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Spiced-up Butternut Squash Soup

A creamy butternut squash soup flavored with mild curry and optional cilantro and yogurt.

By Health Canada · From Canada's Food Guide · 9 ingredients
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Spiced-up Butternut Squash Soup

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 ↓

Spiced-up Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 6
Timeabout 25 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the squash

  1. Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler.

  2. Cut the squash in half crosswise, then cut each half in half lengthwise.

  3. Remove the seeds.

  4. Chop the squash into equal pieces (about 2.5 cm/1 inch) and set aside.

Make the soup

  1. In a soup pot or large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion, garlic and curry powder.

  2. Cook, stirring for about 2 minutes or until starting to soften.

  3. Add the chopped squash, broth and cilantro, if using.

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  5. Once at a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, cover and cook for about 25 minutes or until the squash is very tender.

  6. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Puree and serve

  1. Ladle the soup into the blender in batches and puree until smooth. Hold the lid with a kitchen towel to ensure it doesn't pop off.

  2. Alternatively, use an immersion blender and puree in the pot.

  3. Stir in the pepper and serve with a dollop of yogurt if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

569Calories
50 gProtein
32 gFat
20 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
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Cilantro1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)1
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
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.

By Health Canada. Recipe from Canada's Food Guide.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Butternut squash + garlictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together476 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Butternut squash
Forms the bulk of the soup and, once cooked soft and pureed, gives it its body and smooth texture.
Onion
Softens as it cooks, adding sweetness and savory depth to the base.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and deepens as it cooks in the oil.
Curry powder
Blooms in hot oil to release aromatic spice compounds that flavor the whole soup.
Vegetable or chicken broth
Provides the liquid that cooks the squash and carries the flavors through the soup.

The step that matters

Cook the squash until very tender before pureeing. Pureeing squash that is not fully softened leaves a grainy, fibrous texture, because the starch and cell walls must break down with heat before blending can make the soup smooth.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butternut squash, onion, clove, garlic, chicken, pepper, yogurt):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Turmericfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butternut squash, onion, clove, garlic, chicken, pepper, yogurt. 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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