Curried Acorn Squash Soup

Savory sweet roasted acorn squash combines with spices and ginger in this delicious Curried Acorn Squash Soup recipe. Serve as a starter for a holiday meal, or as a healthy midweek main course. Go with vegetable stock for a vegetarian recipe.

Our first option for preparing acorn squash lately has been this creamy roasted acorn squash pasta dish.

But with the holidays approaching, we thought we’d come up with a Curried Acorn Squash recipe that could serve as a starter for Thanksgiving or maybe Christmas.

Well, no doubt this soup could be a nice way to start your Thanksgiving menu. But the comforting, creamy blend of savory roasted acorn squash along with Indian curry spices and ginger make it a very satisfying main course option, too. So serve this simple acorn squash soup for a starter or your dinner main course, and you can’t go wrong!

Jump to:

• What you need
• Recipe tips & steps
• What to serve with this soup
• Wine pairing
• Recipe card

What you need

Here are a few of the key ingredients that make this acorn squash soup work; head down to the recipe card for all the details.

• 2 acorn squash: well, no surprise that acorn squash is important for this soup! That said, I would imagine you could try this soup with other winter squash.
• Broth: We actually first made the soup with chicken broth, but you can use vegetable broth to make this a vegetarian soup recipe.
• Fresh ginger adds a nice, lively flavor to the soup. Plus, there are many health benefits to including ginger in your diet.
• Curry powder is a blend of various Indian spices; and is important for the recipe’s flavor. Here’s an Amazon link to a brand of curry powder we often use.

In addition to those ingredients, I highly recommend using an immersion blend to purée the soup. If you don’t have one, you will need to gradually transfer the soup into a food processor or blender to do the job.

Recipe tips & steps

Here’s a visual overview of the recipe steps, along with some helpful tips. Scroll on down to the recipe card for the precise instructions.

Prepare the squash: As the oven preheats to 400 degrees, cut the squash in half with a large chef knife.

Scoop the seeds out –I like to use an ice cream scooper for this job.

Start roasting squash: After scooping out the seeds, place the squash halves face down on a baking sheet. Roast for about 35 minutes, until the squash pierces easily with a fork as shown below.

Test the squash: The roasted acorn squash will be nice and soft, with flesh starting to brown.

Set the squash aside to cool, as other soup ingredients simmer (you can get the other ingredients going as the squash roasts to save time).

Start the other ingredients as the squash roasts. Start by heating the olive oil in a large soup pot, and stir in the onions. Add the carrots after the onions begin to soften, followed by the garlic and ginger.

Add the broth and bring to a simmer.

Add squash to soup: After the soup has simmered for about 15 minutes and the acorn squash has cooled, scoop the squash flesh into the soup pot, and stir to combine.

Add the spices: after adding the squash to the soup pot, stir in the curry powder and turmeric. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so to let the flavors combine.

Make the yogurt topping. Place the yogurt in a bowl. Add the garam masala and lime juice, stir to combine. Set aside.

Purée the soup:When the soup has has simmered with the acorn squash for about 15 minutes, use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

Serve the soup: scoop the creamy acorn squash soup into a bowl. Place a dollop of spiced yogurt into the bowl and give it a swirl. Top with a little minced cilantro, if using. Enjoy!

What to serve with this soup

We served this acorn squash soup with vegetable samosas (store bought) to enhance the Indian flavors of this meal.

This would also be great with some naan bread. Here’s a recipe from Nora Cooks we have used before to make our own.

I mentioned earlier that this could be a starter course for a holiday meal. Of course, it could be the first course for an Indian dinner, too. Perhaps our Indian Butter Chicken along with Roasted Cauliflower with Garam Masala for your mains.

Wine pairing

I naturally toward a white wine with a touch of sweetness to go with Indian curry flavors. In fact, we just opened a Mosel Riesling to go with some Indian takeout last night.

A Gewurztraminer can be another great choice, as it tends to have a spice profile that plays well with curry.

So for our curried acorn squash soup pairing, we opened the 2019 Willm Alsace Reserve Gewurztraminer ($18 , 13.5% ABV).

I get notes of honeysuckle on the nose of this white wine from Alsace. On the palate, lemon fruit with honey and cinnamon spice. As suspected, a very good pairing for our soup!

If you were more in the mood for a red wine, I would go for a Pinot Noir, or perhaps even a fruit forward Merlot.

Print

Recipe card