This red lentil butternut squash soup is rich, creamy, and full of flavor! It's a little bit sweet, lightly spiced, and oh-so-satisfying! Serve with optional curry croutons for a scrumptious bowl of soup that's hearty enough for a meal.
I love soup that I can make a meal of.
Butternut squash soup is one of my favorite things to enjoy when fall rolls around. But as soups go, it's generally not enough to make a meal of. Oh, it's tasty and creamy, but when you think about it, it's really just veggies and broth.
This soup is different though! Knowing how satisfying my Mediterranean red lentil soup is, I decided to add some red lentils to this butternut squash soup, along with coconut milk and homemade curry croutons. It's so meal-worthy.
Just as important as how filling a soup is, is how tasty it is. After all, if you're making a meal of something it better be pretty darn enjoyable. So I seasoned up my red lentil butternut soup with some ginger, cumin, a touch of cinnamon, and coconut milk. It's super rich and creamy and just the right blend of sweet and savory.
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Ingredients You'll Need
You'll need the following ingredients for the soup.
- Olive oil. You can substitute another high heat oil if you'd like, such as coconut oil, vegetable oil, or corn oil.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Ginger.
- Spices. We're using a blend of ground cumin and cinnamon. Does that sound unusual? It's delicious! You'll find this combination in lots of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern recipes like mujadara, and it's perfect for this particular soup.
- Vegetable broth.
- Butternut squash. You could easily modify this recipe to use similar varieties of winter squash, such as sugar pumpkin, kabocha squash, and acorn squash.
- Split red lentils. Whole red lentils will also work, but they'll take longer to cook.
- Coconut milk. The recipe calls for full-fat coconut milk from a can, though light coconut milk should also work if you'd like to reduce the fat and calorie content of the dish.
- Salt and pepper.
- Fresh cilantro. This is optional, but makes a great topping for this soup.
Tip: Depending on how sweet your squash is, you may want to add a bit of sweetener such as organic sugar or maple syrup, or some lemon juice to balance the flavors.
You'll also need the following if you plan to make the croutons, which are totally optional!
- Bread cubes. Use a good crusty bread, such as sourdough or French.
- Olive oil. Again, feel free to swap this out with your favorite cooking oil.
- Spices. You'll need curry powder and garlic powder.
- Salt and pepper.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Start by heating your oil in a large pot and adding diced onion. Sweat the onion until it starts to soften and become translucent.
Stir in the garlic, ginger, and spices. Cook the mixture briefly, making sure to stir the entire time to prevent anything from burning.
Stir in the diced butternut squash, lentils and broth. Raise the heat and bring the soup to a boil.
Lower the heat and let the soup simmer until the squash and lentils are soft. This should take about 20 to 25 minutes.
Tip: You can thin the soup with some broth or water if it reduces too much while cooking, but keep this to a minimum, as you'll be thinning the soup with coconut milk later on.
Once the soup has finished simmering, blend it up! I'm using an immersion blender, but you could also transfer it to a regular blender in batches.
Stir in the coconut milk and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Make any other seasoning adjustments you'd like. This is a good time to add that sweetener or lemon juice if it's needed!
If you're making the curry croutons, toss your bread cubes with olive oil, curry powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then arrange them on a baking sheet and bake them until golden brown. You can do this while the soup simmers so that everything is ready at the same time.
Ladle your red lentil butternut squash soup into bowls and optional top each with a drizzle of coconut milk and some chopped fresh cilantro. Pile on those curry croutons and dig in!
Leftovers & Storage
Red lentil butternut squash soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 4 days. The croutons will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days.
More Fall Soups
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📖 Recipe
Red Lentil Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups diced butternut squash (Note 1)
- 1 cup split red lentils
- 1 cup full fat coconut milk, plus more for serving, if desired
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
For the Curry Croutons (Optional)
- 3 cups bread cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
To Make the Soup
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with oil and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion. Sweat the onion for about 5 minutes, until it becomes soft and translucent.
- Add the garlic, ginger, cumin and cinnamon. Sauté the mixture while stirring constantly for about 1 minute, until it becomes very fragrant.
- Stir in the broth, butternut squash, and lentils. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower heat and allow the soup to simmer, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes, until the lentils and squash are very tender.
- Remove the pot from heat. Either use an immersion blender or transfer the soup to a blender in batches, and blend until smooth.Â
- Return the soup to the pot if you used a blender. Stir in the coconut milk and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste (Note 2). Briefly reheat it if it cooled down too much.
To Make the Croutons
- Preheat the oven to 400°.
- Place the bread cubes into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with the curry powder and garlic powder. Toss to evenly coat the bread cubes, then transfer them to a baking sheet and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
- Bake the croutons until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
To Serve
- Ladle the soup into bowls. Optionally top each bowl with a drizzle of coconut milk and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro, then with croutons. Serve.
Notes
- You'll need about a 2 pound squash for this.
- Depending on how sweet your squash is, you may want to add a couple of teaspoons of sweetener such as maple syrup or organic sugar, or a splash of an acidic ingredient such as lemon juice to balance the flavors.
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Your recipe is okay i gave it a 4, if you truly want it to warm your soul and have tons of flavor you must add: 1-1.5tsp curry powder, 1 bell pepper, and hot peppers of your choice(i used one jalapeño and 1 habanero both with seeds included) then serve with lemon wedges!
Thats the 5 star recipe youre welcome!!
I don’t have coconut milk, can I substitute anything else?
If you can get ahold of a vegan heavy cream alternative, such as those made by Silk or Califia Farms, that would be your best bet. Otherwise, you can use just about any non-dairy milk, but thicker and richer ones will work best!
Looks amazing !
Thx!
We looooooved it! Thank you so much for a delicious and easy to make recipe ♡♡
Have made this a few times. Love the hidden lentils to add protein and make the soup more filling. I have used butternut squash, pumpkin, and other orange fleshed ones. All turned out delicious.
Hi! If I freeze the soup today would it be good to defrost and eat on Monday evening?
Yup! As long as it's not more than 3 or 4 days old when you stick it in the freezer. You can keep it frozen for up to 3 months. Enjoy!
Also! The soup was delicious!! Since it was going to be blended, I didn't bother dicing, just quickly chopped everything into medium chunks. I added more ginger and a bit of garam masala because I just ran out of cinnamon. I let the onions start to sautee and caramelize and the rest of the veggies as well before adding the veggie stock. I also added the coconut milk and lime juice in the blending stage so I could control how much of those flavors I wanted. Super hearty and yummy!
That looks soo good! I love creamy soups during the fall season - and I would eat so much that it would definitely not be considered an appetizer anymore! ;)
My thoughts exactly! Thanks Melanie!