When I first made this soup I basically happened upon it by mistake. I had tested it and shot it, but didn’t find the photos until I was scrolling through my old camera card months and months later. I remember thinking, “OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SOUP. IT MUST GO ON THE BLOG ASAP!”
So of course, I had to post this healing butternut squash lentil soup on the blog! I’ve since updated this recipe with some fresh photos, a brand new video, and more tips and tricks for making it extra delicious. This recipe is a creamy, nutritious, curry-flavored soup with butternut squash, lentils, turmeric, coconut milk, ginger and garlic. To give it an extra umami flavor, I added in peanut butter and stirred in spinach for a little nutritional boost (kale would also work well).
It’s addicting and I love crushing up crackers to absorb more of the creamy butternut broth. Also, who doesn’t love crackers in their soup?!
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This soup is SUPER easy to make and I even have a slow cooker option for you available in the note section. It’s great if you’re trying to incorporate more plant-based meals into your diet too. Best of all, this soup is lovely for helping you heal after you’ve been sick — you’ll find plenty of superfoods, anti-inflammatory ingredients and herbs in this recipe. Time to make it ASAP!
Everything you’ll need to make this curry butternut squash lentil soup
Get ready to fall in love with the amazing flavors and textures in this butternut squash lentil soup. It’s filled with plenty of veggies and good-for-you, healing ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Coconut oil: you’ll be cooking down your veggies to start in a little coconut oil.
- Produce: this nourishing soup is filled with carrots, butternut squash, onion and 3 whole cups of spinach for a boost of nutrients. Don’t forget the garlic and freshly grated ginger, too! Be sure to check out our best tips & tricks for cubing a butternut squash here, too.
- Spices: you’ll be mixing in yellow curry powder, turmeric, and plenty of salt and pepper.
- Lentils: I love using lentils in this soup because they make it thick and creamy while also providing plenty of plant based protein and fiber. Feel free to use green or brown lentils.
- For the broth: the creamy broth is made with light coconut milk and low sodium vegetarian broth.
- Secret ingredient: for extra richness and delicious umami flavor I like to add natural, creamy peanut butter. It’s the BEST. Use the code ‘AMBITIOUS15’ for 15% off my favorite brand, Wild Friends.
- Optional: I also love topping my bowl with fresh cilantro, chopped peanuts and a dash of hot sauce!
Simple ingredient swaps
The ingredients in this soup are relatively easy to customize with what you have on hand. Here’s what I can recommend:
- Swap the butternut squash. Cubed sweet potato or even pumpkin would be perfect in this soup.
- Choose your veggies. I love mixing in fresh spinach, but kale would be another perfect green to add!
- Add some spice. Looking for a kick of heat? Feel free to add a pinch of cayenne pepper when you add the spices. As I mentioned above, you can also top your bowl with some hot sauce!
- Boost the protein. Lentils give this soup a good amount of protein, but you could also add ground chicken or turkey (if you’re not vegan).
How to make this butternut squash lentil soup
This soup couldn’t be easier to make! Here’s how to make it on the stovetop:
- Cook your veggies. Start by cooking down the onion, garlic and ginger in coconut oil for a few minutes until the onion softens. Then add in the cubed butternut squash and carrots to cook for a few minutes more.
- Add the spices & broth. Next, stir in the curry powder and turmeric, let them coat the veggies a bit and then add in the coconut milk, broth, lentils and peanut butter. Season it all with salt and pepper.
- Simmer it up. You’ll then want to bring everything to a boil, then reduce it to low heat to let the soup simmer until the lentils are soft.
- Time to blend. To make the soup thick and creamy you’re then going to transfer half of it to a blender and puree it until it’s nice and smooth. Pour it back into the rest of the soup.
- Add the greens & serve. Finally, stir in the fresh spinach until it’s just wilted, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Feel free to add more peanut butter or even a squeeze of lime juice for freshness. Add toppings and serve!
Make it in your slow cooker
Yes, you can make this butternut squash lentil soup right in your slow cooker for an easy, hands-off option!
- Add everything together. Seriously, just add all of the soup ingredients (except the spinach) right to your slow cooker. I recommend reducing the broth to 2 1/2 cups.
- Slow cook it! You can cook the soup on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.
- Blend it. Once the soup is cooked and the squash is tender, blend half of it and add it back to the slow cooker.
- Add spinach & serve. Stir in the spinach at the ends, taste & adjust seasonings if you’d like, and then serve!
Storing & freezing tips
- To store: store this curry butternut squash lentil soup recipe in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. Feel free to reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop!
- To freeze: let the soup completely cool and then transfer it to a freezer-safe container (or multiple containers for meal prep purposes). Freeze for up to 2 months. To reheat, first let the soup thaw in the refrigerator, then heat the soup in the microwave or on the stovetop.
More healthy soup recipes you’ll love
- Butternut Squash Green Chile Chicken Soup
- Vegan Curried Pumpkin Lentil Soup
- Vegan White Bean & Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- The Best Chicken Soup You’ll Ever Eat
- Lightened Up Cheddar Cauliflower Broccoli Soup
Get all of our amazing soup recipes here!
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I hope you love this healing curry butternut squash lentil soup! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Healing Curry Butternut Squash Lentil Soup
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 large carrot, thinly sliced or diced
- 1 medium (2 pound) butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 5-6 cups diced)
- 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated turmeric (or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric)
- 1 (15 ounce) can light coconut milk
- 3 cups organic low sodium vegetarian broth
- 1 cup green or brown lentils, rinsed and sorted
- 2 tablespoons all natural creamy peanut butter or cashew butter
- ¾ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups organic spinach
Instructions
- Add coconut oil oil to a large pot or dutch oven and place over medium high heat. Next add in garlic, ginger and onion and saute for 3-5 minutes until onion begin to soften.
- Add in carrot and butternut squash cubes; saute for a few more minutes then add in the yellow curry powder and turmeric. Allow spices to cook together for 30 seconds then immediately stir in coconut milk, vegetarian broth, lentils and peanut butter. Season with salt and pepper.
- Bring soup to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and allow soup to simmer for 20 minutes until lentils soften.
- After 20 minutes, transfer approximately half of the soup (about 3 cups) to a blender. It’s very important to protect your hands from steam and a potential heat explosion, so please place a clean dish towel over the lid and puree the soup until smooth. I like to start slow, then gradually increase the speed of the blender.
- Pour the puree back into the pot with the rest of the soup and stir to combine. Finally stir the fresh spinach until just wilted.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning of the soup as necessary. If you like more of a umami flavor try adding another tablespoon of peanut butter, or even a squeeze of fresh lime juice. This is a soup that can do no wrong! I like to serve mine with cilantro and a handful of peanuts -- it’s also great with a little hot sauce if you prefer a little spice!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on March 15, 2018, and republished on October 11, 2021.
This is absolutely amazing and delicious!! Oh boy, going into rotation over here! It just gets better and better! I did improvise a little, didn’t have 6 cups Butternut squash, just 2, so I used yams and sweet potatoes to substitute for the missing 4. Definitely use some Frank’s hot sauce and blister peanuts! Devine!
Perfect! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 Hot sauce sounds amazing on this!
Such a hearty and delicious soup! It’s on a weekly rotation in the winter time!!
So glad you love it! One of our favs for winter, too 🙂
This soup was wonderful, I followed the recipe completely. I doubled the recipe so I would have plenty to share with my daughter.
Perfect! Such a great, cozy meal 🙂
I just made this and it was probably one of the best soups we’ve had yet! The only adjustments I made was roasting the squash and carrots for about 35 mins before adding them in. I also added italian sausage instead of lentils 🙂 SOOOOOOO good! We will definitely be making this again. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
I absolutely love that!
I find butternut squash very tough to peel so I cut it in half and roasted it in the oven. Once cool enough to handle, I scooped out and used the insides instead of the raw chunks. As I had only coconut cream in the pantry, I used half a can and upped the amount of the broth. Even so, it was a really thick soup. In the future, I’ll reprise this as is, or add a splash of lime juice and zest and maybe some cumin. But, truly, the recipe as written produces a FANTASTIC soup. My husband and I both loved it.
Perfect! So glad you both enjoyed!!
This might be my new favorite winter soup! I frequently make butternut squash soup, and I frequently make lentil soup – and this soup is a cozy curry mashup of the two. The only slight adjustments I made were adding another cup of vegetable broth (I had slightly more squash than the recipe called for and wanted to thin things out a bit) and upping the salt to a full teaspoon. Otherwise, I followed the directions as written, and the soup turned out delicious.
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed!
The first time I made this I did not see the crockpot option. On this lazy Sunday I’m giving the crockpot version a try. Wondering if skipping the peanut butter will make a big difference in the overall flavor of the finished soup. Do you think tahini would work?
Thank you for a wonderfully delicious recipe!
Perfect Sunday dinner! I like the depth of flavor that peanut butter adds, but tahini or another nut butter will work fine too!
This recipe was AWESOME! I’m always looking for healthy and immune boosting meals. Other than the prep, the soup is easy to make and the flavor was so GOOD! After I made it, I decided I needed to make another batch to freeze. I have fresh turmeric that I froze and use it as needed, same with ginger. It’s easy to peel and chop once frozen. Thanks for another healthy and tasty recipe!
So happy you loved this one!! One of our favs, too 🙂
An easy way to cook a whole butternut squash is in the slow cooker. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, add washed squash (one that fits!), cover and cook on Low for 3 to 4 hours or until a paring knife goes through easily. Remove and when cool enough to handle, cut in half lengthwise, remove seeds, then the flesh. I then make soup.
That’s a great tip!!
This turned out delicious. I love that the ingredients are simple and I have most on hand, with the exception of butternut squash and fresh spinach. I omited the nut nutter, but i will try it tomorrow. Even without it, the soup is loaded with flavor. I finished it off with with a squeeze of lime as another reviewer suggested and a tablespoon of plain yogurt. Yum!
Absolutely! So glad you enjoyed!
Love this soup soooo much! The flavors are outstanding. I added ground turkey for more protein. ☆☆☆☆☆
Amazing! Glad you enjoyed!
I make this often, so yummy, relatively simple, and healthy. I often at a bag of frozen peas at the end. Thank you for sharing!
Love that! Glad it’s a favorite!
This is one of our families favorite soup recipes! Thank you. I bought your cookbook this summer, made your Farmer’s market arugula peach pasta salad for family and friends, they loved it and bought your cookbook too.
Amazing! So happy to hear that you’re loving the recipes, and thank you for sharing the cookbook with loved ones!
This soup was great. I did have to substitute the lentils for red dahl lentils, the taste was still great.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
Delicious but not very pretty to look at after blending.
The taste is what matters!
I cooked this in the slow cooker, I forgot to add spinach and pb. My kids didn’t like this (8 and younger) but I ate my serving and 2 of my kids servings as well haha. It was really good!
I’m glad you loved it!
I simply googled butternut squash and lentil soup recipe, and I liked the image and had the ingredients. I just made it and it was so good that I had to leave comment while eating it as I’ve never experience such flavourful soup – and I threw it all in the Instant Pot after sauté step, pressure cooked. Turned out perfect. It feels store bought, the flavours so intricate – the peanut butter at the time I was like ‘huh’. Um, YES. This is unbelievable.This soup is the night’s winner lol. Happy Kendrick Super Bowl 2025~ kpm.
So happy to hear that!! One of our favs 🙂
Very good!
I knew the recipe “sounded” delicious, with all the hearty squash, carrots, onions, etc, but I didn’t know how comforting it would be! After the holidays this week I found myself with a horrible stomach virus – painful, and draining. On day 3 of that I craved a warm soup, It is winter here and the frigid cold wind makes everyone want soup. After many searches I found your recipe and read about its ingredients and realized without fats, meats, and harsh spices this would be the pick. I made it in a cast iron dutch oven. I chose French brown lentils as they’re smaller and a tad richer than regular brown lentils. The smell of the coconut oil alone was wonderful. I also used a multi-blade chopper to dice the squash, onions, even tiny dices of carrots, to make the process smooth and effortless. After a short time, the aroma was fantastic. The soup was delicious, and I was really surprised at how gentle on my stomach it was. The other amazing part of the recipe is that this whole pot of soup serves 4 people. This is an entire meal in one big bowl. I’ve stored the other 3 1/2 servings in individual freezer containers to pull out in February, when it gets really cold! Thanks for sharing all of your recipes. I’m a new fan!
I’m so glad you found this recipe! Hope you’re feeling better!!
Made this tonight pretty much exactly as written and loved it (used PB). As others have noted, it took me closer to 30min to get soft lentils. Only modification is my husband and I like a little kick so I added a generous squirt of sriracha. Used an immersion blender to up the creaminess factor. I feel like this easily makes 6 servings. Served with some frozen naan from trader joes. Perfection and thrilled to have this for lunches the rest of the week.
Delicious! Glad you both enjoyed 🙂
I made this soup last night and it is excellent. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a comforting and soothing soup for this time of year. I only made a couple of changes. I added celery because I had it and I used full fat coconut milk because that’s what I always use in all of your recipes. I also used kale instead of spinach because I find it stands up better in soups and it’s what I had. I plan on freezing some so I have more later in the month. Another excellent recipe of course my all-time favorite is your chicken soup with couscous.
So happy to hear that! This one’s great for customizing 🙂