Excited to have a warm bowl of creamy soupy goodness? This Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup is what you have been waiting for. This Thai Curried Butternut Squash Soup is creamy, flavorful, healthy, and vegan!
Very often I am at Starbucks working, and the smell of pumpkin spice lattes and scones is mesmerizing. It gets me in a great mood for Fall....or rather soup season! I am sharing with you this Butternut Squash Soup (You can use this same recipe to make pumpkin soup too!).
I love yellow and orange colors... you would know by seeing my blog. So this soup has my heart too! Okay, it is not just the right color, it is also healthy and soo creamy, similar to my cauliflower soup and broccoli cheddar soup.
Easy Instant Pot Recipe
Another thing that I love is spicy food. To add spice to this soup, I made it with Thai flavors. I use red curry paste and sprinkle some chili flakes to make this a Spicy Thai Curried Butternut Squash Soup in the Instant Pot. This is a super easy recipe that can be made in less than 30 minutes in the Instant pot.
Butternut squash already gives a great creamy texture to the soup. To make this soup even creamier, I add coconut milk at the end. It also helps to keep the soup vegan. You can always use heavy whipping cream too if you want a non-vegan version.
Check out this collection of 20+ Instant Pot Vegetarian Soup recipes for more delicious soups!
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Why will you love this Butternut Squash Soup?
✓ It is creamy healthy goodness
✓ Add spice to your taste with the red curry paste and chili flakes
✓ It is vegan and gluten-free
✓ So easy to make in the Instant Pot
✓ It freezes well
Ingredients
Let's start with gathering the ingredients. There are really not many.
The only one you might need to go to a store for is the Thai red curry paste (psst...you can use a curry powder...it won't be Thai, but just curried then!). If you are vegan, make sure to buy a vegan curry paste. I like Thai Kitchen red curry paste or Maesri Thai curry paste.
The most painful part of the soup is peeling and cutting the squash. Think about the end result and cutting it will feel effortless ☺️
I almost always see cubed butternut squash at our local Trader Joe's and Costco too, so that is a great option to save the effort of peeling and cutting the squash.
How to Make?
- Start the instant pot and saute the onions, ginger, and garlic in some oil.
- Then add the squash, red curry paste, and broth. Stir it all and pressure cook.
- Do a 10-minute natural pressure release once the instant pot beeps. Then carefully open the lid.
- Using an immersion blender, puree the cooked squash. You can also use a normal blender such as Vitamix, make sure to let it cool a bit before blending.
- Add in the coconut milk, and lime juice and season to taste. I added some salt, pepper, and chili flakes (optional).
To keep the Thai theme for this soup, I like to garnish it with some coconut milk, cilantro, and roasted peanuts.
Doesn't it look gorgeous? Let's dig in!
Variations
1. Butternut Squash Apple Soup
Add a green apple cut into pieces along with the butternut squash before pressure cooking.
2. Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Add a tablespoon of curry powder in place of the red curry paste.
3. Coconut Butternut Squash Soup
Add more coconut milk to this recipe, about one 14oz can to get a prominent coconutty taste. You can also garnish the soup with dried coconut flakes.
4. Spicy Butternut Squash Soup
Increase the amount of red curry paste and add chili flakes to your taste while serving.
What to serve with this soup?
Serve the soup with a little spread of coconut milk, and a sprinkle of peanuts or chives on top. You can also top it with some pumpkin seeds or roasted chickpeas
Enjoy the soup on its own, or you can pair it with grilled cheese, or a sandwich for a heartier meal.
How to Store and Reheat?
This soup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can also freeze it in airtight containers in small portions for up to 3 months.
To reheat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator, or warm the frozen soup over low heat on the stovetop until steaming. After thawing, you can also reheat it in the microwave.
Common Questions
Yes! You can add frozen squash into the instant pot without defrosting. The same cooking time will work well.
Yes, it is not much extra effort to make a double batch of this soup. And you can easily freeze leftovers for another quick meal.
Give this Butternut Squash Soup in Instant Pot a try. Do share in the comments how you liked it.
More Instant Pot Vegan Soups
- Vegan Cauliflower Soup
- Vegan Roasted Red Pepper & Carrot Soup
- Instant Pot Lentil Soup
- Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup
- Sweet Potato Soup
- Curried Pumpkin Soup
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup (Thai Curried)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 1 cup Yellow Onion diced
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon Ginger minced
- 2 lbs Butternut Squash peeled, seeded and cut into pieces, about 6 cups
- 1 tablespoon Red curry paste adjust more to taste
- 1.5 cups Vegetable broth
- ½ can Coconut milk 14oz canned full fat
- ½ teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
- Black Pepper add to taste (optional)
- ½ Lime juice
For garnish
- 2 tablespoon Roasted peanuts chopped
- 2 tablespoon Coconut milk
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro chopped
- Red Chili flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Start the instant pot in Saute mode and heat oil in it. Add diced onions, ginger and garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes.
- Add butternut squash, red curry paste, broth and stir to combine. Press Cancel and close lid with vent in sealing position.
- Change the instant pot setting to manual or pressure cook mode at high pressure for 8 mins.
- After the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes then release the pressure manually.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup to a creamy texture. You can also transfer to a blender such as Vitamix to blend the soup. Be careful while blending to avoid hot splatters.
- Add coconut milk, lime juice and stir well. Add salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste.
- Garnish the soup with cilantro, coconut milk and peanuts. Serve hot with a side of crusty bread!
Notes
- Butternut Squash Apple Soup - Add a green apple cut into pieces along with the butternut squash before pressure cooking.
- Curried Butternut Squash Soup - Add a tablespoon of curry powder in place of the red curry paste.
- Coconut Butternut Squash Soup - Add more coconut milk to this recipe, about one 14oz can to get a prominent coconutty taste.
- Spicy Butternut Squash Soup - Increase the amount of red curry paste and add chili flakes to your taste while serving.
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nancy L says
Would cashew milk work as a substitute for the coconut milk ?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Nancy - I have not tried, but I do think it will work well.
Lesli says
Thanks for the recipe--am excited to make it. What's the lime unit of measurement - teaspoons, tablespoons, of # of fruit?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Leslie - I use juice of half a lime. Hope you enjoy the soup!
FigsNBrie says
This is literally the best thing I've ever made. SO. DAMN. GOOD.
Meeta Arora says
Happy to hear you enjoyed the soup!
Kole says
I had a big ol' squash so I made double - and now that I've had dinner I have plenty for lunches this week! Can't wait to try more recipes from the site!
Only downside was I had to use garlic powder since I suddenly didn't have any fresh - I imagine it'll be that much better the next time I make it.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Kole - Glad to hear you enjoyed the soup!
Renae Baffo says
Whoa - marverlous!!! This was so delicious, I couldn't believe I made it, lol. Just a few tiny ingredient changes: Used 1.5 tsp each of finely chopped garlic and ginger; used the whole can of LITE coconut milk, added 1 tsp of curry powder. Used a little more than 1/2 a lime; the day I made the soup it seemed like too much, but by the next day the flavors had melded perfectly. Used 2 12-oz bags of fresh, cubed butternut squash from Trader Joe's, plus about 5 oz frozen cubed squash. I'd read that roasting the squash would bring out the best flavor, so I did that and sauteed other ingredients without using the instant pot (when everything was warm, I just tossed it all in the blender in batches). Thank you!
Meeta Arora says
Hi Renae - So glad to hear you enjoyed the soup. Thank you for sharing the adjustments you made.
Jenn says
I made this as specified and oh my goodness, how delicious!!
Piping Pot Curry says
Hi - So happy to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back. 🙂
Debra says
Can this be made in a slow cooker?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Debra - Sure, this would work well in a slow cooker too. You might need more broth. Put on low for 7-8 hours or for 3-4 hours on high setting.
Debra McShane says
Just made this and it is delicious! I added the full can of coconut milk (forgot to reserve some for the garnish 😂). What a beautiful, simple, tasty, easy dish to prepare. Thank you for sharing. I’m a fan!
Meeta Arora says
hi Debra - Glad to hear you enjoyed the soup!