Black Bean Butternut Squash Soup - delicious, healthy, savory soup, perfect for those cold nights in the Fall and in the Winter. Makes a beautiful side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas menu.
I didn't want to make another sweet butternut squash soup, so I was in a search of a recipe where I could combine butternut squash with a second major ingredient that would neutralize the sweetness of butternut squash, without suppressing its flavor, something similar to what I did with carrot soup by adding lentils to it. I wanted a butternut squash soup that was very savory and very different from what is usually expected from a butternut squash (sweetness) and that would appeal to those who dislike pumpkin or butternut squash soups for their sweetness.
I found a recipe on Epicurious for a black bean pumpkin soup that seemed to offer exactly what I was looking for. Because I wanted to use up butternut squash that I just roasted for a soup, I substituted pumpkin with butternut squash. I also significantly changed the proportions of black beans to butternut squash, because the comments on the recipe indicated that with the given amount of black beans, the soup becomes too much of a black bean soup, losing the butternut squash (pumpkin) flavor. The comments also talked that the soup was losing its pretty pumpkin color with so many black beans. That convinced me to reduce the amount of black beans, which resulted in one of the best butternut squash soups I ever head. The sweetness of butternut squash is beautifully compensated by the black beans, and the soup is neither overwhelmed by black beans nor dominated by sweet taste of squash.
I also did not think that adding ½ cup Sherry in the end impacted the flavor in any way, so I might omit it next time.
By the way, I love roasting butternut squash. I can literally do it for fun: it's easy (put it in the oven, wait about an hour, cool, peel), and your house fills with warm smells so welcome during short winter days. I actually posted a very detailed tutorial on how to roast a butternut squash here. So many things you can do with roasted butternut squash.
How to make black bean butternut squash soup - step-by-step photos:
For complete recipe, scroll down.
1) In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add chopped onion, minced shallots, minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon cumin, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper. Saute on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add chopped fresh tomatoes (or canned tomatoes), and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.
2) Add black beans, butternut squash and 1 cup chicken broth to food processor. Process until finely pureed.
Add onion mixture from the saucepan to the food processor and process everything (pureed beans and butternut squash plus onion mixture) together until smooth.
3) Place the pureed mixture back in the saucepan, add 1 cup chicken broth, ½ cup dry sherry, stir until well combined, and simmer, covered, on low heat for 20 minutes. Season with more salt and cumin if necessary.
4) To my taste I use 1 teaspoon salt total (but I notated ½ teaspoon because you might find 1 teaspoon too salty - judge for yourself). I also season with 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons cumin total - to your taste 1 tablespoon total from step 1 might be enough.
5) To serve, sprinkle with heavy cream swirls, salt and pepper on top.
Black bean butternut squash soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 small onion chopped
- 8 shallots minced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper , fresh
- 1 cup tomatoes , fresh or drained from the can, chopped
- 1 cup black beans , drained, from the can
- 2 cups roasted butternut squash
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ½ cup dry Sherry
- more salt to taste
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add chopped onion, minced shallots, minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon cumin, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper. Saute on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add chopped fresh tomatoes (or canned tomatoes), and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.
- Add black beans, butternut squash and 1 cup chicken broth to food processor. Process until finely pureed. Add onion mixture from the saucepan to the food processor and process everything (pureed beans and butternut squash plus onion mixture) together until smooth.
- Place the pureed mixture back in the saucepan, add 1 cup chicken broth, ½ cup dry sherry, stir until well combined, and simmer, covered, on low heat for 20 minutes. Season with more salt and cumin if necessary.
- To my taste I use 1 teaspoon salt total (but I notated ½ teaspoon because you might find 1 teaspoon too salty – judge for yourself). I also season with 1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons cumin total – to your taste 1 tablespoon total from step 1 might be enough.
- To serve, sprinkle with heavy cream swirls, salt and pepper on top.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I made this a couple of times. Do you think I could use a different type of beans?
Anyone ever think to add bacon? Just wondering how that might help/hurt the flavor. Any suggestions?
I think some crumbled cooked bacon on top of the soup would be great!
Made this for lunch today and it was yummy! I made some modifications. I only used 2 large shallots(3/4 cup). I thought 8 was too much. I made this vegan by using Vegetable broth instead of chicken. I also didn't have dry sherry so I used pinot. This is a keeper.
I love buttternut squash and the changes to neutralize it's sweetness has me excited to make this soup. Julia, I am going to follow you too because the way you described and gave good information with the changes you made shows your passion for doing it right.
Thanks, will make this week!
Hi, I have made this a few times now and it is one of my favorite soups! So thank you for posting the recipe, and for including such helpful photos as well. Currently, I am on a restricted diet that excluded tomatoes. Any idea how I can tweak the recipe so it will taste just as good? Thanks!
Hi Jen, I am glad you liked this recipe! If you can't eat tomatoes, you can safely exclude them - I don't think the soup will lose that much flavor from it. You might have to add more water as it will probably be denser without tomatoes, but other than that, the soup should still be pretty delicious! After all, the "stars" of the soup are butternut squash and black beans, not the tomatoes! Tomatoes are only playing the modest "supporting" role.
Wow, fabulous soup. I probably tripled all the spices. A keeper!!!!
Kaye, so glad you liked the soup! I love it too! And yes, sometimes I increase the amount of spices too!
Making this for the second time tonight. I just love this soup and my 2 young children enjoy it just as much. So glad to have found your recipe! Thanks!
Wilma, thank you for such a sweet comment! So glad you and your family are enjoying the soup! 🙂
Made this tonight.. I bought a butternut squash and was looking for something to do with it. It was really good!! I did not have any shallots on hand so those got left out. It was a bit too "cuminy" for me so I will cut back just a bit next time.. but the boyfriend really like it! I topped w some avocado! Thanks for a great recipe.. loved that it is a bit different than the traditional sweet soup 🙂 I just used the whole squash and doubled the recipe.. yay for leftovers!