Butternut Squash & Sage Bisque
When it comes to easy family dinners, your freezer is your best friend. Stock it well with your family's favorites, and in the morning take one out to thaw. Leave it to thaw during the day. At dinnertime all that's left to do is warm it up and serve. With fresh homemade food in your freezer, it's like having your own mini grocery store at home.
Soup is a freezer essential — and a course that can save the day. Serve a bowl of soup with an omelet or ham and cheese crêpes (another freezer favorite), and finish with fresh fruit and nuts for dessert. In under 15 minutes, you've prepared a healthy, delicious four-course meal with minimal effort.
A vegetable-packed butternut squash bisque is a great soup to freeze. It's easy to make, creamy, and lightly sweet — perfect for picky eaters.
Check the notes below for time-saving tips, freezing and menu suggestions, and ideas to turn this recipe into a fun and educational family activity.
Ingredients
5 cups of butternut squash
1 yellow onion (not sweet), diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 stalks of celery, diced
2 tbsp fresh sage
4-5 cups chicken broth or bone broth
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp butter
Instructions
Prepare the squash
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Discard the seeds or save for roasting — see the notes below for more about roasting seeds.
- Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. Then cut the squash into 2-inch cubes.
- An alternative method to simplify prep is to roast the squash halves open-side down (instead of peeling and cubing), then scoop out the squash. Roasting the cubes creates a richer caramelized flavor, but this method will still result in a great taste!
Roast the squash
- For cubes:
- Place the squash cubes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt & pepper.
- Toss to coat evenly and spread into a single layer.
- Roast for 25–30 minutes, tossing occasionally, until tender and lightly browned.
- For halves:
- Drizzle a bit of olive oil inside the halves and use your fingers to coat, then sprinkle with sea salt & pepper.
- Place cut-side down on a baking sheet and bake for 30—40 minutes or until soft when pierced with a knife.
- Scoop out the cooked squash with a spoon.
Make the soup
- Heat the butter and 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat in a large pot.
- Add the diced onion, celery, and sage. Sauté for about 10 minutes, until soft. Your kitchen will smell so good!
- Add the squash:
- If using roasted cubes, add them directly to the pot.
- If roasting halves, scoop the softened flesh into the pot.
- Pour in the stock. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20–30 minutes to blend flavors.
- Purée the soup until smooth, using an immersion blender. If using a countertop blender, let the soup cool before blending. Hot soup can explode — I learned the hard way that it's difficult to clean soup off the ceiling.
Serve
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with homemade croutons. The crunch of a few croutons may be just the trick to inspire a picky eater to eat their soup.
Notes
Roasted Squash Seeds
- Rinse seeds to remove pulp. Pat or lay out to dry.
- Toss with olive oil and sea salt.
- Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 350° F for 10–15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Serve as a snack, apéritif, or salad topping.
More Tips:
Get Your Sous Chefs
The most time-consuming part of this recipe is chopping the vegetables, but even the youngest chef can assist. With this child-safety knife, you can have your kids help you chop everything up!
Cook in Stages
To make this recipe more manageable, cook in stages. It is often easier to find 15-20 minutes to cook over a few days, rather than 45 minutes at one time. On day one, roast the squash. Later that day, or the next, add the rest of the ingredients, simmer, and purée. The squash can be stored for up to two days in the fridge until you can finish the recipe.
Freezing
Use silicone freezer trays such as Souper Cubes to store soup in the freezer.
You can also use a Ziplock freezer bag to freeze. Placing the baggies in a tall glass or container while ladling the soup into them is an easy and mess-free way to fill them. Prop up the baggies in the freezer so they don't fall over and leak. It's a handy trick for freezing!
Leftover fish stock to freeze.
Guacamole to freeze.
Leftovers ideas:
If you have leftover sage, make herbed butter. This freezes well to be used later for, say, Burro e Salvia —pasta with sage butter, an Italian recipe using butter, sage, and pasta. It takes the buttered noodle to a new level.
Sage Butter for Grilled Cheese
Leftover soup can make a delicious sauce for pasta or ravioli. Leftover soup thickens, making it perfect for a pasta sauce!
Pasta with leftover roasted tomato soup — I've made it with leftover butternut squash soup, too, and put it in the kids' school lunch.
Pasta with leftover roasted tomato soup for school lunch — perfect when I was in a pinch for something to pack.
Find it online: https://returntothetable.com/butternut-squash-bisque/