Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Lately I’ve been adapting old soup recipes to be made in an Instant Pot Ace Blender, and Roasted Butternut Squash Soup is the latest. If you have an Ace Blender the recipe should be pretty straightforward. If you don’t have an Ace, you can still make the soup the traditional way. I put directions for that in the notes. I also talk a lot in this post about the blender, so if you have no need for a new appliance you might want to just jump straight to the recipe.

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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

This is your basic butternut squash soup recipe, but I think it’s a little better than others due to the roasting of the cubed squash. The roasting concentrates and intensifies the flavor the of the caramelized squash cubes. I typically add a teaspoon or two of maple or sugar to butternut squash type soups, but this recipe doesn’t need it thanks to the sweetness of the squash itself and the carrots. There’s a good amount of onions in the soup as well (no garlic, no ginger).

More Ingredient Notes

• Cubed Fresh Butternut Squash — As mentioned above, use fresh or frozen cubed. I tried roasting a whole squash and scooping out the equivalent of cooked squash. The soup wasn’t as rich and flavorful and I ended up having to add more squash, sugar, and spices to get the same level of flavors as the caramelized cubes.
• Rosemary and Celery Seed — The key spices are the rosemary and the celery seed. Celery seed is great to have around for when you come upon recipes that call for celery and you don’t have any. It gives you the flavor of celery without having to use any cooked celery. It’s also perfect if you don’t like the texture of cooked celery.
• Vegetable or Chicken Broth — You can use vegetable or chicken broth. I’ve been using fully salted Swanson or Progresso vegetable broth, so there’s very little salt added to the recipe. If you’re using any form of unsalted or reduced sodium broth, you’ll probably need to add a little more to lift the flavor. I’m just mentioning this because the amount of salt will vary. Imagine also makes a good vegetable broth. It’s less salty so if you use that brand you’ll probably need more salt.

The Instant Pot Ace Blender

A few months ago I replaced my noisy Nutribullet with an Instant Pot Ace Blender. If you are not familiar with the Ace, it’s a blender that heats. I’d actually been considering a Vitamix, but then I read this review on The Kitchn and bought the Ace. I love it so much that if it breaks I’ll immediately buy a new one, but so far there’s no sign of that.

Benefits of the Ace Blender

• Eliminates a lot of chopping — You don’t really have to chop the ingredients. I’ve specified chopped amounts for those using regular blenders, but if you are using an Ace you can just throw in the equivalent weight of each ingredient. For instance, instead of chopping up 2 cups of onions you can quarter them and put in 240 grams. The blender takes care of the rest.
• The Ace saves a pot and no transferring from pot to blender so there’s less risk of burns.
• You can blend hot food safely.
• It’s sturdy — The unit is sturdy, so I feel comfortable turning it on and walking away. In the past I’ve used a Nutribullet, which I’d have to stand next to and hold the lid while wearing ear protectors. With the Ace I can turn it on and leave the room if I need to.
• Power — Smoothies and soups seem extra smooth and creamy.
• Almond, Oat and Nut Milks — The blender comes with a special sack for making almond, oat and soy milk if you need to. I haven’t tested it, but it supposedly does a great job with alternative “milks”.
• Layering Flavors and Other Instant Pot Ace Hacks — If you buy the blender, you should grab a copy of this Cook’s Illustrated Instant Pot Ace Blender book which has lots of tips on building or enhancing flavor so you get the most out of the appliance.

So those are the reason I like the Ace. I have absolutely no affiliation with Instant Pot Ace and this post is not sponsored or endorsed by Instant Pot. The fact is I just like it! I am an Amazon affiliate though, so if you do buy an Instant Pot through Amazon using this link, I will get a very small amount of credit. If you do, thank you in advance!

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