Sweet and Savory Bacon Butternut Squash Soup

This squash soup is not like your average butternut squash soup. It is creamy and rich in flavor, with a touch of sweet, and savory hints from everyone's favorite, bacon. It is great for a cool fall or winter evening. I just love soup season. There is just something about a hot bowl of goodness to warm you right up. This particular squash soup is so fun to make, you will need a high powered blender for this one in order to get the beautiful smooth, creamy texture.

Start by cutting your squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Then cut your sweet potato in half and bake them until soft.

Measure out your other ingredients and cook up your bacon and onion. (I skip the onion to keep it low FODMAP for my IBS, so feel free to do the same).

Blend your ingredients in two batches. It will look dark orange at first, but blend until it turns this brighter yellow-orange.

When the soup is warm, serve and add toppings of your choice. I love more bacon crumbles and pepitas!

Enjoy!

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Ingredients

1 large Butternut squash or Sweet Mama Kabocha squash 1 medium sweet potato 1/2 yellow onion chopped 14.5 ounce can low sodium chicken broth 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/8 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp salt 5 slices of cooked bacon

1-1 1/2 cup milk of your choice* Olive oil for cooking onions

Toppings Roasted pepitas Feta cheese Crumbled bacon

Microgreens

*Start with one cup of milk, but if your squash is large add another half cup

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° and fill a 9x13 bar pan with about 1 cup water.

2. Cut your squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and lay it face down in the pan.

3. Cut your sweet potato in half and add it to the same pan face down.

4. Bake your squash and potato for about 40-50 minutes or until soft when poked with a fork.

5. While that cooks, roughly chop up half an onion. The size you chop it won't matter because you will be blending it. Add about one tablespoon of oil to a pan on medium heat, then add your onion and cook until they begin to turn transparent.

6. Next fry up your bacon on the stove according to the directions. You will need five pieces for in the soup, and about five more for topping the soup. Cook until it is crispy so it crumbles easily. When it is cooled crumble your bacon.

7. Now measure out your liquids and seasonings.

8. When the sweet potato and squash is cooked and cooled slightly, peel off the squash skin and scoop out the sweet potato. Add one half of the sweet potato and one half of the squash to the blender. Then add half of the rest of your ingredients because you will need to do the blending in two batches.*

9. Blend starting at a low speed, gradually increasing until you reach high speed and blend on high for about a minute. After blending it for a little while it will look bright orange, keep blending until it turns a lighter yellow-orange color.

10. Pour your first batch into a large pot. Then add the other half of the ingredients and repeat the process. After the second batch is blended, add to the same pot and stir well.

11. At medium-high heat, warm your soup on the stove just for a few minutes or until it bubbles.

12. Serve with whatever toppings you would like, and enjoy the warmth!

*Because you will be mixing both batches together, it is okay if you don't split all the ingredients exactly.

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