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butternut squash soup with bacon bits

Butternut Squash Soup with Bacon (dairy free)

Use bacon to makes this traditional soup extra savory and delish
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Servings 4

Equipment

  • 1 Heavy Bottom pan min 3 QT
  • 1 Blender or immersion blender

Ingredients
  

  • 2 strips of bacon
  • 1/2 large onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Butternut Squash, cubed approx 4 cups cubed
  • 1 Japanese Sweet Potato, chopped approx 1 cup, optional, see notes
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 3 tsp parsley
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 tsp salt or to taste, see notes

Instructions
 

  • Add the chopped bacon to a pot on medium heat to render out the fat. Stir occasionally to prevent burning and sticking, and let cook until bacon crisps, then remove the bacon while leaving the fat behind.
    Depending on your bacon, you may want to remove some of the fat. Ideally you want about 1-2 TBSP bacon fat. If there's less than that, add some olive oil. If there's more, use a paper towel to remove as needed.
  • Add the onions to the bacon fat and saute, stirring occasionally. The more caramelized, the more flavor that gets released into the soup.
  • Add garlic, squash, and sweet potato. Give it a stir then add the rest of the ingredients starting with the broth.
  • Adjust heat to high and bring pot to boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, close lid, and let cook for 20 min.
  • After 20 min, remove lid and stir. Test the squash and sweet potato. They should both be soft now.
    If using a blender, carefully ladle the soup into the blender and puree til smooth, then return to pot.
  • To serve: Ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle soy yogurt overtop for visuals and use a toothpick or skewer to draw a spiral to create the white trails in the yogurt. Sprinkle the previous cooked and chopped bacon and serve.

Notes

Add salt to taste. Depending on your chicken broth, you may not need additional salt. Mine is homemade so there's no salt from it, so 1/2 tsp work great for me. 
For the sweet potato, you can use either orange or white flesh version. the white flesh version is sweeter so I recommend that. The sweet potato added thickness and sweetness to the soup. 
For the decorative yogurt, use a flavorless yogurt or cream or simply omit. It only adds visuals and doesn't really affect the flavor. 
Keyword soup