One of the most ubiquitous flavors of the fall is pumpkin (obviously). Most pumpkin flavored foods are, fortunately or unfortunately, sweet desert items. But pumpkin is versatile enough to be savory as well, and a warm, creamy, pumpkin soup on a cool autumn day is delightful. Most pumpkin soup recipes however are either a huge chore to prepare or loaded with curry (a flavor that I personally don’t associate with fall harvest).
Here is my super easy version of pumpkin soup.
I suggest Granny Smith apples for this pumpkin soup, but if you want to try a different apple, I have a list of 10 common apple varieties and their uses, to help figure out which ones you might want to try.
If you are looking to reduce your dietary fat, you can replace the cream with one of these. Here is a chart of the dietary fat from various replacement options:
Table: Fat grams per cup of dairy product
| Heavy Cream (1 cup) |
88 fat grams per cup |
| Half-and-Half (1 cup) |
48 fat grams per cup |
| Whole Milk (1 cup) |
7.9 fat grams per cup |
| 2% Milk (1 cup) |
4.8 fat grams per cup |
| 1% Milk (1 cup) |
2.4 fat grams per cup |
| Skim Milk (1 cup) |
0 fat grams per cup |
This is a delicious dish for holiday meals to serve along side a turkey or ham. Galliano is the “secret” ingredient that provides deep layers of flavor to the butternut squash and will have your guests begging for your recipe. Galliano is an award winning sweet Italian liqueur, infused with natural spices and herbs, that provides complementary flavors to winter squash dishes and soups. In some parts of the world butternut squash is also known as butternut pumpkin. Galliano makes several different flavors of liqueur, but we are using the original flavor.
Butternut squashes do vary in size. This recipe was designed for a large butternut yielding approximately 4 cups of cooked squash, so adjust recipe or cook two smaller squashes, as needed.
A simpler method for cooking the squash, using a slow-cooker:
- Wash the outside of the squash.
- Place whole inside your Crockpot. No cutting or dicing.
- Add 1/2 inch of water to the Crockpot vessel.
- Cook on HIGH for 5 hours, or LOW for 8 hours, or until tender.
- Remove with tongs and place on a cutting board.
- Cut lengthwise down the middle.
- Using a spoon or an ice scream scoop, remove the seeds and stringy bits — discard.
- Carefully scoop out the tender flesh of the squash, leaving the skin.
- Prepare as above.