soup has some kick thanks to the smoked paprika and crushed red pepper flakes — if you don’t want any heat, you can omit the red pepper flakes altogether.
I love a creamy vegetarian soup like this on a night when I’m craving comfort food but am not absolutely starving. If you’re super hungry, you can bulk up this recipe by adding some white beans to the mix (see the “notes” section below the recipe for the how to!). Or, if want a soup with some meat involved, might I remind you that there’s a whole soups + stews section in the WTC archive? But DO NOT skip this one. She’s delightfully simple. She’s nutrient rich. She tastes gourmet. She’s a 10!
If you missed the big news earlier this week, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking THE BOOK (!!!!) is now available for pre-order. In this week’s episode of So Into That, I got into what the heck pre-order means, why it’s important, and when you’ll get the book in your hands, along with a One Day-esque tale of my own and an update on how The Year of Me is going. Click above to listen!
roasted red pepper and butternut squash soup
Serves 2-4 (more detail on this in the notes section below the recipe!)
Cook time: 1 hour
Tools:
Your largest baking sheet
Saucepan
Ingredients:
1 head of garlic, kept whole with top cut off
2 red bell peppers, deseeded and chopped into large pieces
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped into large pieces
1 cup (8 ounces) butternut squash cubes (Try to find pre-cut to make it easy! If you can’t find pre-cut, buy 1 small butternut squash and see recipe for how to cube. Frozen cubes are perfect here!)
4 to 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, depending on spice preference (if you don’t want the soup to be spicy at all, omit this altogether!)
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 slices of a good loaf of bread (any type — country levain, sourdough, ciabatta, etc.)
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, plus more for serving
2 cups vegetable broth, divided
1/4 cup of sour cream
Crumbled feta, for serving
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Cut the top off of 1 head of garlic, keeping the skin on and the bulb intact. Place the garlic bulb cut-side down on the sheet pan.
Deseed and chop 2 red bell peppers (click here for a demo, if needed!) and peel and chop 1 yellow onion into large pieces. Add them to the sheet pan, along with 1 cup butternut squash cubes. If you couldn’t find pre-cubed butternut squash, cut a butternut squash in half, deseed it, peel it (or just cut off the skin) and cube enough to fill a cup.
To the sheet pan, add 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (1/4 teaspoon will add some mild heat to the soup; 1/2 teaspoon will make it spicy; omit it if you’re feeding people averse to any spice!), 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves, and salt and pepper to taste. Use your hands to coat all the veggies and the garlic bulb thoroughly with the EVOO and spices.
Roast for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, cube 4 slices of bread. After the veggies have roasted for 20 minutes, take the sheet pan out of the oven, scooch the veggies over a little, and add the cubed bread to one side of the sheet pan. Toss the bread with 1 to 2 tablespoons EVOO. Return the baking sheet to the oven and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until the veggies are soft and starting to caramelize and the croutons are toasty.
Remove the sheet pan from the oven and let the veggies cool slightly, until the garlic bulb is cool enough to handle. Remove the croutons, setting them aside until you serve the soup.
Squeeze half of the roasted garlic into a blender (you’ll literally just squeeze the bulb and the roasted garlic will slide right out! Use your fingers to keep little pieces of the garlic skin from going with it). Reserve the other half of the roasted garlic for another use.
Add the other veggies to the blender along with 1 cup of vegetable broth. Blend until smooth.
Place the blended soup in a saucepan over medium heat. Thin it out with up to 1 cup of broth, using however much broth it takes for the soup to reach a consistency that you love. Once the soup is heated through, remove the saucepan from heat and stir in 1/4 cup sour cream. Taste! If it’s not absolutely delicious, add more salt a 1/4 teaspoon at a time until it is.
Serve topped with crispy croutons, crumbled feta, a drizzle of EVOO, and a few thyme leaves. DIG IN!
link to printer version
I’m feeding very hungry people: This soup yields enough for 2 very hungry adults OR 2 moderately hungry adults and 2 to 3 small-appetited children. Double it if you’re feeding 4 (or more) very hungry adults/teens. Just use a second sheet pan to roast the extra veggies (you’ll still only need the one garlic clove, since you only use half in the original recipe) and blend the soup in batches to avoid overflow.
Up the protein: If you’re really hungry, you can add more protein to this meal by adding half a can of drained and rinsed white beans (navy, great Northern, or cannellini) to the blender. You’ll hardly taste them, and it’ll add some plant-based bulk to the soup!
Feeding littles/people sensitive to spice: If anyone’s spice averse, omit the red pepper flakes altogether.
I like a tomato soup + grilled cheese combo: I hear ya. In that case, use the bread to make grilled cheeses instead and dunk them into the roasted red pepper soup!
Must have meat: Make grilled cheeses with ham! Or crisp up some bacon or prosciutto to crumble on top of your soup.
What to do with the leftover roasted garlic: Add it to any homemade salad dressing. Smear it onto a piece of toast. Stir it into hummus. Add it to any pasta dish. Smash it and add a splash of water to make a drizzly sauce for roasted broccoli or another veggie. Eat it plain. Roasted garlic is absolutely delicious and there’s no wrong way to eat it!
Love your leftovers: This soup will stay good in the fridge for up to 4 days, or you can freeze it. As a reminder, I like to freeze my soup in Ziploc bags laid flat on a baking sheet in the fridge. Once they’re frozen, you have nice flat sheets of soup that are easy to store. If you have leftover croutons, let them cool completely then pack them in an airtight container and store at room temp for up to 2 weeks.
Dairy-free/gluten-free: Use a dairy-free sour cream and DF feta (or just omit the feta), if avoiding dairy. For gluten-free, use a GF bread for your croutons.
Roasted garlic: 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Red bell pepper: There’s no good sub for this! If you hate roasted red pepper, cook this tomato soup instead.
Yellow onion: White onion, red onion, or 2 shallots
Butternut squash: Sweet potato or carrot
EVOO: Olive oil or a neutral-tasting cooking oil like grapeseed, safflower, or avocado oil
Crushed red pepper flakes: You can omit!
Smoked paprika: Regular or sweet paprika, but I prefer smoked for the complexity of flavor it adds to the soup.
Bread: Literally any good loaf of bread will do. You could buy pre-made croutons if you want, or omit them, but the homemade croutons are so good.
Thyme: Use 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme if you don’t have fresh. You could also sub the thyme with fresh oregano or basil.
Veggie broth: 2 cups water + 2 teaspoons vegetable-flavored Better Than Bouillon! Or veggie stock, chicken broth, or chicken stock.
Sour cream: Plain regular Greek yogurt. If you’re omitting dairy, use a dairy-free sour cream or yogurt.
Feta: Grated Parm, or just omit if you’re not into it or don’t have any.
Click here for an index of all What to Cook recipes categorized by protein, cook time, meal type, season, and mood.
Editing + photography: Molly Ramsey
Good kid! Go with orange.
Let's say you wanna be ULTRA lazy .... could you buy those jarred roasted red peppers to sub in for the roasting step entirely? Or is that sacrilege?