February 2, 2016
(last updated October 17, 2022) 
This vegan butternut squash soup is seasoned with five spice powder, which compliments its sweet and savory flavors. Cashew cream gives it an especially creamy texture. The soup is simple and easy to make, and it’s perfect for fall.
As I was writing this post, I realized that I actually have very few butternut squash soups on the blog. It’s a strange oversight, because I love butternut squash recipes.
And butternut soup is probably my most reliable “go-to” when it comes to an easy fall or winter appetizer.
This creamy vegan butternut squash soup with five spice features a unique flavor addition of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds–the characteristic blend known as Chinese five-spice powder.
My best friend and her husband recently brought vibrant peppercorns back after a trip to China. They inspired me to start cooking with five spice more often.
I’ve found that it’s wonderful with roasted vegetables, in stock, and in stir fry dishes.
Here, it is a perfect compliment to the sweet and savory notes of the vegan butternut squash soup. And sweet and savory flavor combinations are my favorite kind!
The silky smooth texture of this soup will be easier to come by if you have a powerful blender. I’ve used a Blendtec in the past. Nowadays, my go-to blender is the Breville SuperQ.
Otherwise, it’s so easy to prepare this soup. Sauté, blend, and enjoy.
The creamy quality of the soup is of course thanks to my beloved cashew cream. However, you could use full-fat, canned coconut milk instead. Here’s the recipe.
Creamy Vegan Butternut Squash Soup with Five Spice
Author –Yields: 4 servings
Ingredients
For the creamy butternut squash and five-spice soup:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 carrots peeled and chopped
- 2 celery sticks chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons Chinese 5-Spice powder
- Dash crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 pounds peeled and cubed butternut squash
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup optional
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup all-purpose cashew cream (substitute full-fat, canned coconut milk)
Instructions
- To make the soup, heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large soup pot. Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, or until the onions appear soft and clear. Stir in the garlic and ginger. Saute for another 2-3 minutes, adding a few tablespoons of water as needed to prevent the veggies from sticking or burning.
- Stir in the five spice powder, red pepper, and salt, and give everything a good stir. Add the butternut squash, syrup, broth, and water. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until the squash is very tender.
- Transfer the soup to a blender in two batches and blend on high speed until it's completely smooth, being very careful to keep the lid on tight (hot liquids will spatter). Alternately, you can use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Transfer the blended soup back to your pot and stir in the cashew cream. Check the soup for seasoning and adjust spices to taste.
Now that I’ve tried this squash and five-spice combination, I have a lot of other ideas for ways that I might pair them!
It’s easy to make this soup as part of a meal prep routine, and it can be frozen for up to six weeks.
The soup is perfect for fall—nourishing, creamy, warming—and I’m happy to have discovered it.
I hope you can all cozy up to a warm, vibrant bowl very soon. Enjoy!
xo
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Categories: Recipes,
Soups
Method: Stovetop
Ingredients: Butternut Squash
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegan
Method: Stovetop
Ingredients: Butternut Squash
Dietary Preferences: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegan
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I have a small, not very powerful blender, so if I won the Blendtec, I’d have to really work it by making something my little guy would never be able to do. I’m thinking a yummy nut butter or hummus.
Some form of soup definitely! I need a good blender to make soup like this!
I’m loving this blog. The soup’s consistency looks great. I’d love to try making some green juice smoothies.
I love squash soup and can’t wait to try this version. I could can make it in the blender
I’d use it to make almond butter! I’ve been wanting to make my own but my current blender won’t cut it.
PS- I love the soup recipe and I’ll make it even if I don’t win the blender! I went to China a few months ago and I’m addicted to their spices.
Roasted tomato soup 🙂
Such a pretty vibrant soup. Can’t wait to recreate. Would do an 80’s break dance for a Blendtec. 🙂 And make a big mouth numbing batch of ‘nice cream’ and add mulberries and chopped nuts, drizzle with homemade Nutella. thank you!
I’d love to see how it does making nut butters
What a great review–I’ve been on the search/avoiding the search for a new blender for a while now; in the meantime I’ve been blending soups in my messy mini food processor.
I would make an awesome smoothie! Or maybe ice cream. Or maybe a soup. 🙂 Thanks for the chance to win!
I’ve recently started spiralizing vegetables as the base to my ‘noodle’ dishes – and the secret to making these a feel like a satisfying meal lies in the sauce. I would definitely make use of this gorgeous blender to prepare homemade sauces and vinaigrettes that would serve to really and truly impressive the most fussy palate!
Hummus, for sure!
High vibe protein smoothies, herbal potions, veggie soups, mylks galore…the opportunities are endless!!
LOVE the addition of the smaller twister jar! I would whip up some nut butter ASAP! 🙂
I’d make my favorite green smoothies, as well as try my hand at homemade nut butters!
I’d grind some wheatberries and make pizza dough
Your soup looks delicious! I love the combination of butternut squash and apple so I would use them to make a soup first.
I would make smoothies for the kids and some homemade tomato soup for me.
The first thing would probably be a variety of nut butters.
I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making vegan cheese – I’d love to use a Blendtec to start with a nice smooth nut puree!
I would love to make hummus and cashew-based sauces!
To me, squash soup is a winter classic.
yumm! I would make a tomato soup 🙂
This soup looks amazing! I would either make a giant smoothie or some nice creamy soup like this one!
I’m dying to make a raw vegan nutella with a blendtec!
This soup looks like a good place to start, but my most frequent uses of my current blender are smoothies, almond milk, and tahini-based dressings so any one of those might be first. I would be especially excited to see how my smoothies and milk would come out with a great blender like this!
I can’t wait to make this. I do love Chinese 5 spice. I wouldn’t mind getting the blender either
The first thing I would make is definitely hummus! I go through so much of that stuff!
I would make potato soup. Or maybe some juice pulp crackers? My current super fancy blender is useless.
Nut butter would be a must-make, but I think I’d first try a cashew cream. I’ve been making a lot in my conventional blender, and would love to see how creamy and dreamy it gets in a high speed blender.
I’d make banana ice cream!
First would be a strawberry/banana/avocado/chia seeds smoothie and then for lunch this delicious looking creamy butternut squash and five-spice soup!
That soup looks delicious, it may be the first thing I make in the Blendtec. Perhaps a nice hummus or fresh salsa too. Thank you for the opportunity to win!
I would love a great blender for my favorite breakfast: smoothie bowls. My blender tends to leave chunks…
Hummus of course!
I’d make almond butter or cashew butter. Yum!
I would make 3 bean hummus.
I would some tomato soup
I can’t wait to make this exact soup if I win! I’ve also had my eye on making homemade almond butter for awhile.
I would make some delicious smoothies and share them with my family
I would make everything with this! Soups, smoothies, banana bread. I used to babysit a family that had a blendtec and I used to love when the kids asked me to make them smoothies just because I could get to use it!
I am sooo eager to see how this compares to my beloved vitamix!
smoothies for sure! I cannot get enough of them
The first recipe I’ll make using my new Blendtec Designer 625 will certainly be a rich green smoothie !!
I’d Love to have it ^ ^*
Soup for sure…it’s definitely winter weather and soup hits the spot!
The first thing I’d make is vegan cream of celery soup.
I love this giveaway! Thanks for running it!
I would love to make something like hummus or nut butter. My Vitamin has tended to overheat and shut off when I’ve needed to grind something really sticky. This Blendtec has some really neat features!
I would make some vanilla almond milk sweetened with some dates. 🙂 Thanks for the wonderful giveaway and soup recipe!
If the recipient of the giveaway, I would make my first recipe my morning rise-and-shine smoothie! Spinach, Oriya Organcis Superfood Protein Powder, Turmeric, Lemon Juice, Cinnamon (of choice), Mixed Organic Berries, Banana, Cherries, and Flax Protein + Milk!
some type of nut butter!
I’d love to try making whole almond milk so that I could try making yogurt out of it!
The first thing I’ll make is potato soup.
I’d love to be able to make nut butter! The Vitamix can’t quite seem to handle it.
It would be a toss-up between this squash soup & some nut butter!
If I won the blendtec I would make almond butter and cashew cheese and lots of other things! Things my magic bullet can’t do…
This would be a nice mason-jar-freezer-soup!
Some fresh almond milk! Yum! This soup looks delicious too!
I’ve been dying for a high-tech blender. This one would be awesome. 🙂
The first thing I would make is a smoothie with all kinds of crazy ingredients.
I am going to make some pesto sauce.
This soup sounds wonderful and I will definitely be giving this a try. If I were to win the Blendtec, I’m sure the first thing I try would be a smoothie since I make one everyday. Thanks!
I think I’ll make a carrot ginger soup in my new Blendtec!
Coconut Hemp Mylk followed by a Mango smoothie
Would love to win! I’d make a green smoothie first!
I’d make almond butter!
I’d like to make pumpkin puree and a bunch of smoothies for my little girl!
I’ve relied on a Magic Bullet for too long… having a real-deal blender would be life-changing!
I’d like to say something fancy like an awesome raw dessert or a cool hazelnut butter, but to be real, it would probably be banana nice cream. I eat that stuff like nobody’s business. Next up would be soup! I think it’s so cool that you can heat it up using just the blender!
This sounds delicious. Love black rice but don’t eat it often enough. I will definitely make this soup with the blender. And all the cashew sauces!! 🙂
I would make perfectly smooth hummus. I love the idea of the twister jar so you don’t have to stop to scrape down the sides while blending!
I’ve absolutely gotta try making nut butter in this! I feel it would be the ultimate test 🙂
I would 100% make this soup in my Blentec if I won one! This looks incredible!
Well, Valentine’s Day is coming up, and my husband’s favorite dessert is cheesecake! I would love to whip up a vegan cheesecake (and convince him that the vegan version is way way better than the original cheesecake.)
I’ve been wanting to make this dark chocolate clementine smoothie, yum!
This soup looks delicious. I would love to make it with the blendtec and nut butters too!
ABC nut butter!
It’s definitely soup season!
I can’t wait to try this!
The first thing I would make would definitely be some kind of cashew-based cheese sauce – I don’t have a blender powerful enough to do that right now, and I would love to try one!
My kids and I love green smoothies so that would be the first thing I would make!
I will undoubtedly make a chocolate cherry smoothie for my first recipe!
That’s an easy one: nut mylks!
The first recipe I would probably make is healthy pancakes. Thank you for the give-away!
banana ice cream!
I’m amazed that blenders can make nut butters so I would definitely try that first!
I can’t wait to try this soup! I loved your rustic cabbage, chickpea, and wild rice soup… I bet this one will be just as delicious!!
The first recipe I will make is a nice delicious smoothie and some blender pancakes.
This soup looks great!!
I see so many recipes i want to try with Chinese 5 spice and have yet to do it…. also, i LOVE black rice
I would have to make hummus. My food processor just doesn’t get it smooth enough for me.
Both the soup AND the blender look AMAZING!
Soups and nut butters for days!
I’d love to make my own nut and seed butters with the Blendtec!
I would make chicken avacado salad
I’ve had a very old, dingy blender for so long – this Blendtec looks like a dream come true!
I would first make a roasted red pepper hummus.
I’d try this recipe first – this soup looks and sounds wonderful!
It would have to be something thick that I’ve been unable to do with my old, cheap blender like nut butter.
I would definitely make nut butter first! It would be a dream to be able to make that in a blender.
This soup is the next thing I’ll make with my Blendtec – thank you!
I’d make some almond-hazelnut butter!