Whole30 Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Nicki Conroy is taking over SoreyFitness today to share an amazing adaptation of a Whole30 recipe for Butternut Squash and Apple Soup. Her blog is NickisNook.net

When fall and winter come around, I find myself turning to comfort foods such as soups for more meals. My favorite soup is butternut squash soup but the recipe I normally make, while very tasty, is not Whole30 friendly due to the dairy that is in it. I did find a Whole30 friendly butternut squash and apple soup, and it is so tasty.

This butternut squash and apple soup recipe has been adapted from one I found in Whole Foods.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Ingredients

• 1 medium butternut squash, stem and seeds removed and sliced in half lengthwise
• 1 apple, cored, skin removed and diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 ½ cups vegetable broth
• Sea salt to taste
• Coconut oil

Instructions

1. In its liquid form, rub the flesh sides of the squash halves with coconut oil.
2. Salt the squash.
3. Place squash on a cooking sheet and bake at 400F for 50-60 minutes. The baking time varies by the size of your squash. Use a fork to test if the squash is done. It should insert into the squash flesh with ease.
4. Halfway through your squash cooking time, place a tablespoon of coconut oil in your soup pot. Add the onion and salt the onion. Saute for two minutes and then turn heat to low and cook the onion for another five minutes.
5. Add the garlic to the onion and cook for an additional two minutes.
6. Add the apple and cook for five minutes.
7. Add half a cup of the vegetable broth to the onion, garlic, and apple mixture. If the broth begins to boil, turn the heat lower.
8. When your squash is cooked, let it cool for ten minutes.
9. Taking a spoon, remove the cooked squash from the skin and place it in the soup pot.
10. Stir to mix all ingredients together.
11. Add the remainder of the vegetable broth.
12. Place into a blender and pulse to make a smooth soup. This is a personal decision as to how chunky you like your soup.
13. Place back in the soup pot and heat.
14. Serve.

When choosing an apple for this recipe, realize the apple and the caramelization of the squash are the only things providing sweetness to your soup. I used an Ambrosia apple as they tend to be very sweet. You could also use a HoneyCrisp or any sweet apple. I would not recommend using a Granny Smith apple.

When choosing vegetable broth, I strongly suggest making your own. Having had a child who was in culinary school, I am amazed at the percentage of a piece of fruit or the percentage of a vegetable that we do not use. By keeping these pieces, you can make your own broth. I will use the ends of carrots and celery stalks in my broth. You can find recipes for vegetable broths online. Just be careful about using vegetables that have strong tastes, such as broccoli, in a broth.

If you are using a store bought stock, please read the ingredients carefully. I found on that I thought was going to be good. Its label indicated it was organic. The start of the ingredient list looked good until I found white wine in the list. Also look for added sugars. Not only is sugar not allowed on a Whole30 diet, there is no reason for it to be added to a vegetable broth.

When I compared this to my normal butternut squash recipe, the biggest difference was consistency.

All of my soups are a bit more chunky as I like texture in my foods. Not everyone does. The normal recipe had both heavy cream and sour cream in it. I had, to make that healthier, used almond milk for the heavy cream and greek yogurt for the sour cream but that is still dairy. With just broth used in the Whole30 recipe, you are getting a great soup with fewer calories and no dairy at all.

Have your tried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup before?

Nicki Conroy is a seven time marathoner and mother to six adult children. She is a freelance writer and photographer. She is also the mother to six adult children. You can read more from Nicki at her website at www.nickisnook.net.