Red Lentil Butternut Squash Soup

This red lentil butternut squash soup is rich, creamy, and full of flavor! It’s a little bit sweet, lightly spiced, and oh-so-satisfying! Serve with optional curry croutons for a scrumptious bowl of soup that’s hearty enough for a meal.

White wooden surface set with pot and bowl of Red Lentil Butternut Squash Soup.

I love soup that I can make a meal of.

Butternut squash soup is one of my favorite things to enjoy when fall rolls around. But as soups go, it’s generally not enough to make a meal of. Oh, it’s tasty and creamy, but when you think about it, it’s really just veggies and broth.

This soup is different though! Knowing how satisfying my Mediterranean red lentil soup is, I decided to add some red lentils to this butternut squash soup, along with coconut milk and homemade curry croutons. It’s so meal-worthy.

Just as important as how filling a soup is, is how tasty it is. After all, if you’re making a meal of something it better be pretty darn enjoyable. So I seasoned up my red lentil butternut soup with some ginger, cumin, a touch of cinnamon, and coconut milk. It’s super rich and creamy and just the right blend of sweet and savory.

Jump to:

Ingredients You’ll Need

You’ll need the following ingredients for the soup.

Olive oil. You can substitute another high heat oil if you’d like, such as coconut oil, vegetable oil, or corn oil.
Onion.
Garlic.
Ginger.
Spices. We’re using a blend of ground cumin and cinnamon. Does that sound strange? It’s delicious! You’ll find this combination in lots of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern recipes like mujadara, and it’s perfect for this particular soup.
Vegetable broth.
Butternut squash. You could easily modify this recipe to use similar varieties of winter squash, such as sugar pumpkin, kabocha squash, and acorn squash.
Split red lentils. Whole red lentils will also work, but they’ll take longer to cook.
Coconut milk. The recipe calls for full-fat coconut milk from a can, though light coconut milk should also work if you’d like to reduce the fat and calorie content of the dish.
Salt and pepper.
Fresh cilantro. This is optional, but makes a great topping for this soup.

Tip: Depending on how sweet your squash is, you may want to add a bit of sweetener such as organic sugar or maple syrup, or some lemon juice to balance the flavors.

You’ll also need the following if you plan to make the croutons, which are totally optional!

Bread cubes. Use a good crusty bread, such as sourdough or French.
Olive oil. Again, feel free to swap this out with your favorite cooking oil.
Spices. You’ll need curry powder and garlic powder.
Salt and pepper.

How It’s Made

The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!

Diced onion cooking in a pot with spoon.

Start by heating your oil in a large pot and adding diced onion. Sweat the onion until it starts to soften and become translucent.

Diced onion and spices cooking in a pot with wooden spoon.

Stir in the garlic, ginger, and spices. Cook the mixture briefly, making sure to stir the entire time to prevent anything from burning.

Broth being poured into a pot filled with red lentils and butternut squash.

Stir in the diced butternut squash, lentils and broth. Raise the heat and bring the soup to a boil.

Red Lentil Butternut Squash Soup simmering in a pot.

Lower the heat and let the soup simmer until the squash and lentils are soft. This should take about 20 to 25 minutes.

Tip: You can thin the soup with some broth or water if it reduces too much while cooking, but keep this to a minimum, as you’ll be thinning the soup with coconut milk later on.

Hand blending Red Lentil Butternut Squash Soup in a pot with an immersion blender,

Once the soup has finished simmering, blend it up! I’m using an immersion blender, but you could also transfer it to a regular blender in batches.

Coconut milk being poured into a pot of Red Lentil Butternut Squash Soup.

Stir in the coconut milk and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Make any other seasoning adjustments you’d like. This is a good time to add that sweetener or lemon juice if it’s needed!

If you’re making the curry croutons, toss your bread cubes with olive oil, curry powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then arrange them on a baking sheet and bake them until golden brown. You can do this while the soup simmers so that everything is ready at the same time.

Bowl of Red Lentil Butternut Squash Soup with blue pot in the background.

Ladle your red lentil butternut squash soup into bowls and optional top each with a drizzle of coconut milk and some chopped fresh cilantro. Pile on those curry croutons and dig in!

Leftovers & Storage

Red lentil butternut squash soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 4 days. The croutons will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days.

More Fall Soups

Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!