TRUFFLED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH CRISPY SAGE

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I shared a pureed soup here at JustineCelina! And would you believe I’ve never actually published a butternut squash soup recipe? Butternut squash soup is a staple recipe in many kitchens during the cooler months — ours included. Although my Autumn Harvest Soup with Roasted Squash Seeds (published back in my early blogging days!) includes butternut squash, it also features a medley of fall produce — including apples, carrots and rhubarb. So, my standard butternut squash soup recipe remained unpublished over the years — you see, as a food blogger, these staple recipes often remain in my archives because I don’t think they’re exciting or unique enough to share. But, this winter I experimented with one of my favourite gourmet ingredients to really elevate this recipe — and here we are!

Today I’m thrilled to bring you my Truffled Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Sage — a luxurious, sophisticated twist on a cold weather classic. With just 10 ingredients, this creamy bowl of vegan comfort is a breeze to whip up and makes a great light lunch or accompaniment to dinner. Hearty butternut squash is oven roasted with onions, fresh sage and garlic — then blended into velvety goodness with vegetable broth, coconut milk, fresh ginger and a touch of heat. To finish things off, it’s infused with an indulgent drizzle of White Truffle Oil (my most recent culinary obsession!) and garnished with crispy sage for a restaurant quality soup you can enjoy at home. Thanks to a couple of elevated ingredients, this isn’t your traditional butternut squash soup recipe — but I guarantee you it’s just as simple to prepare! If you’re in the mood for some nourishing comfort food with gourmet flair to help endure these last few weeks of winter, I have just the recipe — and I’m also sharing my favourite source for high quality, affordable White Truffle Oil!

TRUFFLED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH CRISPY SAGE

This winter, I’ve actually been really inspired in the kitchen, which is typically when I can get in a bit of a rut. In fact, I’ve been so inspired that I have a huge backlog of winter recipes that I can’t seem to publish fast enough — but I wanted to sneak this one in before spring arrives, since you voted for it over on Insta Stories!

It all started with a trip to Granary Road (a new farmers market on the outskirts of Calgary) this the summer where I discovered Sofritto’s White Truffle Oil. Funny enough, I had been looking for a quality truffle oil for months — and there it was, waiting for me in a big barrel, ready for tasting (their set up reminded me our delicious oil and vinegar tastings in Napa Valley a few years ago!). I also had the pleasure of meeting Sofritto’s owner, Gord Fontaine, who’s extremely passionate about olive oil. We chatted at length about their process in creating the White Truffle Oil (which is absolutely to die for!) — it’s Italian made without any extracts, very smooth and clean, and reasonably priced. I grabbed a 200ml bottle back in September and we have about 1/4 left — there’s been a lot of truffle experimentation going down in the JustineCelina kitchen ever since!

Although we’ve come up with a few other recipes that feature this White Truffle Oil (like our Vegan White Truffle Popcorn, which I can also publish if you like!), my Truffled Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Sage was one that happened organically back in early January and has become a fast favourite! As is true with most of my favourite recipes, I was cleaning out the fridge and had a bunch of squash, onion and some sage that needed to be used up. So, I roasted them sheet pan style with simple seasonings and blended them with vegetable stock, coconut milk and fresh ginger. The soup was delicious and similar to my standard recipe — but then I remembered we had White Truffle Oil on hand and I knew immediately it would work well with the flavour profile and elevate this simple recipe with a gourmet flair. The thing about good truffle oil is you only need the smallest amount to introduce the flavour and aroma of truffle into your dish — just 1 teaspoon of White Truffle Oil was enough for this large pot of soup!

If you’re a truffle fiend like me, you can also drizzle a few extra drops of White Truffle Oil on top — along with some coconut milk and Crispy Sage (I’m sharing a super simple way to fry sage leaves in this recipe!). Playful garnish really takes any soup recipe up a notch, and while my garnishes are always optional, I highly recommend experimenting with garnishes and styling. These simple touches really elevate a bland looking soup and add that gourmet flair!

Now, if you’ve aren’t able to find a quality truffle oil, it’s not absolutely essential to this recipe — simply omit it for a delicious, velvety smooth butternut squash soup. However, I encourage you do do some truffle investigating if it’s a flavour you love. It’s definitely a very distinct, polarizing flavour — but also a versatile one. Try experimenting with it on homemade popcorn, make our beloved truffled almonds (simply pan fry whole almonds in olive oil, season with salt and toss with a few drops of truffle oil in your bowl), or use it to flavour a creamy dish or starchy vegetable (truffle also plays very well with potatoes!).

Ingredients

Yield: Approximately 12 cups

• 8 cups of butternut squash (one large squash, or 2 smaller squash)
• 1 yellow onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp white truffle oil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Himalayan Pink Salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.

2. In the meantime, chop squash and onion into 1″ cubes, adding them into a big bowl as you go. Peel the garlic and add it to the mixture whole. Once you’re finished chopping, divide the mixture onto 2 large baking sheets. Add 3 sage leaves to each baking sheet.

3. Season liberally with olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir the vegetables around in the pan to ensure each piece is well coated with oil and seasonings. Roast at 425 °F for 50 minutes, turning and rotating at the 25 minute mark.

4. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.

5. Add the contents of the baking sheets to your Vitamix (or similar). Add vegetable broth, coconut milk, fresh ginger and red pepper flakes — note that if you have a large container for your Vitamix, the entire mixture will just fit, but if you have smaller containers, you’ll need to divide and blend in batches. Blend Butternut Squash Soup on high for a few minutes until completely smooth.

6. Add the blended mixture to a large soup pot and turn on low heat, warming through.

7. Remove the Butternut Squash Soup from heat and stir in your White Truffle Oil. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary — you may want to add additional salt and pepper or truffle oil at this time.

8. Prepare the Crispy Sage leaves for garnish (this is optional, but highly encouraged). Wash sage leaves, select a small frying pan and warm olive oil over medium heat. Add a sage leaf and fry for a few seconds on each side until crisp — this may take some experimentation, as the oil shouldn’t brown (burn) the leaf. As the leaves fry, their green colour will intensify and they will crisp up.

9. Remove sage leaves from the pan and allow them to cool over a paper towel. Sprinkle with Himalayan Pink Salt.

10. Garnish each bowl with additional White Truffle Oil and a few drops of coconut milk. I like to drizzle the truffle oil first, then add a few drops of coconut milk drops and swirl them together in a circular motion with a chopstick to create a marbled effect. Then, garnish with Crispy Sage by crumbling a leaf over each bowl. Serve Truffled Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Sage immediately!

5 from 2 votes

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TRUFFLED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH CRISPY SAGE

Prep Time

20 mins

Cook Time

50 mins

Cooling time

10 mins

Total Time

1 hr 10 mins

 

My Truffled Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Sage is a luxurious, sophisticated twist on a cold weather classic. With just 10 ingredients, this creamy bowl of vegan comfort is a breeze to whip up and makes a great light lunch or accompaniment to dinner. Hearty butternut squash is oven roasted with onions, fresh sage and garlic -- then blended into velvety goodness with vegetable broth, coconut milk, fresh ginger and a touch of heat. To finish things off, it's infused with an indulgent drizzle of White Truffle Oil and garnished with crispy sage for a restaurant quality soup you can enjoy at home. Thanks to a couple of elevated ingredients, this isn't your traditional butternut squash soup recipe -- but I guarantee you it's just as simple to prepare!

Servings: 16

Author: Justine

Ingredients

• 8 cups butternut squash (one large squash, or 2 smaller squash)

• 1 yellow onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp white truffle oil
• extra virgin olive oil
• Himalayan Pink Salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.
2. In the meantime, chop squash and onion into 1″ cubes, adding them into a big bowl as you go. Peel the garlic and add it to the mixture whole. Once you’re finished chopping, divide the mixture onto 2 large baking sheets. Add 3 sage leaves to each baking sheet.
3. Season liberally with olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir the vegetables around in the pan to ensure each piece is well coated with oil and seasonings. Roast at 425 °F for 50 minutes, turning and rotating at the 25 minute mark.
4. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
5. Add the contents of the baking sheets to your Vitamix (or similar). Add vegetable broth, coconut milk, fresh ginger and red pepper flakes -- note that if you have a large container for your Vitamix, the entire mixture will just fit, but if you have smaller containers, you'll need to divide and blend in batches. Blend Butternut Squash Soup on high for a few minutes until completely smooth.
6. Add the blended mixture to a large soup pot and turn on low heat, warming through.
7. Remove the Butternut Squash Soup from heat and stir in your White Truffle Oil. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary -- you may want to add additional salt and pepper or truffle oil at this time.
8. Prepare the Crispy Sage leaves for garnish (this is optional, but highly encouraged). Wash sage leaves, select a small frying pan and warm olive oil over medium heat. Add a sage leaf and fry for a few seconds on each side until crisp -- this may take some experimentation, as the oil shouldn't brown (burn) the leaf. As the leaves fry, their green colour will intensify and they will crisp up.
9. Remove sage leaves from the pan and allow them to cool over a paper towel. Sprinkle with Himalayan Pink Salt.

10. Garnish each bowl with additional White Truffle Oil and a few drops of coconut milk. I like to drizzle the truffle oil first, then add a few drops of coconut milk drops and swirl them together in a circular motion with a chopstick to create a marbled effect. Then, garnish with Crispy Sage by crumbling a leaf over each bowl. Serve Truffled Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Sage immediately!

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Thanks for stopping by for this elevated butternut squash soup recipe! If you try my Truffled Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Sage, I’d love to hear from you! Leave me a comment, or tag me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. I’d love you to hashtag #justinecelinarecipes in your recreations so I can find them — browsing my feed and stumbling on your beautiful recreations is my favourite thing! I also have a Pinterest board for my recipes if you’re looking for more plant based culinary inspiration. Enjoy the rest of your week, friends!

Thank you Food Bloggers of Canada for featuring this recipe in their 10 Sage Recipes roundup. 

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