Apple Honeynut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 8 honeynut squashes, baked
- 2 red apples, roughly chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed or sliced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 Tbsp garam masala
- 3 bayleaf
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 pinch saffron
- 4 Tbsp coconut milk (optional)
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups filtered water
- sea salt to taste
Instructions
- Bake the Honey Nut Squash for about 45 minutes in the oven.
- Saute the onions and garlic in 1/2 cup of vegetable broth until soft.
- Add the honey squash into the pot and mix. The squash should already be soft. Add the rest of the vegetable broth and additional filtered water.
- Once simmering 5 - 7 minutes, the bay leaf and garam masala and 1 cinnamon stick. Let this cook for about 20 minutes.
- Once done, remove the bay leaf and the cinnamon stick. Use a hand blender to blend the soup.
- Add the apples right before serving. Drizzle with 1 tbsp of coconut milk and a pinch of saffron
Apple honeynut squash soup is the perfect transitional soup, taking you into the fall with all the flavors and warmth. Not only is this soup incredibly delicious and simple to prepare, it also boasts impressive healing powers.
Soup recipes can be very helpful for staying on track nutritionally as the weather gets cooler.
When it starts to get cold outside, we naturally begin to crave “comfort foods” that fill us with warmth. Adding a good soup packed with critical clean carbohydrates and healing foods, can provide the warmth you seek so you do not turn to troublemaker foods.
One of my favorite parts about soups is they last! I will make a huge pot of soup and be able to use it for days. These soups freeze beautifully so you can always make a big batch and freeze half of it, that way you will have a go-to on those days you really don’t feel like cooking or just don’t have the time.
Let’s dig a little deeper to understand why this soup has such incredible healing powers.
Apples
Apples have incredible anti-inflammatory properties that help to reduce your viral and bacterial load. The phytochemicals in apples are quite literally brain food – feeding neurons and increasing electrical activity. In addition, they contain phytochemicals that are responsible for heavy metal and radiation detoxification, as well as glutamine and serine – amino acids that help remove MSG from the brain. A true brain food!
Red apples, in particular, are a very alkaline fruit that has the ability to quench thirst on a cellular level by providing living water to support the liver’s ability to hydrate.
Equally important, the fruit acids in apples (both malic and tartaric acids) help cleanse the liver by dispersing toxic films that build up inside the liver’s storage banks. Furthermore, apples starve out bacteria, yeast, mold, other funguses, and viruses from the liver. This makes red apples an incredible liver detoxifier.
Honeynut Squash
Honeynut squash is a hybrid version of butternut squash – looks like mini butternut squash. Winter squash, such as honeynut and butternut are an alkaline food that is rich in phytonutrients and antioxidants. This squash is also very easy to digest and an excellent remedy for acidosis as well as various conditions that affect the stomach, spleen, liver, and blood. Being high in vitamins A, E, C, B-complex, and beta carotene, iron, zinc, calcium, and potassium, squash is incredible for the immune and nervous systems. The carotenoids, which give it that vibrant orange hue, are particularly beneficial for protecting against heart disease, breast cancer, and macular degeneration.
Additionally, honeynut squash reduces inflammation which is very helpful to those suffering from conditions such as asthma, fibromyalgia, and arthritis. Squash is a low-calorie, fat-free food that has an abundance of nutrients which makes it ideal for weight loss.
“Winter Squash can be steamed, baked, roasted, mashed like potatoes, or blended into a soup. The seeds of winter squash are also edible and can be dried or roasted similarly to pumpkin seeds and are rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids such as tryptophan which helps to promote a healthy night’s sleep.”
Anthony William, Facebook
My mouth is watering just thinking about this delicious apple honeynut squash soup! I hope you find the ease of making this, coupled with its delicious flavor, turns this into one of your go-to favorite healing and satiating soups!
To your health & happiness,
Muneeza
24 thoughts on “Apple Honeynut Squash Soup”
Made this last night – it was delicious! Definitely the best squash soup I have ever made. Thank you for the recipe!
While waiting for waffles to cook this morning, I added every other winter squash soup recipe I have to the recycle bin and put this one front and center in my notebook! We will have this on repeat for my family through the winter. I love that is is very simple, and I think I can even manage the recipe on a week night.
Vicky – I am so glad you loved it!!!
What an honor – this one is front and center for you!
If you use an instant pot (I have the 6QT model), I would suggest the following: 1) making half the recipe as making the full recipe will go over the MAX line in the pot – note: I used 2 10oz bags of cubed butternut squash, 2) also using 1/4 of the amount of liquids and add more in for desired texture. I used half the liquids for half the recipe and it came out like a broth and I was expecting a creamy texture. Half the recipe also made 4, 2c servings. I enjoyed it after I added some salt. I forgot to add the saffron at the end but will try that when I reheat the leftovers I have.
Thank you for your comment. I will leave it here in case others who use an instant pot can benefit! Thank you for taking the time to write it all out.
I’m asking about instant pot times as I have ceramic coated cookware (Caraway) and don’t want to damage it by using an immersion blender. Much easier to make in an instant pot and then ladle it into my blender to blend that way.
Hello Nancy – I’m not clear on your question here. You can absolutely make in the instant pot and then blend if that’s what you are asking:)
Yes, that is what I was asking so thanks!
Hi Nancy – Muneeza also has ceramic pots and says that the immersion blender from Vitamix has a thicker plastic on the bottom and won’t scratch the pot;)
This looks delicious and I would like to make but am having trouble finding honey nut squash. Will it taste as good if I just use butternut squash? Also, how many servings does this make? I am only one person so making something that comes out to 9 servings takes up a lot of space in refrigerator/and or freezer. How about instant pot cooking times as well?
Hi Nancy – Yes, you can absolutely use butternut squash, it has a very similar taste. I am not familiar with insta pot cooking so I would not be able to give you the timing. This recipe should make about 4-6 servings.
With 10 cups of vegetable broth+water? The instant pot I don’t think will let off steam like traditionally cooking on the stove top so shouldn’t that amount be reduced? The amount of liquids I mean. I made the creamy cauliflower soup (fat free version) and it made 9 cups and was really thick so I had to make notes about next time. That recipe has only 4 cups of liquid.
Nancy, I am not an instant pot expert, so I wish I could help you more. But I will say that if you are focused on the instant pot for soups, I use the pressure setting and I always get steam coming off my instant pot. So I am not sure what setting you are using.
It will taste excellent with butternut squash as well – just cut the amount in half (one butternut = 2 honeynut). This should make about 4 servings, but you can refrigerate or freeze what you don’t use. I am not certain about instant pot time.
Do you peel the honey nut squash? or scoop out the first after baking and discard the peel at all? or do you include the peel?
I bake with the peel on and then scoop the flesh out after cooking and discard the peel:)
You just scoop out the inside after baking and discard the peel.
This looks amazing!! If I used butternut squash – how many would I use instead of the small honey nut squash? Can’t wait to try!
Using butternut squash you can use half as much as long as they are big butternut squash:).
You can use one butternut in place of two honeynut:)
Hi Muneeza
If using butternut squash, would you recommend using half the amount of squash? I’m not familiar with honeynut squash and their size…
Thank you!
Exactly – the honeynut are just a smaller variety of butternut. If the butternut are small just get an extra, but in general you would use half as many butternut squash:).
Just to confirm..looks like you don’t cook the apples before serving? I like my apples warm and soft so I might cook them a bit before adding at the end.
Mary, yes, the apples are put in raw – but adding them in warm is a great idea. I find that when I put in the raw apples, it still cooks the apples through a little because the soup is hot when serving.
Yes, that would be perfect – one butternut is equivalent to two honeynut:)