Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Relish

Butternut Squash Soup Recipe Video – scroll down for recipe card

A while back I made an everything-wilted-goes-in-it soup for dinner and pureed that mother up. You can probably imagine it looked a little on the unappetizing side of things. But then I minced up some radishes, jalapeño, and cilantro and put that on top and all of a sudden, we had some gourmet cream of vegetable soup with radish relish.

I thought about that near-miss of a dinner when coming up with this new butternut squash soup recipe.

I think, to me anyway, butternut squash soup is one of those recipes that always sounds like it’s going to be really delicious and healthy, but it’s always kind of a disappointment and I blame it on the texture. I mean, yeah, silky smooth is totally ritzy and stuff — I get that — but it’s also kind of boring and reminiscent of recipes in the “Cooking for Invalids” chapters of 1940’s cookbooks.

I like crunch! I like zing! I like pizzaz! I like pizza! (But that doesn’t really fit into “Healthy Food Resolutions Month” so forget I said anything.) And this fresh, sweet, sour, spicy coconut relish fills my bill. And I mean that. Like, if I were a pelican I would fill my whole bird beak-pouch with this stuff. It’s amazing. It should be in a museum.

Butternut Squash Soup Recipe – Printable!

Butternut Squash Soup Recipe with Coconut Relish

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Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Relish

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4.5 from 4 reviews

  • Author: Hilah Johnson
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 6 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/2 pound butternut squash
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 apple, peeled and cubed
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • Coconut Relish:
  • 1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1/4 cup minced parsley
  • 2 tablespoons minced jalapeño
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Peel the squash, remove the seeds, and cut into 1-inch chunks. Set aside.
  2. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat and add the onion. Saute about 5 minutes until beginning to brown.
  3. Add garlic , salt, curry, and squash and 1/2 cup water.
  4. Cover tightly and reduce heat to medium. Cook 15 minutes until squash is tender.
  5. Add apples and cook, covered, another 5 minutes.
  6. Add half the stock and puree the soup. Add remaining stock and reheat until steaming.
  7. While the soup heats, combine all relish ingredients in a small bowl.
  8. Serve soup with a spoonful of relish on top.

Notes

Soup can be made a few days ahead of time and reheated when ready to serve. Relish can be made up to one day ahead of time.

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20 Comments

  1. Great Stone Face on January 10, 2013 at 12:40 pm

    This looks great. We usually on Trader Joe’s for this soup, but your recipe looks super-easy. I’d probably use a Granny Smith apple, so I wouldn’t have to add lemon juice for tartness.






    • Hilah on January 10, 2013 at 12:45 pm

      Oh great idea with the Granny Smith! I used a Fiji — they are my current favorite — and they are quite sweet.

  2. joanna on January 10, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    man this is my favourite soup… sometimes i thicken it up a bit and use it as pasta sauce 🙂 I like adding scallions to top it, but i really wanna try this relish as a topping woo woo. also, Hilah i may or may not have a crush on you …..

    • Hilah on January 10, 2013 at 7:31 pm

      Hi Joanna! That is an EXCELLENT idea to use it as a pasta sauce! Yum! I think you’ll love this relish thing. When I gave it to Chris (my taste-tester) to see what he thought, his eyes got all big and he was like, “Whoa.” That means it’s delicious. 🙂 Also, I am freely accepting of any and all crushes.

  3. Nissy on January 18, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    Just to let you know that the butternut squash soup recipe was what we expected and all loved it, even here in Norway where we had to go 25 miles to find butternut squash imported from Greece. We used red chillis instead of jalapeño which we didn’t find.

    • Hilah on January 19, 2013 at 9:38 am

      Thank you, Nissy! I’m especially glad to hear that considering the effort you went to to try it! I bet the red pepper was good and pretty, too.

  4. anita on September 16, 2013 at 8:09 am

    looks awsome.
    Could I put bacon in the soup instead of the Relish?
    We are growing butternut squash in the garden at the moment so I am so exited about your recipe!!

    • Hilah on September 16, 2013 at 9:12 am

      Hi Anita! Absolutely! Bacon would be good. Should be an excellent soup with homegrown butternut. 🙂

  5. elizabeth on February 15, 2015 at 6:07 pm

    hithere hilya,just stumbled on your site today,(please excuse me if I hadn’t spelt your name correctly!!!) and am I ever gladi did. just loved the soup,did everythg xactly,but the apple,did not have any so I used a yellow pepper instead. was delicious thank you my daughter helped me subscribe to your videos as I never get to go on u tube… god bless great cooks

    • Hilah on February 16, 2015 at 10:32 am

      So happy you liked the butternut soup, Elizabeth!

  6. Dawn on April 27, 2015 at 6:23 am

    I LOVE LOVE LOVE Butternut squash and its been difficult finding new ways to make it and it still being healthy. I substituted the butter for Melt with the honey in it and it gave a great taste to it and I used 2 Law Rome apples because they are on the smaller end and it was fabulous! My husband and I loved the relish and it really just brought a great little kick to the soup. I am a new fan! So thank you for sharing!






    • Hilah on April 27, 2015 at 8:59 am

      Thanks for sharing the changes you made. So glad yall enjoyed the soup!

  7. Colin on January 20, 2016 at 7:43 pm

    Notes from the garage. I made it as per your video and it came out amazing!!! I then it tried in a slow cooker amazing. Tonight I am trying it out with cumin turmeric a tablespoon of curry powder and a hit of ginger for mystery. I offered to friends and family but they all seemed to bias against butternut squash to try it out. You know when someone says “you gotta try this soup” and they think – yuk, They don’t know what they are missing.

    Oh first time I cooked this used an old fashioned electric rice cooker to make soup in and worked great. Yard sale find for a dollar. Immersion blender makes a big difference as well. Thanks Colin






  8. Cecil on January 9, 2017 at 10:05 am

    Hi Hilah,
    I just stumbled on your video today. Your presentation was great. I really love it. I want to try out the soup asap. I bought everything that needed to be bought but am yet to figure out what the “chicken stock” is. Can you please explain that to me?

    My understanding is boiled chicken water. Is that right? As in boil chicken with onion, curry, maggi/spice etc? Please that is all that is left. Couldnt get it to buy in any shop either.






    • Hilah on January 9, 2017 at 11:31 am

      Hi Cecil,
      Yes, at it simplest, chicken stock is just the water left after boiling chicken. I have never added curry to a chicken stock, but it would probably taste good in this recipe.

  9. Juan on November 25, 2017 at 8:08 am

    Hi I made this soup a long time ago and it was delish!! But I have since become vegan. What can I use instead of butter?

    • Hilah on November 25, 2017 at 8:11 am

      Hi Juan, you can use a vegan margarine or some neutral-flavored oil

      • Juan on November 25, 2017 at 8:16 am

        Awesome thank you. Like a canola or olive oil? How much?

        • Hilah on November 25, 2017 at 8:21 am

          Yeah, canola or a light olive oil. I wouldn’t use a extra-virgin. Use a tablespoon an a half or so. Butter is 75-80% fat and oil is 100% fat so the exchange is approx 1 part butter = 3/4 part oil.

  10. Juan on November 25, 2017 at 8:24 am

    Great! Thanks so much 🙂

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