Squash and Sausage Soup

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve come to appreciate butternut squash recently. I love summer squash (especially zucchini) with sausage. Those two factors led me to decide to try doing something with butternut squash and sausage. Unlike a lot of butternut squash recipes, this is entirely savory – no cinnamon or other sweet spices are used at all!

This is a somewhat chunky soup. If you prefer your soup smoother, you can remove the sausage and puree the soup. You can then return the sausage, re-season, and heat through. I think it’s a perfect winter meal just as it is, though. It’s hearty, filling, and warming – great for snow days or any day! And if that’s not enough to convince you to try this, it holds well in the fridge and freezes well. You can make it on a day off and keep it ready for the next time you want to to treat your family to homemade soup!

Sausage and Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut squash and Italian sausage combine to make a filling and delicious soup!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Total Time 2 hours hrs

Servings: 4 people

Course: Soup

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 large butternut squash
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (I provided for 1 tablespoon for brushing squash – you may need less)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt (1 provided for 1/2 teaspoon to sprinkle on squash)
• ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons parsley (I provided 1 teaspoon to brush on squash)
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 medium onion
• 3 sweet Italian sausage
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
• 1 bay leaf

Method

 

Preparing the Squash – this can be done in advance

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Quarter squash and remove seeds.
3. Brush with 1 tablespoon olive oil (you may need less, depending on the size of your squash) and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley.
4. Roast squash in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes or until soft.
5. When squash is cool enough to handle, remove peel and cut into 1 inch chunks.

Making the Soup

1. Dice carrot, celery, and onion into 1/8″ cubes.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large pot over medium heat.
3. Saute carrot, celery, and onion for 5 minutes or until carrot and celery start to soften and onion is translucent.
4. Remove sausages from their casing and put sausage meat into pot (I usually just squeeze the meat out of the casing right into the pot. Some stores sell loose sausage meat, and that works just fine too – you’ll need a little less than a pound).
5. Add 2 teaspoons minced garlic. Saute sausage meat, garlic, and veggies for 10 minutes or until sausage is browned. Stir often to avoid burning garlic and onions.
6. Add cubed squash to pot.
7. Add 4 cup vegetable stock, 1/2 teaspoon salt, ground pepper, 1/4 teaspoon sage, and bay leaf.
8. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1/2 hour.
9. Remove bay leaf. Using a potato masher, mash squash until soup is generally creamy, but retaining some texture. If you’d like it creamier, remove sausage and puree, either in a blender in small batches or with an immersion blender.
10. Put soup and sausage (if you’ve used the blender) back in the pot.
11. Add 1/4 teaspoon ground sage, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon parsley, and ground pepper. 
12. Heat through and serve immediately or store in fridge/freezer until ready to heat and eat.
    

What’s your favorite soup recipe?