Your crock pot makes this Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup easy and hands-off! It’s topped with salty bacon and blue cheese, a delicious contrast to the sweet, creamy soup. This is a perfect fall meal the whole family will love!
We’ve lived here in California for nearly 4 years now. California has been awesome because so much fresh produce grows here! Especially in the part of the state where we live. Our small town has a weekly farmer’s market on Thursdays from May to September. I love to go in May and I love to go in September, but there’s a problem with the rest of the summer. Though June-August is when all the really good stuff is growing– peaches! strawberries! tomatoes!– it’s also when it’s 120 degrees here. Not exactly ideal for walking around outside.
So though I try to make it to the market here and there, often the air conditioned supermarket sounds a lot more appealing. Better yet– the fruit stands I can drive up to and spend 30 seconds outside of my car shopping. In the fall, our farmer’s market closes down and all the fruit stands are shuttered. Which is sad, because local produce is definitely the best!
There’s a bigger city about 25 minutes from us and they have a year-round Saturday farmer’s market. A friend has been telling me to check it out for years and for some reason– laziness?– I haven’t. Until recently when I finally got fed up with our crappy supermarkets and decided to check it out.
And now I’m kicking myself for not going sooner– because it was amazing! Aside from tons of local produce, they also had local grassfed beef, eggs, raw milk, bread, baked goods and a ton more! I was pretty much in heaven the whole time, saying over and over why haven’t I been here before? I’ve already gone back again.
All this to say: I picked up a couple butternut squashes at the market at Nick’s request for soup. Have you made soup with homegrown or farmer’s market butternuts? It’s so much more flavorful! I thought a slow cooker butternut squash soup would be ideal, since I don’t have time these days to slave over the stove for hours. I’m never quite sure how slow cooker things will turn out, but they are almost always a success! This soup definitely was.
We topped the soup with blue cheese and bacon. At first, Nick thought it sounded weird. But from the first spoonful he was convinced– it’s an amazing idea. The salty, crunchy bacon is the perfect contract to the sweet, creamy soup. And the blue cheese? It gets all melty in the hot soup and– oh em gee. If you don’t like blue cheese (you cray), crumbled goat cheese would also be amazing.
Be sure to serve with tons of warm crusty bread for dipping!
- 2 small (or 1 large) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced (about 6 cups)
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- ½ tsp dried marjoram
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 5 oz package blue cheese crumbles
- In a slow cooker, combine butternut squash, carrots, onion, vegetable stock, marjoram, cayenne pepper and ground nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper.
- Cook on low 6 hours or high 3½ hours, until veggies are soft and tender.
- Using an immersion blender, puree veggies until the soup is uniformly smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can transfer the veggies to a blender or food processor in batches, puree and return to slow cooker.
- Stir in heavy cream. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately, topped with bacon and blue cheese. Or cool completely and refrigerate.
You might also like to try these delicious butternut soups!
Amaretto-Kissed Butternut Squash Soup
Smoky Chipotle Butternut and Sausage Chili
I need to get to the farmer’s market more often…we have a year-round one but it’s all the way across the city and such an inconvenience. But you’re right, nothing beats it! This soup looks delicious…totally craving soup these days!