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Portuguese-style Butternut Squash Soup

A creamy soup made with butternut squash, potato, carrot, onion, garlic, and stock, finished with parsley and thyme.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Portuguese-style Butternut Squash Soup

Time45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Pour olive oil into a large soup pot and sauté onions and garlic over low heat for 3–5 minutes.

  2. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let the onion‑garlic mixture steam for 15 minutes.

  3. Add the squash, potato, and carrot and stir the mixture well.

  4. Pour in the stock and bring the soup to a boil.

Simmer and blend

  1. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and let it simmer for 45 minutes.

  2. Add the seasoning and parsley, stir well, cover the pot, and continue simmering for another 15 minutes.

  3. Blend one third of the soup at a time in a blender or food processor and return it to the original, but clean, pot.

  4. Reheat the soup over low heat, but do not let it come to a boil.

Serve

  1. Serve hot and sprinkle fresh thyme leaves on top of each serving as garnish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

529Calories
38 gProtein
18 gFat
57 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pumpkinnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Garlic + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,517 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Potato + carrottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Onions
Soften and build a sweet, savory flavor base for the soup.
Butternut squash
Provides the main body, sweetness, and smooth texture once blended.
Potato
Adds starch that thickens the soup and gives it a creamier body.
Chicken stock
Supplies the liquid that cooks the vegetables and forms the soup's base.
Olive oil
Carries the aromatics' flavor and helps soften the onions and garlic.

The step that matters

Blend in batches and reheat gently. Blending hot soup in a full blender can build pressure and spray it out, so work in small batches with the lid vented. Keeping the soup below a boil after blending helps prevent scorching and keeps the texture smooth.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, onion, garlic, butternut squash, potato, carrot, chicken):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, onion, garlic, butternut squash, potato, carrot, chicken. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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