| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8 servings | 1 hour |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 1.5 hours | 1 hour |
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We serve this hearty soup at our annual Heirloom Apple Festival and it gets rave reviews! Use any type of winter squash you would like, just vary the quantity, depending on the size of the squash.
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- 4 each acorn squash (or 2 medium butternut or 1 hubbard or other large squash)
- 2 each fresh pears (peeled, cored and quartered)
- 1 each sweet onion (quartered)
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cups chicken broth (sub vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
- 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1-1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
- fresh ground pepper (liberal or to taste)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and place in 9"x13" baking dish with cut-side facing up. You may need more than one baking dish depending on the size of your squash. See notes below.
- Place onions and pears around squash, filling all the spaces in the baking dish.
- Drizzle with melted butter and season with salt and pepper.
- Bake in oven approximately 45 minutes, or until fork-tender.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool enough that you can handle the squash. Scoop the flesh of the squash, discarding the skins.
- Place all ingredients from baking dish(es) into large stockpot and proceed with making the soup.
- Add all remaining ingredients to stock pot with the squash mixture.
- Heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to bubble.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
- Remove soup from heat and puree the soup using an immersion blender. Puree until smooth (you may have a few onion pieces that won't puree...that's fine!)
- Add the heavy whipping cream, salt and liberal grindings of fresh pepper and stir to combine.
- Taste for seasonings and adjust if necessary.
We find that because of the varying sizes in squash, it's sometimes necessary to use more than one baking dish to roast the squash. ??Your baking dishes should be full but not too full, so if necessary, place ingredients into two dishes and place them side by side in your oven.
Also, the seasonings may need adjusting, due to the variations in the squash. ??Simply taste your soup and add more of each of the seasonings to taste. ??This soup comes out a little different each time we make it, but it's very forgiving!
Enjoy this soup with a crusty loaf of bread and a salad as a complete meal...or serve as an appetizer in small mugs at a holiday gathering.
If you end up with too much soup, place remaining soup in freezer containers and freeze for a later date! ??Enjoy!