Vegan Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

Total time4 hr 20 min

Prep time20 min

Cook time0 min

Sweet butternut squash and apple simmer low and slow with garlic and onion until completely tender, then get blended right in the pot into a silky, spoonable purée. Warm spices — cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and a hint of cayenne for anyone who wants a kick — turn this into the kind of soup that smells like fall the moment it hits the blender. A touch of maple syrup rounds out the sweetness from the squash and apple, so every bowl lands somewhere between cozy and comforting. The slow cooker does the heavy lifting here, breaking the squash down until it collapses at the touch of a spoon, no stovetop babysitting required. Finish it with a scatter of pepitas for crunch, and you've got a hands-off, plant-based soup that's every bit as good for a weeknight dinner as it is for a holiday table. This one's a genuinely easy win to add to a vegan recipe rotation.

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Ingredients

6 servings

1 large butternut squash (about 3 lb), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
Fresh Butternut Squash, Each Organic Butternut Squash Peeled Butternut Squash Nature's Promise Organic Butternut Squash Trader Joe's Diced Butternut Squash
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1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Chef's tip
Use the same amount of low-sodium vegetable broth. The dish will be a little lighter in flavor than with chicken broth.
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Chef's tip
Use a stick or block-style dairy-free butter - not a soft tub spread - and swap one-for-one.
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
½ cup heavy cream
Chef's tip
Use unsweetened dairy-free heavy cream in cooked sauces, soups, and ganache. For whipped uses, choose a product labeled whippable.
2 tsp maple syrup (optional)

For serving

pepitas (pumpkin seeds), for serving (optional)
sour cream or crème fraîche, for serving (optional)
Omit this
This ingredient likely doesn’t work for the diet.

Instructions

1
Add the butternut squash, onion, garlic, apple, chicken broth, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cayenne (if using), salt, and black pepper to a 6-quart slow cooker. Stir briefly to distribute the spices.
2
Cover and cook on High for 4 hours or on Low for 7–8 hours, until the squash is completely tender and collapses easily when pressed with a spoon.

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