Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

This creamy acorn squash soup recipe is perfect for winter or fall!

It combines roasted acorn squash, onions, garlic, apple, spices, and herbs for a wonderfully hearty winter squash soup.

It's a tasty vegetarian main course soup for a chilly evening. This is one of our favorite ways to use acorn squash!

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Tips for Making Squash Soup
• Storage
• How to Choose the Best Winter Squash
• More Squash Recipes to Try
• Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

This delicious acorn squash recipe is cozy and warming and is going to be a family favorite. It comes together with fairly minimal hands-on time—the veggies roast for 50 minutes, but you can set them and forget them while they're in the oven.

Roasting the garlic, onion, and apple will add a delicious depth of flavor to the soup.

The onions and garlic will caramelize, bringing out more of their natural, sweet flavor and sweetness. The roasted squash will become sweeter, and the nutty flavor will be more developed.

If you like this creamy soup, try our Butternut Squash Soup as well!

Ingredients

• Acorn Squash
• Olive Oil
• Chinese Five Spice Powder*
• Sea Salt
• Yellow Onion
• Garlic
• Honeycrisp Apple
• Vegetable Broth or Chicken Broth
• Sage Leaves
• Heavy Cream

*You can substitute the five-spice powders for curry powder or pumpkin pie spice.

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Cut the squash in half with a sharp chef's knife. Scoop out the seeds (save for roasted squash seeds if you’d like*) and any stringy bits, then quarter the squash. 

Cut the apples, onion, and head of garlic.

Place the squash halves on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush with olive oil.

Then sprinkle the five spice powder and half salt across the top. Add the onion halves, garlic halves, and apples to the sheet pan.

Roast the vegetables for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven until the squash is caramelized and easy to poke with a fork. 

Allow the squash to cool for a few minutes, then remove the flesh from the skin. Add the squash flesh to a blender or food processor. Discard the acorn squash skin.

Remove the papery skin from the onion and add it to the blender. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the skin and add them, the apples, and the veggie broth to the blender.

You can also use an immersion blender for this if you prefer. Add all the ingredients to a large pot and blend until smooth.

Blend for 1 to 2 minutes until the soup is creamy, and no chunks remain.

Optional - Make crispy fried sage leaves to top the soup.

Optional - top the soup with a drizzle of heavy cream and sage leaves.

You could also top the soup with pumpkin seeds, toasted pine nuts, or fresh thyme.

Tips for Making Squash Soup

Cooking Tips - Make sure to line your baking sheet with parchment paper! It will make clean-up a lot easier. You can top this recipe with fried sage leaves - they're easy to make and taste great. Just follow our recipe for crispy sage leaves.

Specialty Ingredients - This recipe calls for Chinese Five Spice powder, you can make it yourself!

Diet Alternatives - If you'd like this soup to be vegan, swap the heavy cream for coconut milk.

Storage

Refrigerate - leftover soup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.

Freeze - save leftover soup in the freezer for up to 3 months in a ziptop bag or other freezer-safe container.

Reheat - in the microwave in one-minute increments or on the stovetop over medium heat.

How to Choose the Best Winter Squash

There are a few things to look for when choosing ripe acorn squash. First, you need to ensure that there are no dents, soft spots, or gashes in them. Any of those will signify that the squash could be rotten or spoiled.

Ripe acorn squash will be a dark green color, have matte skin (glossy skin signifies it was picked too early), and will be heavy for its size (meaning it has higher water content as it is fresher).

More Squash Recipes to Try

If you like cooking with squash, check out our types of squash article for some inspiration, or make one of these recipes!

• Roasted Delicata Squash - the easiest side dish to make! It's a sweet and succulent way to enjoy delicata squash.
• Za'atar Roasted Butternut Squash - a flavorful but simple side dish and an easy way to make butternut squash.
• Roasted Carnival Squash - a fantastic squash side dish topped with cheese and pomegranates.
• Butternut Squash Pasta with Toasted Panko - a cozy pasta recipe with butternut squash, parmesan, and panko breadcrumbs.

If you try this winter squash soup recipe, let us know! Connect with us on Instagram and share your photos, or leave us a rating.