Butternut Squash & Bacon Bisque
Oh how I adore the fall and all it’s wonderful flavors! Don’t you love hot mugs of steaming soup on chilly days? I’ve come up with a recipe made from all my favorite fall flavors…butternut squash, crisp apples, salty bacon, sultry onions and warm garlic. There’s even a splash of white wine and a smattering of sage and a final swirl of heavy cream. Hmmm……I wish I could share with you how good my kitchen smells right now!
Butternut Squash and Bacon Bisque will make your kitchen smell heavenly as all the flavors roast together. Then, when everything is soft it goes into a pot and you’ll simply add the white wine, chopped sage and chicken broth and cook through. Then, use an immersion blender to fuse all those wonderful earthy flavors together and serve sprinkled with bacon and fresh parsley or cheddar cheese and toasted nuts.
If you can find pre-chopped butternut squash it makes this soup a breeze to prepare. I find peeling and chopping a huge butternut squash more work than I’m willing to do so I spend a little more to save my time and sanity! (And probably my fingers seeing as how you have to use a giant knife to cut those babies up!) You can even use frozen butternut squash if you can’t find fresh. I get mine at Whole Foods and I find more and more stores offer already chopped fresh squash. It’s an easy soup to throw together quickly. You can even roast the veggies the day before to save time.
The chopped bacon adds a wonderful smoky earthiness to this soup but if you’re vegetarian just leave it out. Also, instead of sage feel free to substitute a teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg for a different take on this soup. Butternut Squash and Bacon Bisque is a perfect first course for Thanksgiving. Enjoy!
Butternut Squash & Bacon Bisque
Ingredients
- 6 cups chopped butternut squash
- 5 pieces uncured bacon chopped
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 organic apples peeled, cored and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic peeled and cut in half
- 2 tablespoons Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil or butter melted
- Salt and pepper
- ½ cup white wine
- 4 cups Organic Chicken Broth
- Several leaves of fresh sage chopped or 1 teaspoon dried sage
- A few tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
- ½ cup heavy cream or half and half
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Put squash, bacon, onion, apples, garlic, salt, pepper and melted coconut oil or butter in a large roasting pan.
- Roast about 45 minutes until the veggies are soft. Stir occasionally during roasting.
- Remove pan from oven and remove bacon pieces from the mixture. Set aside.
- Put squash mixture into a large pot or dutch oven.
- Add wine and sage and stir over medium heat for 1 minute.
- Add chicken broth and cook about 20 minutes.
- While soup is cooking, sauté the bacon to crisp it up a bit. I do it in a small iron skillet with a little butter. When done, drain bacon on a paper-towel lined plate.
- Using an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth. Or, use a blender and blend the soup in 2 batches.
- Taste soup and adjust seasonings.
- Swirl the heavy cream into the hot soup.
- Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley and bacon or chopped and roasted nuts and grated cheddar cheese.
Creamy, smoky, earthy, delicious Butternut Squash & Bacon Soup!
Kate’s Tips
- Make this vegetarian and vegan by leaving out the bacon and heavy cream and using vegetable broth in place of chicken broth.
- This would taste great with a tablespoon of curry.
- Instead of heavy cream, use full fat Organic Coconut Milk.
- Feel free to use a different type of winter squash and vary the vegetables. A sweet potato would work and so would leeks and shallots.
- You can roast the veggies, apples and bacon the morning you’re making this or even the day before. Just refrigerate and reheat the mixture before adding the wine and sage.
Some of my other favorite soup recipes:
- Italian Wedding Soup
- Roast Broccoli Cheese Soup with Roast Garlic
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Chicken Soup
- Ham and Bean Soup with Winter Vegetables
- Fire Roasted Tomato Soup w/Sundried Tomatoes & Grilled Cheese Croutons