I always feel a bit strange making soup during the heat of summer but all the amazing produce calls for a batch or two. This particular squash soup first made an appearance after a summer party at the CSA where someone had brought a similar soup. It's a flexible soup whereas the potatoes and/or carrot can be left out if you don't have them. The ingredient list is long but a good chunk of it are spices you most likely already have on hand.
PrintSummer Squash Soup
This summer squash soup is an easy and beautiful way to use up an abundance of summer squash.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Cuisine: soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup minced yellow onion
- 2 cups finely diced yellow summer squash
- 1 cup peeled and diced yukon gold potato
- ¼ cup diced carrot
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ¾ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika plus extra for topping
- ¼ teaspoon mustard powder
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch cayenne pepper optional
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- ¼ cup coconut milk plus extra for topping
- Salt to taste
- Cilantro for topping
Instructions
- Heat a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the olive oil followed by the onions. Cook until the onions are fragrant and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the squash, potato, and carrot. Continue to cook for until the squash begins to soften, 5 minutes or so. Stir in the garlic, cook for a minute then add in all the spices, cooking for another minute more.
- Add the wine, scrapping up any pieces stuck to the bottom. Allow some of the wine to cook out then measure in the vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and let cook until the potatoes are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Puree the soup using a blender or an immersion blender. Add in the coconut milk and continue to heat the soup until hot. Taste and add salt as needed (usually depends on how salty the broth is). Divide into two bowls and top with a drizzle of coconut milk, sprinkle of paprika, and cilantro.
Notes
Tips & Tricks: Don't have all the spices listed in the ingredients? Use a few teaspoons of curry powder instead!
Stock up: get the pantry ingredients you will need: coconut milk, cumin, summer squash
Nutrition: see the information.
Nutrition
- Calories: 239 kcal
Summer Squash Soup
variations
I'm a big advocate that soup really doesn't need a recipe because you can practically throw anything in a pot, puree it, and come out with something delicious. The key to this summer squash soup are the spices. Beyond that, you can really mix and match based on what's at the market or what you already have on hand.
Legumes: I don't do this as often as I used to but you can swap out the potatoes for chickpeas, using the chickpeas as a thickener and an added protein. You can also cook about ½ cup red lentils with the broth and puree in the soup.
Curry Powder: Missing a few spices or don't feel like measuring everything out? A tablespoon or so of good curry powder can be used. Occasionally I'll swing this soup another spice direction and use chipotle powder with a bit of cumin and coriander.
Grains: To make a complete meal, serve over a cooked grain such as rice, sorghum, or millet (any will keep this recipe gluten-free).
Explore Summer Squash
It's the time of year when gardens and markets are overflowing with zucchini and summer squash. This tends to correlate with an abundance of squash recipes, which is where this summer squash soup comes in to the rotation. If you find yourself with quite a few squash, a few other recipes to make:
Pesto Summer Squash Bruschetta
Curry Marinated Summer Squash Salad
Zucchini and Squash Ricotta Galette
*Recipe originally published on July 29th, 2010. Last updated on June 26th, 2016. Looking for the original recipe? Find it here.
kathy says
I cant believe this is vegan! yaay! beautiful photos! I hope you will submit this to http://www.findingvegan.com! ~Kathy
Morgan says
That is such a vibrant beautiful soup! Ill bet it was extra delicious with the coconut milk in tit! I loooove coconut!
erin says
When I started making this soup, I was planning on using heavy cream until I realized I still had coconut milk in the refrigerator. I'm glad I did too- I don't think this would have been as good without the coconut milk!
Lizzie says
The soup looks terrific, as do those adorable bowls. Where did you get them????
erin says
Thanks! They are actually part of an appetizer set I got from Target!
Lizzie says
Hope Target still has them!! Thanks so much.
the urban baker says
this looks fabulously delicious. the bowls are pretty awesome as well!
Kathryn says
I love squash- it tastes great and it's healthy, too! Have you ever tried squash pear soup? It's awesome!
erin says
That looks delicious- I'll have to try that!
Cat says
I made this last night...very easy and delicious! Love that it's vegan!
★★★★★
Mari says
...spoon one tablespoon each on top of soup, sprinkle a little paprika on top of each. Spoon one tablespoon of what? on top of soup??? Is it sour cream? yogurt? Thanks!
erin says
Coconut Milk!
Ginger says
Can this be frozen or canned?
erin says
I'm not sure about canned but it is great for freezing!
Mackenzie says
This soup is sooo good! Thanks for sharing your recipe. We have a ton of squash from our garden so I will definitely be making this again 🙂
bri says
did you use culinary coconut milk or regular (beverage) coconut milk?
Elle says
A friend had a ton of leftover squash for her CSA so of course I had to make soup! Wanted something vegan to avoid the cheese, butter, and cream that other recipes called for. I doubled the recipe, left out the potato, and added fresh lime because I love citrus flavors - everything turned out perfectly. Thanks for the fantastic and easy recipe!
B says
This tastes like a curry sauce, not a soup
Very good curry sauce, but not a good soup recipe.
Erin says
This looks amazing! When picking plants at the greenhouse this year, I meant to get two zucchini and two summer squash, but I accidentally got three summer squash and only one zucchini. I am SWIMMING in summer squash! So this recipe couldn't come at a better time.
Emily says
Would this freeze well?
erin says
I think that it would! I would freeze it without the coconut milk then reheat it, adding the coconut milk then.
Elizabeth Phillips says
Thank you for the awesome summer squash recipe! During the summer we have grilled it with zucchini, but I hadn't thought about soup. (Until now!)
★★★★★
Alastair says
This looks gorgeous! I wish more people knew how delicious and fun being vegan can be!
Out of interest how do you come up with most of your recipes? Is it trial and error, or do you base them on something?
erin says
Trial and error- I use the Flavor Bible quite a bit. This older recipe might have been based on another recipe but I didn't take notes and my brain can't remember from 6 years ago!
Lavues says
Love this recipe, it looks like a nice recipe to follow for a cold night 🙂
Lesley Newbern says
This soup was amazing! I swapped out the curry powder for the turmeric and omitted the potato and carrot and it was fantastic!!
susan says
I made one batch last night to try it. Tonight I made three more batches! I've never liked squash soup (was making it for others), but I just ate two bowls! For anyone trying this for the first tiime, I would point out that the cumin taste is very strong. I find that delicious, but if you're not a big cumin fan, consider cutting it back to quarter teaspoon. Otherwise, follow the recipe exactly. Easy to make, delicious to eat, and beautiful to present!
Kirti Yadav says
Loved this dish. Squashes have been one of my all time favorite and using them in soup is superb
Ashley says
My squash plants from the garden are overflowing, so this recipe initially grabbed my attention. However, I'm on the whole30 and can't do the white wine in the recipe. Would it be possible to just add more vegetable broth in the wine's place? Do you think that will drastically change the flavor?
Erin Alderson says
I think it would be fine- the wine doesn't make a huge difference!
Theresa says
Love me some squash. Never think of making soup with it before though. Just roast it usually. Bookmarked! Thanks.
Christine E says
Made it with the curry powder as I didn't have several of the spices, and omitted the wine (which I also didn't have). It was very good! My husband was a little reluctant at first, but polished off a big bowl no problem. 🙂 I think next time I'd like to try it with the main spice combination listed instead of the curry powder as we do truly like cumin and I think the cinnamon would be a nice addition. This one earned a spot in my recipe binder! 🙂 Thank you for sharing it!
natalie says
I made this soup but I was fairly disappointed. 12 minutes is not long enough for the spices to meld so they still tasted harsh. Also, the mustard powder was overpowering. I had to modify the recipe by cooking it for an extra 20 minutes and added cayenne to cover up the strange spice mix.
Lisa says
Thank you for this. I had a glut of yellow squash and I can, so I made pints of this to take to work to eat. It is delicious and I shared it to fellow canners!
Vale says
Amazing recipe! Frankly I didn't think it'd come out so good as never before had I been able to get the creaminess of any soup. And it did! Despite not having potatos nor coconut milk (I replaced it with almond). Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Melissa Arra says
I'm glad others enjoyed this recipe but I think I may be one of the few that really did not like this soup. For a summer squash bisque, I felt the smoked paprika was overwhelming and added a heaviness. Perhaps it was the particular squash I used, but the final product was bitter. I tried adding a small amount of honey to hlep cut the bitterness but it did not help much. The overall flavor combination did not work for me. A small amount of creme fraiche made it tolerable and helped balance out both the bitterness and smokiness but all in all it was a fail and not a soup I would serve to guests.
★★
Vero says
You might have burned the spices. Especially paprika turns bitter if you toast it too long. I usually just stir it with the fat to release color and add liquid ASAP.
★★★★★
Emily says
Very good soup. It was a little too spicy for me so I would omit the cayenne pepper next time since I did not add any cream to the soup. Saving this recipe for the future.
★★★★★
Shannon says
This was a delicious soup! Quick and easy too. Nice way to use my garden squash. Good topped with pine nuts too!
★★★★★
Katy says
Yum! Great way to use up the summer squash (and lots of other veggies!) in my weekly veg box!
★★★★★
Vero says
It came out pretty good but it was missing something. Ended up adding some sugar and that did the trick for me. It rounded it up the flavor. Thanks for the recipe! Definitely will be making it again.
★★★★★
Todd Benton says
I quadrupled the recipe and was pretty lax on the measurements but it turned out fantastic! Our garden is pumping out so much squash we needed yet another thing to do with it. This is going in my recipe bookmarks. Thanks!
★★★★★
Graziella says
I love this soup! I used a fresh chilli to give it more kick. The spice blend is fantastic 👌
★★★★★
jay says
Amazing!
I used half & half instead of coconut milk. Also substituted the dry white wine with ginger ale (sounds crazy but turned out so well)
Added a dash of curry, and for spice I added two fresh habaneros during the cooking process. Also added a dollop of ricotta at the end. Yum yum yum.
Lauren Glaze says
Where can I find bowls like that!!
Erin Alderson says
Oof- these are Crate and Barrel from years ago!
Karen Thurow says
I was lazy with measuring and since the kitchen was very busy I skipped the saute step and just threw everything in a pot of water. It still came out delish, thanks to the really great combo of recommended spices. I used beans instead of potatoes and it came out rich enough to be a main dish.
★★★★★
Jenn K says
Absolutely delicious! Had an overabundance of summer squash, and this recipe was perfect!
★★★★★
June says
This is more of a squash curry. I wish this had been more prominent in the recipe or in the title. I added a tablespoon of sugar and doubled the coconut milk. It would go well with some rice and tofu chunks/chickpeas thrown in.
★★★
Erin Alderson says
I honestly haven't made this recipe in years but my guess would be that it could stand to use a bit more broth to thin the soup out to soup consistency but I also like the idea of making it into a curry.
Dolly64 says
Wonderful recipe, perfect amount of spice. Definitely a keeper 😁
★★★★★