This vegetarian acorn squash and carrot soup is healthy, fresh, flavorful, and takes the chill off.
This post was originally published on October 19, 2015. I am going through and updating some of my old posts with new photos, better info, and more clearly written recipes.
I'm not the biggest fan of fall, since here in Alberta it means that we're soon going to have half a year of cold weather.
Sure, the leaves on the trees are quite beautiful... until we have a windy day and they're all blown off and then everything is dead until May. Bah humbug!
Anyway, I can get on board with fall foods at least. 🙂
I haven't made this acorn squash soup since I first made it for the original blog post, and I forgot just how good it is!
And my feelings on cold weather are just the same as I wrote above in 2015. 😉
This soup is really easy to make, and it's been fairly popular since I published it.
I figured it was time to update the photos and word the recipe a little more clearly so that hopefully I can get more eyeballs on this winter squash soup. More eyeballs on it = more happy tummies.
I love carrots. Somehow, though, I always seem to eat them in bursts vs. consistently. Fresh carrot juice is my favorite, and I'm all over carrot soup.
This soup contains butter, so it's not vegan as written, but you can make it vegan quite easily by omitting the butter if needed.
I had some fresh chives on hand, and they make a wonderful topping for this soup, but they're optional of course.
Looking for more cozy fall soups? You may also like my butternut squash soup, this carrot and celery root soup, my pumpkin and cauliflower soup with ginger or this corn and cauliflower soup.
Hope you love this squash and carrot soup!
Let me know below if you have any questions or comments.
Acorn Squash and Carrot Soup
Ingredients
- 1 acorn squash peeled and cut into cubes
- 2 pounds carrots (about 8 large carrots) cut into rounds
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 2 sticks celery chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 dashes Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep your squash and carrots. To peel the squash I cut it into quarters (or smaller if needed) and then peel each piece using a potato peeler. Chop the onion and celery.
- Melt the butter and olive oil on medium heat in a large pot.
- Add the onion and celery to the pot, cook for about 5 minutes on medium-high heat, stirring often, until softened.
- Add the vegetable broth, water, squash, carrots, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder to the pot.
- Bring soup to a boil and then cover it with the lid slightly ajar, and simmer on medium-low heat for about 30 minutes or until the veggies are softened (it may take more or less time depending on how small you chopped them).
- Working in batches, blend the soup until it's smooth. I recommend letting it cool for at least 15 minutes prior to doing this. You could also use a stick blender, but I prefer the results with a regular blender.
- Season with salt & pepper to taste and serve immediately. Can be stored in the fridge for several days or frozen for 3 months. I like to serve this soup with snipped fresh chives (optional).
Notes
- Serves 4-6.
- Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Salt & Lavender makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Denise says
I can not wait to make this ..going to cook mine in the slow cooker..hope it turnes out. Thank you..We love all kinds of home made soup..just in time foe fall.
Natasha says
I hope you enjoy it, Denise! 🙂
Anne says
Any nutrition info? Calorie/Carbs/Fat/Protein/Fiber?
Natasha says
Hi! Just added it for you. This is an older recipe (it was published a few years before I started including nutrition info). Keep in mind that online nutrition info is simply an estimate, and the most accurate way to calculate it is to weigh your food. Hope this helps!
Crystal says
Good afternoon, Trying your recipe for the first time. Curious if you have ever tried it with added parsnips?
Just wondering.
Thanks
Natasha says
Hi! I have not, but I think they would be a tasty addition!
Josie says
Was looking for something creative to do with acorn squash and this definitely fit my fancy. Good balance of flavors, and I loved playing around with the spices.
For anyone else who might want to put this in a crock pot, here's some suggestions:
I put everything in the crock pot, minus the water, for 3 hours on high. I didn't use the olive oil to sauté the veggies, but did grease the crock pot with butter, mostly to help with later cleaning. If I do this recipe again, I'd probably sauté at least the onions before they go in the crock pot, for some more flavor. I probably ended up using a teaspoon of salt and teaspoon of pepper (for my taste) and about 1/2 a teaspoon of Italian Seasoning.
For anyone who might want a creamier soup:
After I puréed the soup, I liked the taste, but wanted something creamier. So I added about a 1/2 cup of half n half and did a couple dashes of nutmeg and cinnamon for a slightly less savory flavor. Half n half is what I had, but if I would have had some coconut milk open, that would be an interesting add as well.
Happy Cooking!
Natasha says
Glad you liked the flavors! Thanks for slow cooker tips, Josie!
Christine Lambert says
I would leave out or cut down on the extra water in any future tries. I felt it was too "thin". I would also experiment with the spices. Overall, very healthy ingredients and tasty!
Natasha says
I'm glad you liked it! Yup, definitely easy to adjust the liquid quantities. Thanks for commenting, Christine!
Maria says
Great article.
Steph says
Thank you for a great recipe! Just received a Staub dutch oven as a gift and was dying to use it. Had an acorn squash on hand, so I googled acorn squash recipes and found yours and decided to give it a try since I had all of the other ingredients on hand as well. Roasted the squash and carrots first, and used all chicken broth instead of vegetable broth and water. Neither myself or my husband are huge carrot fans but decided to give it a try anyway and so glad we did. Will definitely be making this again!
Natasha says
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
M fielder says
Very easy, very good.
Natasha says
Thank you!!
Arlene says
Delicious!! I did not use vegetable broth, just water. Seasoned it to my liking with the suggested seasonings. Excellent!
Natasha says
Wonderful! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Shauna says
I too purchased a squash without any particular intentions. Just so happened to have carrots kicking around. I like how this recipe doesn't call for cream or milk as we generally don't have any in the house. I am very impressed with myself and this recipe after making this. It's delicious!
Natasha says
I'm so glad it worked out for you, Shauna!!
Mikayla says
Hello, I just wanted to ask if you thought this soup could be made in my vitamix blender? It's supposed to get hot enough to cook things, but I didn't know if that would affect the flavor because the ingredients would be blended before cooking and might not caramelize like when items are cooked in a pan.
Natasha says
Hmm that's a very good question. I actually am planning on buying a Vitamix (or similar) soon. I just have a normal blender, so I have zero experience with this! I'd give it a try. I'm curious. If this was a roasted veggie soup, I'd say that yes you will lose flavor, but other than the onions sautéing, I'm not sure that the flavor will be compromised too badly.
Annie Tritchonis says
Wow! So glad I had this saved on my pinterest board. I'm currently sitting, cuddled on my couch, watching freeform with a nice bowl of this soup in my lap. Only thing different I did was top it with Sumac to add some tang! This is absolutely delicious. Thank you for the recipe!
Natasha says
That's great!! I wish I was as cozy as you right now haha. So glad you liked it!
Christine Gloeckner says
I'm confused by the poster who questioned how much cream. There is no cream listed in the ingredients. Should it be?
Natasha says
Hi Christine! I believe that when I originally published this recipe, I wrote in the post somewhere that you could add a bit of cream to the soup if you were so inclined. It's definitely not necessary, and I don't even list it as optional since I really don't think it needs it at all (especially since I re-made the soup again recently).
Christine Gloeckner says
I ended up adding about 1/2 cup of full fat canned coconut milk that I had leftover. It turned out delicious!
Natasha says
Excellent! I love adding coconut milk to soups. Glad you liked it.
Corinne Derieg says
This soup was delicious. Made it last night but did not have all ingredients on hand. I used chicken stock and potatoes, as didn't have celery celery on hand, delicious results!
Perfect for cold nights, yum!
Natasha says
So glad you liked it, Corinne! Yes, soups like these definitely lend themselves to adaptations... I am happy it worked out. 🙂
Leti says
I added the squash to boiling water for 15' and it was much easier to cut it after. I also toasted the seeds with salt pepper & olive oil - I tried toasting the skin but it is not very good. Great recipe!!
Natasha says
Thanks, Leti!!
Jen says
Has anyone tried roasting the squash (and even maybe the carrots) first and then adding them accordingly?
Natasha says
I haven't tried it, but I bet it would taste great! Let me know if you do that. 🙂
Joanne says
I just made a butternut squash with Rosemary and ginger soup that I'm really happy with the flavor but I havnt tried acorn squash yet. I'll have to try making this soup. It sounds easy enough.
Natasha says
Hope you enjoy it! ????
Barbara says
I loved this recipe. i stuck to it closely except that I used chicken stock instead of vegetable. Reaction from the family? "Delicious," said a chorus of happy voices.
Natasha says
That's great, Barbara!! Thanks for trying it.
ftf says
Looks amazingly delicious recipe. Thank You for sharing <3
Natasha says
You are welcome! 🙂
Angela says
If you ever put up a toasted pumpkin seed recipe, please cross-post here. My acorn squash had so many seeds in it, I was able to toast them while waiting for the soup to cook. I rarely do this, so had to search around for instructions.
Natasha says
Did the toasted seeds taste good?
Angela says
They are addictive! They taste just like pumpkin seeds - it brings me back to when we would carve pumpkins for Halloween and my mother would toast the seeds.
Beth says
Yum! I just bought acorn squash without a recipe in mind. This looks yummy- I think I know what to do with that squash!
Natasha says
Let me know if you try it!
Angela says
Ooh, I love acorn squash, but don't have a reliable soup recipe. I'm going to try this on the weekend. Do you think it would blend if I kept the skin on the squash? I don't mind a few chunks.
Natasha says
The skin can be quite tough, so I am not sure I'd leave it on. I think you could still blend it, but I am not sure how it would turn out. Glad you're going to try it 🙂
Angela says
Two thumbs up! I decided to keep the skin on - I couldn't bear to throw away all of those nutrients. You're right, it did blend. One unexpected result was the colour - the green from the skin combined with the yellow/orange of the rest resulted in a gross-looking brownish-yellow. The taste was great though! I would probably peel the squash if I was serving to guests. My husband and I can eat the brown soup, haha.
Natasha says
Haha I am so glad it worked (despite the color) 😀
Darlia says
More Fiber! LOL
Darlia says
How much creme or half and half do you use? I have made acorn squash soup in the past and it is very satisfying. I will try your recipe too. I have my own homegrown acorn squash and need to use some of it. The rest I am going to roast in the oven and then puree and then freeze for later. They also store well in a cellar or a cool room for a few months.
Natasha says
Hi Darlia, I would start with 1/2 cup of cream, taste it, and then work your way up from there if you want it even creamier. Yes, squash is pretty versatile... I bet the homegrown stuff tastes amazing! Let me know if you make this soup. 🙂