VEGAN BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

Sponsored post Fazer Aito. Vegan butternut squash soup with noodles is a cozy warming vegan meal for fall and winter. The soup is like velvet and it’s made even creamier with Fazer Aito Oat Cuisine, an oat-based cooking cream.

Vegan Butternut Squash Soup with Noodles

My kids aren’t big fans of creamy soup. I think it’s the lack of different textures which is not appealing to them. I’ve solved this issue by adding noodles to our creamy soups. I do this actually with every soup we eat, because that’s how I make an odd food taste familiar to them.

I did this with my Pumpkin stew with macaroni and my kids loved it!

This vegan butternut squash soup actually became more of a pasta sauce for my picky eaters. What we did is we piled noodles in a bowl and then poured soup on top of the noodles.

What would have been a perfect addition to this “pasta soup” is spiced crumbled tofu or Fazer Yosa oatblock (an oat based “tofu” type of vegan protein), but this time I made a spiced crumbled nut mixture. The crumbled nuts are kind of like vegan parmesan but with a spicy twist.

Dairy-free Creamy Vegetable Soup

I love to use dairy-free cooking cream in soups. Fazer Aito cooking cream is oat-based and comes in three flavors in addition to the neutral one:

• Onion (only available in Finland at the moment)
• Pepper (available in Finland and Sweden)
• Cheese (available in Finland and Sweden)

This time I used neutral “oat cream”, but either one of these flavored delicious creams would give the soup a lovely flavor. If I were to make a pasta sauce from this soup I would just add Fazer Aito Oat Cuisine with Taste of Cheese to the sauce to make it taste like Pumpkin mac n’ cheese.

How to season vegan butternut squash soup?

The basis of this soup is:

• onion
• garlic
• ginger
• veggie broth

I also use onion powder (for added delicious onion flavor), sweet paprika powder, oregano and thyme. And that’s it!

If you want more flavor for your soup, here are some ideas:

• curry powder or curry paste
• garam masala powder
• harissa paste
• ground cumin
• adobo sauce
• crushed tomatoes and tomato puree with the above spices

How to make creamy soup more nourishing?

Here are some tips on how to make your soup more nutritious and filling:

1. Blend white beans to the soup for even more creaminess, protein and fiber!
2. You can also add cooked lentils or any beans to the soup without blending. One great topping, which I really love is crispy oven roasted chickpeas.
3. Crumble spiced cooked tofu on top.
4. Make a delicious mixture of nuts and spices as a topping. See recipe below.
5. You can also blend (soaked) cashews or almonds (preferably blanched if you want more creaminess) to the soup. Or even easier: add nut or seed butter to the soup.
6. Cook quinoa or millet in veggie broth to add to the soup. Or use protein rich noodles made from lentils or chickpeas.

Vegan Butternut Squash Soup recipe

For four

• butternut squash, about 800 grams or 28 oz
• 1 onion
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• an inch of ginger
• 50 ml or 2 cups vegetable broth
• thyme 1 tsp
• oregano 1 tsp
• sweet pepper powder 1 tsp
• black pepper
• 250 ml or 1 cup Fazer Aito Oat Cuisine
• 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
• salt to taste (depending on the salt level of the broth, I use about 1/2 tsp)

Spicy nut crumble

• 60 g / about 1/3 cups almonds
• 60 g / about 1/3 cups hazelnuts (you can use any nuts / seeds)
• nutritional yeast 1 tbsp
• curry powder 1 tsp
• 1/4-1/2 tsp salt

Also: noodles for four

Peel and chop the butternut squash. Dice onion, garlic and ginger. Cook them in oil for a minute and add butternut squash. Mix, add spices and pour vegetable broth to the pot. Put on the lid and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until the squash is soft.

Cook noodles and prepare the nut crumble. Toast nuts in a hot dry pan until they are slightly browned. Let cool and blend with spices until you have a coarse crumble.

Blend soup in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Pour Fazer Aito Oat Cuisine to the soup and blend more. Taste, add vinegar and salt.

Serve soup with noodles and nut crumble. You can also add fresh herbs such as thyme or cilantro on top.

Here’s more SOUP inspiration for fall and winter:

Lentil noodle soup

Creamy Vegan Salmon Soup

Vegan One Pot Tofu Lasagna Soup