Chai Spice Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

If you love chai tea, you are going to really enjoy this recipe. This Chai Spice Butternut Squash Soup Recipe brings the traditional creamy squash soup to a whole new level.

I love cookbooks. I buy at least 2 per month.  My husband jokes that I am going to need a library just for my cookbooks -and I would love that. Last month I received a copy of America’s Test Kitchen Six Ingredient Solution: How to Coax More Flavor From Fewer Ingredients and this recipe peaked my interest.

The book itself is great and I will be posting a few more recipes in the future. One of the things I liked is how simple it makes certain meals look -because they are! I’ve often not made some dishes because they seemed complicated and the recipes had mile long ingredients; not this book. Six, just six ingredients in each recipe! The recipes are perfect for busy nights.

I rarely make butternut squash soup. It’s just not my favorite…but I love chai tea, so I decided to give it a try. Chai is a fragrant, Indian black-tea blend that often includes cardamon, cinnamon, clove, ginger and black pepper. Of course, homemade versions vary and so do the formulations by brand. Chai tea is easily found in most supermarkets. 

If you don’t typically make butternut squash soup, you should at least try this once. You see, I am one of those people who sometimes buys things like squash because it seems like a good idea at the time and then… it hides somewhere in the back of my fridge.

When I buy it and put it to use, I typically cut it up in small pieces and sauté it as I would sweet potatoes, use it in lasagna or mixed with other vegetables. I also make butternut squash puree, freeze it and use it in this mac and cheese recipe instead of the sweet potato. It’s definitely nice to have on hand.

So back to this soup. I was a little skeptical when I looked at the recipe; but somehow it works well. The butternut squash absorbs the spices in the recipe while the squash simmers, adding some warm spice notes.

At the end, I topped the soup with crème frâiche to ensure a creamy texture. If you don’t have crème frâiche for this recipe, do not substitute for sour cream. Instead, add heavy cream. If you use sour cream, the soup will be…sour. 

Chai Spice Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

• Author: America's Test Kitchen - prepared by SuperGlueMom
• Yield: 4-6 1x
• Category: Soup & Appetizers

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 3 pounds butternut squash
• 3 scallions (green onion stalks)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 chai flavored tea bag
• 2 tablespoons crème frâiche, plus extra for serving
• 5 cups water
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Peel and seed squash, then cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Mince scallion whites and scallion greens; keep whites and greens separate.
2. Melt butter in dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add squash, scallion whites, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is softened and lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.
3. Stir in 5 cups water, scraping up any browned bits. Add tea bag. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently until squash is tender, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove tea bag. Working in batches, process soup in blender until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Or, insert your immersion blender and process until smooth. Return soup to clean pot and whisk in crème frâiche (or heavy cream). Add a little water if needed to adjust soup’s consistency.
5. Heat mixture gently over low heat until hot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve in individual bowls with sprinkled scallion greens and additional crème frâiche.

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