Butternut squash soup shooters
Velvety butternut squash soup with a hint of maple and cinnamon, poured into little cups and topped with crunchy pepitas, vegan and made days ahead.
- 55 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 16
- About $0.64 a serving
- 80 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. Whatever’s left keeps for tomorrow.
Ingredients
For 16 servings.
- 1 package cubed butternut squash
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- 2½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup coconut milk, divided
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- ⅓ cup pepitas, roasted and salted
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 80 calories, 2 g protein, 7 g carbs and 6 g fat, and costs about $0.64 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No cubed butternut squash? Butternut squash works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No coconut milk? Light coconut milk works.
- No pepitas? Sunflower seeds work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion and the garlic.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the onion with ½ teaspoon of the salt 5 to 6 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and .
Translucent. Translucent means onions have cooked until they turn from white to slightly see-through. It shows they’re soft and sweet but haven’t started to brown.
How you’ll know: The onion looks glossy and a little see-through, bends easily, and has barely any color.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Add the garlic, cinnamon and nutmeg and 30 seconds, .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Add the squash, broth and the rest of the salt, turn the heat to high, and .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low, cover, and 20 minutes, until a squash cube crushes easily against the side of the pot.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Take the pot off the heat, in all but 2 tablespoons of the coconut milk and the maple syrup, and let it cool 10 minutes.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Hot soup expands in a blender, so this short rest matters.Blend it in batches until completely smooth, filling the blender no more than halfway and holding the lid down with a folded towel.
Dolly’s tip: Lift the small cap in the lid so steam can escape. A sealed lid on hot soup can pop off.Pour it back into the pot, warm it over low heat, and with the pepper and more salt if it needs it.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Low heat
Dolly’s tip: It keeps 3 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.Food safety: Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours and eat them within 3 to 4 days. Reheat until steaming hot, 165°F.
Ladle it into small cups or glasses, about ⅓ cup each, and top with a swirl of the saved coconut milk and a few pepitas.
Dolly’s tip: Keep the pot on low and fill cups as people arrive. Poured cups can sit out up to 2 hours.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
When you host a dinner, Dollop builds the menu around your guests’ allergies, works out a cooking timeline back from when everyone sits down, and puts it all on one grocery list.
