I've made butternut squash soup many times in my day, but I can't say it's always come out as well as I'd imagined it would. I honestly think that the homemade chicken broth I use makes ALL the difference. Making chicken broth is as easy as throwing a bunch of chicken bones (around 1 chicken's worth or so), onions, garlic and some sea salt in a pot and boiling, then simmering for hours and hours, straining and freezing to store.

This time, I had the idea of throwing in a couple of possibly non-traditional ingredients like a tiny bit of coconut milk and a splash of fresh orange juice. Overall, I think this has been my best attempt yet at Butternut Squash Soup. It can be made with vegetable stock as well if you decide to go that route or that's what you have on hand. I have to say, making and keeping stock in the freezer is really a handy thing to do. I highly recommend it.

Butternut Squash Soup

Yield: 4-6 servings.
Click here for estimated nutrition facts

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash, roasted
• 1 tablespoon bacon fat, coconut oil or ghee
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled & smashed
• celtic sea salt
• 2 pinches of dry sage (I use my own homemade sage sea salt)
• black pepper
• 16 ounces chicken broth (use your own homemade if possible, it's super-easy to make!)
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk (optional but recommended)
• 2 tablespoons water (or more for thinner soup)
• Juice of 1 orange

Preparation

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Half the squash and place it face down in a glass or ceramic roasting dish about 30-55 minutes. After the squash has been roasting for about 20 minutes, begin to cook the rest of the soup ingredients on the stove-top.

Use a large pot and sauté the bacon fat and onions until the onions begin to brown on the edges. Then place the garlic in with the onions and add salt, sage and pepper. Allow this to cook for just couple of minutes to take the edge off of the raw garlic then add your chicken stock, coconut milk and water. By now your squash should be roasted and you can add it to the mixture and stir together. When it's combined, add the orange juice as the last thing you do before you turn off the heat.

Allow the soup to cool a bit and then pour it into a blender and whir it up until it's smooth. Be careful not to fill the blender to the top when you're blending hot liquids as the steam tends to expand the liquid when you blend it – blend in batches if necessary.

This makes 4-6 servings depending on how big you serve up the bowl!

Optional: Garnish with sage leaves that have been fried in ghee or coconut oil. YUM!