This vegan Squash & Sweet Potato Soup is hearty and filling, yet comforting with an antioxidant punch of spices and the *optional* crunch of toasted seeds. It's so easy that it comes together in one pot in about 30 minutes!
If you love easy soup recipes, check out my 3 ingredient squash soup or carrot ginger coconut soup!
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✔️ Why This Recipe is Great
Low Histamine Soup: so many readers ask about low histamine soups, so this healthy carrot ginger coconut soup is an answer to that request. Even better, it comes together in one pot in about half an hour!
Antihistamine Spices: between the garlic, ginger, and rosemary, this dish is packed with strongly antihistamine foods, meaning that they contain plant chemicals which inherently help your body calm histamine production and inflammation.
Easy Vegan Main: full of flavor and free of meat (as long as you use vegetable stock), this sweet potato butternut squash soup makes for a great vegan low histamine dinner (especially if you add hemp seeds or low histamine protein powder for a more balanced nutrient profile).
🍠 Ingredients
Squash & Sweet Potato: both these orange veggies are a great way to get your daily Vitamin A and fiber, and they're a great base for almost any low histamine dinner. In this case they both need to be peeled and chopped before you start cooking, though frozen versions work just fine.
Just note that for flavor reasons, I like to use fresh farmer's market veggies to make this healing sweet potato and butternut squash soup with coconut milk, especially if I'm able to make my own coconut milk to add.
Raw Garlic: when chopped this adds a bite of umami and sharpness to the squash and sweet potato soup, as well as strongly antibacterial properties.
Ginger: possibly the best-known spice around the world, ginger is the sharp, mildly sweet root of a flower. It’s an incredibly healthy low histamine spice that's been used for thousands of years in dishes both sweet and savory, and adds bite to this squash soup.
Chicken or Vegetable Stock: you can use any type you prefer or can tolerate, or you can even use water, but whatever you choose it will add more depth of flavor to the final dish. If tolerated, you can even use bone broth.
Coconut Milk: the called-for amount is equal to 1 standard can of coconut milk, and helps add creaminess and healthy fats to the soup.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📝 Substitutions
- Squash & Sweet Potatoes - you can use pre-cut or frozen squash or sweet potatoes in place of the fresh stuff, and even alter the ratios of each veggie if you have a preference for one over the other. Just make sure to use 3.5 pounds of vegetables in total, though any other type of squash or potato would also make a great sweet potato substitute.
- Oil - for an even more savory soup, try using a different oil like frozen lard or ghee.
- Onion - if you don't have an onion on hand, you can use 2-3 shallots.
- Ginger - you could use fresh or frozen grated ginger root in place of ginger powder, or leave it out altogether. Horseradish is another great alternative, if tolerated.
- Spices - any of the spices in this vegan squash & sweet potato soup can be swapped for substitute spices of your choosing in equal amounts. The dried rosemary and paprika can be substituted for other seasonings like dried thyme, cumin, garam masala and chili powder, if tolerated.
🥣 How to make squash sweet potato soup: step-by-step
Step 1. Grab a large pot and place it over medium heat. Add the oil and let it warm up before tossing in the diced onion and sautéing, stirring occasionally, until it turns translucent and soft, which should take about 3-5 minutes (image 1).
Step 2. Now, it's time to add the flavor - stir in the minced garlic, salt, dried rosemary, ground ginger, and paprika (if using) (image 2). Let these aromatic ingredients cook together for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally (image 3).
Step 3. Next add the cubed butternut squash and sweet potato to the pot, giving them a good stir to ensure they're well-coated with the onion and garlic mixture (image 4). Let the veggies cook for about 5 minutes, allowing the onions to caramelize slightly and the outsides of the squash and sweet potato to develop a bit of color.
Step 4. Pour in the broth, making sure there's enough to completely cover the vegetables (image 5), adding more water if needed. Crank up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer.
Pop a lid on your pot and let the soup simmer away for about 20-30 minutes on low or medium-low heat. You'll know it's ready when the squash and sweet potatoes are tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork.
Step 6. Once the vegetables are nice and soft, it's time to blend! If you have an immersion blender, you can purée the soup right in the pot until it's silky smooth (images 6 & 7). If you don't have one, carefully transfer the soup in batches to a blender or Vitamix. Just remember to be extra cautious and vent the mix well when blending hot liquids, or you may find yourself with a small explosion!
Step 7. If you used a regular blender, pour the puréed soup back into the pot. Stir in the coconut milk or cream (image 8) and let the soup cook for a few more minutes, allowing the flavors to meld together (image 9).
Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning as needed, adding a pinch more salt in needed to suit your preferences. Ladle the hot soup into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of fresh herbs and an extra drizzle of coconut milk or cream, if desired.
👨🏻🍳 Expert Notes & Tips
Making Stock: there are loads of chicken and vegetable stock recipes out there, but most of them have you cooking the ingredients for 8+ hours, which does not keep them low histamine. Look for a low histamine recipe like this one which uses an instant pot and cooks everything in under 90 minutes, if you prefer a homemade broth.
Coconut Milk: if you tend to react badly to canned foods, make sure your coconut milk doesn't contain any preservatives, and consider making your own coconut milk or using pure coconut milk powder and reconstituting it as needed. You can also replace this with a can of coconut cream for a more rich ginger and carrot soup.
🌟 Variations
- Carrot Sweet Potato Soup: much like in my carrot ginger soup, you could swap the squash for an equal amount of carrots, then proceed with the recipe as written.
- With Lentils: lentils and curry powder would both make for a great addition to this healthy sweet potato squash soup recipe, which you could make even quicker in an instant pot. Alternately, prepare the lentils separately in the instant pot and then have each person stir in however much curried lentils they'd like to their bowl.
- Richer Flavor: to make squash soup without coconut milk, you can either swap the coconut milk for more stock or with coconut cream or heavy cream for an even richer soup.
- Roasted Squash Sweet Potato Soup: drizzle the oil and spices over all the non-liquid ingredients on a nonstick baking sheet, and bake it in the oven at a high temp for around 20 minute. Then add everything to a high-powered blender or vitamix with the stock & coconut milk, and blend until it reaches your desired texture.
🥘 Freezing and Reheating
To freeze this sweet potato squash soup, portion it into air-tight containers and keep frozen for up to 6 months, ideally in single servings to avoid refreezing it as you break off chunks to reheat.
Thankfully, even if it's been awhile since it was frozen, vegan soups can reheat quite quickly. Even if the coconut milk separates (if used), it will all smooth out once fully reheated and stirred well.
Simply put the soup into a pot or bowl and reheat for a few minutes over medium-low heat on the stovetop, or in the microwave on medium power for 1 ½ to 2 minutes.
❓ What to serve with sweet potato soup
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently Asked Questions
Butternut squash and sweet potatoes are both packed with nutrients like vitamins A and C, fiber, and potassium, making them overall beneficial for your health.
Sage, thyme, and rosemary best complement butternut squash's sweet and nutty flavor, enhancing the taste of dishes.
For soup, it's best to peel butternut squash as the skin can be tough and may not blend smoothly; this will get you a creamier texture.
Yes, you can use frozen sweet potato and squash for soup, either to replace some or all of the veggies in the recipe. But if you do use frozen vegetables to make soup, you'll want to reduce the liquids in the recipe by as much as one cup, unless you want a thicker soup.
Have you tried this recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
Equipment
- immersion blender or Vitamix
Ingredients
- 1 medium butternut squash ~2lbs/900g, peeled, seeded, and cubed
- 3 large sweet potatoes ~1.5lbs/650g, peeled and cubed
- 1 large onion 200g, diced (~1.5 cups)
- 4 cloves garlic ~15g, minced
- 5 cups vegetable broth alt. chicken broth
- 1 - 13.5 oz. can coconut milk alt. 1 cup cream or half & half for richer flavor
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil alt. other neutral oil
- 1½ teaspoon salt more to taste
- 2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger alt. 2 teaspoons fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika optional, for color
- Fresh thyme or sage for garnish optional
Instructions
- Grab a large pot and place it over medium heat. Add the oil and let it warm up before tossing in the diced onion and sautéing, stirring occasionally, until it turns translucent and soft, which should take about 3-5 minutes.
- Now, it's time to add the flavor - stir in the minced garlic, salt, dried rosemary, ground ginger, and paprika (if using). Let these aromatic ingredients cook together for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Next add the cubed butternut squash and sweet potato to the pot, giving them a good stir to ensure they're well-coated with the onion and garlic mixture. Let the veggies cook for about 5 minutes, allowing the onions to caramelize slightly and the outsides of the squash and sweet potato to develop a bit of color.
- Pour in the broth, making sure there's enough to completely cover the vegetables, adding more water if needed. Crank up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer.Pop a lid on your pot and let the soup simmer away for about 20-30 minutes on low or medium-low heat. You'll know it's ready when the squash and sweet potatoes are tender enough to be easily pierced with a fork.
- Once the vegetables are nice and soft, it's time to blend! If you have an immersion blender, you can purée the soup right in the pot until it's silky smooth. If you don't have one, carefully transfer the soup in batches to a blender or Vitamix. Just remember to be extra cautious and vent the mix well when blending hot liquids, or you may find yourself with a small explosion!
- If you used a regular blender, pour the puréed soup back into the pot. Stir in the coconut milk or cream and let the soup cook for a few more minutes, allowing the flavors to meld together. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning as needed, adding a pinch more salt in needed to suit your preferences. Ladle the hot soup into bowls and garnish with a sprinkle of fresh herbs and an extra drizzle of coconut milk or cream, if desired.
Betsy says
Made this last night and it was so delicious! I added a few dashes of cinnamon at the end. Will make again. Thank you!
Max says
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, Betsy - I'm so glad you enjoyed it! A bit of cinnamon sounds delicious. 🙂