Roasted Butternut-Apple and Pumpkin Soup makes a perfect appetizer to serve your guests in the form of a shooter~ just a teaser to whet their appetite for the Thanksgiving feast!
You can make this soup a couple of days in advance, freeze the remainder and Give Thanks when you have it to pull out on a day when you don’t have time to cook.
I had an open can of pumpkin puree that I wanted to use and found a couple of recipes using a combination of fall flavors in a soup. I ended up with a cornucopia of ingredients from several recipes, making it similar to our favorite fall soup, but with the addition of apple instead of pear, pumpkin, cream/milk, and a wee bit of sugar.
You could cook your vegetables and apples in the stock in this soup, but I like the flavor that comes from roasting. When you add the roasted vegetables to your hot stock, your soup is 10 minutes away from being ready.
Roasted Butternut-Apple and Pumpkin Soup
Ingredients
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped (I used Granny Smith)
2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces (my grocery sells it already cubed which is a great time saver)
2 medium tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 leeks, pale green and white parts only, rinsed and chopped (for how to clean leeks, see here)
2 cloves garlic
1 cup pumpkin puree
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup (or more) evaporated milk, half n half, or cream
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper, to taste
6 cups (or more) reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable stock (I used chicken)
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Combine apples, squash, tomatoes, leeks, garlic, oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl; toss to coat. Spread evenly on two large rimmed baking sheets. Roast, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. I set the timer so I don’t forget and stir twice, at 15 minutes and again at 30.
While vegetables are roasting, heat stock in large dutch oven. When vegetables are tender, add to heated stock, along with pumpkin, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice. Use an *immersion blender to blend until smooth. Add milk, stirring to combine and heat through, about 10 minutes.
*If you don’t have an immersion blender, ask Santa for one :) It saves time on clean up and prevents exploding soup, but you can process soup carefully in batches without one, in a regular blender until smooth.
Notes:
Add more milk or stock as needed to your desired soup thickness. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, rosemary, or roasted pepitas. ‘Shooter’ or mini parfait glasses can be found at Bed, Bath & Beyond, and World Market.
The perfect combination of sweet and savory~ if serving a bowl, we enjoy the addition of savory toppings~ chopped walnuts, crumbled bleu cheese and bacon or crispy prosciutto.
PRINTABLE RECIPE
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Mary, This sounds delicious, is pretty and certainly would impress guests.
This sounds wonderful and looks like it will fit into my Dollar Tree green champagne flutes perfectly for Thanksgiving! They do double duty as shrimp shooters so why not soup? The bowl is the same size as the shooter glasses from Pier 1 !. Thanks for the recipe!!!
The soup sounds great Mary and your pics with the seasonal colors are pretty! Love the pouring action shot:@)
What a lovely start to a special meal, and I love the way you have garnished the shooters! I would certainly be thankful to be served one of these, sounds divine! I am so jealous that you can buy butternut squash cubes, I am tackling a butternut recipe today and am dreading that part! Your photos are mouth watering!
Jenna
what a great idea and one of my favorite soups … butternut and pumpkin. Happy happy happy!
The soup looks delicious Mary and I love the way you choose to serve it!
Love this idea! Now if I can just find enough glasses for all the people who will be here!
I love this, Mary! It’s a great idea and your beautiful photos make it look mouth-watering.
Food for thought!!! franki
I’ve been looking for something special to add to the feast…especially for my vegetarian and special dietary need guests. This will work perfectly! Thank you. And as always, everything you do is beautiful!
I know how hard those “pouring action” shots are…well done!
I’ve been trying to think of something to make in my little Libby parfait glasses…this may just be it. THANKS, Mary!
Very, very pretty post.
Great idea and beautiful presentation! Will be using this recipe for Thanksgiving. Thanks!
Sounds delicious and I too love the presentation…The fresh cranberries and rosemary sprigs certainly add a ‘holidayish’ touch…
wild over your combo of rosemary and poms, PERFECT PARTNERS! these are darling and i adore your styling with the turkey, cute cute cute!
Those shooters are visually stunning, dear Mary, and I know must taste even better. What a great idea! Are you sure you’re not a professional food stylist??!! Well, you should be! xxoo
I am always looking for great soup recipes and this one is going in my recipe box and pinterest! As always the presentation is spectacular!
Great idea! Your presentation always inspires me, Mary.
Sounds great Mary,
but I NEED to know where you got that turkey kitchen towel?
It’s a napkin, it came from Williams-Sonoma last year :)
This would make the meal so exciting. I love your garnish. Anything in mini size is so fun. We love shot glasses for little bites like this. Your roasting sounds wonderful to add a depth of flavor. Certainly a lot of fun.
Wow, the toppings really sound great with the recipe!
Serving soup as shooters is a great entertaining idea, and I love the way you finished these with pomegranate seeds and rosemary – beautiful.
The soup looks delightful. And it is creative to serve it as a shooter.
Heidi’s Wanderings
We love soups so this recipe will go into the file for sure! I love that you are doing printable recipes now! Thank you!!! Have a truly blessed Thanksgiving.
Just curious- how many cups of soup did this recipe make?
where did you get your shooter glasses? It makes a great presentation, and I’ve been dying to try a shooter soup. This is wonderful.
Hi Linda, you can find various sizes and shapes at World Market, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Pier 1 :)
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Can you serve this cold or room temp?
Hi Michele, You could serve it cold or room temperature but it has much more flavor warm :)
You can use small glass votive candle holders for a shooter glass also, more cost effective.