Roast up a tray of delicious winter veggies and sit back as your slow cooker turns them into the most silky carrot butternut soup!
I finally bit the bullet.
After giving myself an extended grace period post surgery, I’m finally working out again! Yesssss!
I’m one of those obnoxious individuals that loves a good fast-paced workout but, to be fair, I absolutely loathe carving out time for it! There’s easily a million and twenty things I need/want to do instead, but once it becomes routine I’m the happiest little Buddy the Elf there ever was.
I just love endorphins. Endorphins are my favorite!
Paul and I made a pact to knock out a round of Insantiy (both literally and figuratively!) before faceplanting into bed each night and have been spending our evenings in a cardio coma. The workouts are totally living up to their moniker; they’re B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
The goal as of lately has been to postpone dinner until after the nugget goes to bed at 7, which gives us 40 minutes to partake in a little Shaun T butt kickage and no more than 20 minutes to get dinner into our faces as fast as humanly possible. I need meals that are ready the second I am. That’s not too much to ask, right?
Slow cooker to the rescue!
I love that my dinner can cook itself while I get my endorphin fix. I’ve never been a workout-before-bed kind of girl but it fits perfectly into my lifestyle these days. An added bonus? I sleep like a cat!
Yes, a cat. Pshhh babies don’t sleep.
Slow Cooker Carrot Butternut Soup
Slow Cooker Carrot Butternut Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
- 6-8 large carrots (peeled and chopped)
- ¼ cup chopped yellow onion
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ⅛ tsp paprika or to taste
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
TASTY TOPPING OPTIONS
- 2-3 slices cooked bacon (chopped or crumbled)
- 2-4 TBSP pepitas
- 1 TBSP sesame seeds
- a dash of ground cinnamon
Instructions
- For maximum flavor, lightly drizzle veggies with your favorite healthy oil and roast for 30-40 minutes. This can be done in advance as part of the previous night's dinner (roasted veggies make an awesomely easy side dish!) and you can squirrel away enough leftovers for this soup. If you're jonesin' for a bowl and don't want to roast the veggies you absolutely can skip it and amp up the flavor with your choice of seasoning and mix-ins.
- Set your slow cooker (any size will work!) to either LOW or HIGH setting and add squash, carrots, onion, veggie broth, salt, and paprika.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.
- Once the veggies are fabulously tender, turn off the crock-pot and add your almond milk, or your favorite dairy or dairy-free equivalent.
- Blend using an immersion blender (my most favorite space-saving appliance ever!) and you're good to go!
- Alternatively soup can be poured into a blender or food processor and blended in batches. Be sure to leave some space at the top because liquid expands when it's hot.
- Ladle soup into bowls and add all your favorite toppings!
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Are you an expert meal-prepper? Or do you want to be?
Perfect! Roast a big tray of carrots, onion, and even butternut squash to use in this soup for an extra flavor boost. I used roasted carrot and onion that I froze for later, knowing it’d make a perfect base for a rainy day soup. It was AMAZING! I’m going to roast another tray or two of veggies to freeze for future soups. It’s such an easy step that can be done in the background while you make breakfast or dinner or prepped as part of a food prep-a-palooza after a big produce run!
Yes! Yes! 1000x Yes!
This little soup recipe of mine will never get old this winter, because it’s SO versatile! Have a bowl straight up one time, spike it with a hearty dose of sriracha the next, and then whip out your favorite curry spice blend for an entirely new flavor profile altogether. Butternut squash and carrots have this silky, buttery, sweet-yet-savory profile that’s so easy to customize.
Round out the meal by combining your soup with a fresh arugula or spinach salad topped with apples or pomegranate arils and a fruity balsamic and a fresh, flaky croissant drizzled with melted honey butter. Divine! It’s also fantastic with good old fashioned garlic bread, a soup staple in this house!
Could you use half and half fat free as a substitute?
Hi Vicky! Fat-free dairy behaves a little differently in dishes so I would have to test it to know for sure. Let me know if you get a chance to experiment!
Can the soup be frozen?
Hey Jasmine! Absolutely!
Hi, I want to try yr soup. Can you use 1 % regular milk . What about chicken stock?
Hi Cathy! Chicken stock would be a perfect swap for the vegetable broth, simply adjust the seasoning as needed! You can also use any dairy in place of the almond milk.
This soup quickly turned into a family favorite! It is on my meal plan again for next week! Roasting the vegetables before adding them to the slow cooker makes such a huge difference. I used “full sodium” broth as opposed to low-sodium broth. The soup was very rich and creamy. I typically do not serve soup as a main dish, however, this one can definitely stand alone. Thank you, Jenn!!
Thank you Jen! So excited to hear you enjoyed the soup! xo
I appreciate the help. Btw, I just made this today. WOW. Thank you! What a tasty recipe. It’s amazing how much extra flavor roasting the vegetables achieves. What a difference. And also- I used chicken stock as and unflavored almond milk and ended up with great results. In addition I put in a little extra onion (what I had left wasn’t enough to put back in the fridge.) and, since I only had 5 carrots, I put in the 2 parsnips I had leftover from another recipe this week in as well (always trying not to waste anything.) Thanks again and have a great weekend!
Cue happy dance! I’m so excited you loved it! I think it’s totally one of those “empty the veggie crisper” type of soups and I loved the addition of extra onion and parsnips! Delicious! Thank you so much for the sweet review and I hope you have a fantastic weekend as well, Katrina! xoxo
Looking forward to trying this soup out this week. Just a quick question, at what temperature do you recommend roasting the vegetables? Thank you so much!
Hi Katrina! I’m so excited for you to try the soup! My default is 400 degrees F for roasting veggies. Drizzle them with your favorite healthy oil, season to taste, and roast on the center rack for 30-40 minutes — works like a charm!
Do not use chicken stock and vanilla almond milk! :/ They are not acceptable subs! They make it taste like sadness! I am sorry I did that to your recipe!
oh nooooo! At least now we know? No apologies needed, I’ve made some CRAZY substitutions in my day too; happens to the best of us! The vanilla almond milk was probably just too sweet to play nice with the other ingredients.
Simmering up a pot for supper. It should be interesting because I only had 1 cup of vegetable broth so I added 1 cup of chicken broth. And then when putting the almond milk back in the fridge I noticed it was vanilla almond milk… So who knows what end flavored I will come up with????
Ooooooh you’ll have to keep me posted on how it works with the subs – I bet you could play off the vanilla with a little extra cinnamon sprinkle at the end!
Of course I have every single one of these ingredients, including the bacon. I have a basement full of squash right now, although no energy to cook it. Can you bring your Shaun T butt over here and help a sister out. 😉
Wonderful recipe, and your photos are alway stunning.
You’re too sweet Laureen! Thank you!
I’m so glad I found your blog!! This looks delicious. and I’m so happy to see it uses almond milk. I love creamy soups but I’m lactose intolerant and it’s so hard to find recipes that don’t call for cream and such. 🙂
So happy you found me Jessica! I try to use almond and coconut milks as much as possible, and if you ever find a recipe on here that doesn’t call for it on the recipe, the substitution is usually gloriously possible with great results. I don’t keep milk around too often for the same reason 🙂 Welcome to P&C! <3