Hearty, belly-warming, satisfying soup. That’s what I’ve been craving ever since the weather started to get chilly. When fall comes, I naturally move away from cold salads and try to get my fill of veggies with soups instead. The colder weather and dark nights definitely up my cravings for comfort foods, so it’s nice to have a healthy side to go with. This soup is perfect for pairing up with a sandwich, like this mushroom melt.
This soup makes a huge batch, which is perfect for freezing. It takes two whole trays full of chopped vegetables. The combination of butternut squash, carrot, sweet potato, and parsnip gets beautifully caramelized when roasted at high heat. A sprinkle of chili powder seems to enhance this in the oven – it doesn’t make it spicy at all, it just enriches the flavour.
A whole roasted head of garlic also ups the flavour. It sounds like a lot but it adds a depth of flavour that really is so perfect. My version of the soup ended up being quite thick, which I enjoy, but you can add as much water or stock as needed to get it to the consistency you like. I thinned it out a bit more when I served it for my mom’s birthday on the weekend. I knew they loved it as I heard the sound of spoons scraping the bottoms of bowls – music to my ears. Good to the very last drop.
Nothing says fall like butternut squash, Thanksgiving, and pilgrims.
Roasted Vegetable Soup
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
- Blender or immersion blender
INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium butternut squash (peeled and cut into 1” cubes)
- 2 carrots (peeled and cut into 1” cubes)
- 2 parsnips (peeled and cut into 1” cubes)
- 1 medium or 2 small sweet potatoes (peeled and cut into 1” cubes)
- 1 yellow onion (peeled and cut into quarters)
- 1 head of garlic
- Olive oil
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 7 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 dried bay leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chopped fresh parsley or chives (for garnish)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread squash, carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, and onion over two baking sheets and toss with enough olive oil to coat. Toss with chili powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Wrap head of garlic in foil and place on tray.
- Roast in oven on two racks. After 20 minutes, move baking sheet on top rack to bottom rack, and sheet from bottom rack to top rack and continue to roast for another 15 minutes.
- Carefully remove foil from garlic. Cut top off garlic head and squeeze garlic cloves to large stock pot, along with roasted vegetables. Add stock and bay leaves and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, cover, and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
- Remove pot from heat. Remove bay leaves and discard. If using immersion blender: Puree until consistency is smooth. If using a blender: Add soup to blender in batches and puree until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.Serve with chopped parsley and/or chives.
Just made a batch for this weeks lunch! Super excited! Looking forward to some warm soup on these cold days! I didn’t have chili powder so used cayenne pepper and also didn’t have to add much salt because of the veggie broth! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks Sarah! 🙂
Made the soup for dinner last night, was easy to follow and oh so tasty! Since the portions were so large, I used half of the ingredients for the soup, and the other half of the roasted veggies and puréed it for some gourmet baby food which my little one gobbled up. Of course, just replaced the chilli powder with nutmeg and minus the salt and pepper. What a diff roasting does to bring out all the flavours! Yummy dinner for the whole family! Thanks for sharing this great recipe Vanessa!
That’s such a smart idea! So happy you and baby loved it! Thanks for sharing 🙂