Low Fat Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Low Fat Roasted Butternut Squash Soup ~ This amazingly flavorful soup has only a few ingredients, but, boy do they sing!  It turns out smooth, creamy & rich tasting...but only has a bit of olive oil, so it's low fat.  I just love it when a meal can be made simply, without having to weight it down with added fat & calories.  This is a soup you can enjoy without guilt ~ Oh, yeah!

Low Fat Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
makes about 6~8 servings

Ingredients

• one whole, peeled butternut squash, chopped
• one large onion, chopped
• olive oil for drizzling
• balsamic vinegar for splashing
• your favorite dried herbs for sprinkling, like ~ basil, oregano, garlic and/or rosemary
• 7 cups chicken broth (or your favorite kind)
• salt & pepper, to taste
• Pam, cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F degrees.

Toss chopped butternut squash & chopped onion, with a good drizzle of olive oil, a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar & a sprinkling of dried herbs.  Place all in a roasting pan, sprayed with Pam (and lined with foil for quicker clean-up, if desired) in a 400 degree oven & bake for about 25 minutes ~ giving it a stir about halfway through.  Cook until the veggies are soft & starting to caramelize.

Puree the roasted veggies in a food processor with a cup of chicken broth, adding a bit more if needed.  When completely smooth, pour the pureed vegetables into a soup pot & then add remaining chicken broth.  Simmer for about 10 minutes, taste & adjust the seasoning if necessary.  Salt & pepper to taste. 


This soup turned out fantastic!  It's such a deceptively simple soup, but absolutely jam packed with flavor & so velvety.  Roasting the veggies gives it such a depth, you just can't get that when you only simmer the veggies.  Garnish the soup with dollop of plain yogurt or light sour cream & then swirl it in, for a little extra taste treat.  You can spin this soup so many different ways ~ like exchanging the chicken broth for a veggie broth, to make it vegetarian...or, using pumpkin, instead of the butternut squash, for a perfect fall soup...or, adding some light cream, if you are feeling a bit decadent...or, just simply as is.  Enjoy!

Update ~ 1/26/2013
TracyK, a reader of the blog, shared her tweaks to my recipe that sound so good!!  She added 2 peeled Granny Smith apples and used fresh rosemary and garlic, instead of dried.  What simple, but inspired additions to the soup.  Next time I make it, I'll cook it her way.  Thanks so much for sharing, TracyK!  :)