Or ‘Orange Soup’ as my four-year-old calls it......
This one is always a winner with kids and adults alike. It’s very versatile – you can swap out the butternut squash and go with sweet potato/carrot/parsnip/tomato – whatever you’ve got in really.
The lentils and cheese give the soup a delicious creaminess that completely satisfies – which is great considering the calorie count at 212 cals per portion! If you wanted to cut the calories even more, you could use reduced fat cheese.
This soup freezes well, so I tend to make up a large batch and freeze the leftovers in portions for a speedy lunch.
Cheesy Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 10 sprays 1-cal-per-spray cooking oil - 10 cals
- 1 medium onion - peeled and sliced (44 cals)
- 1 whole squash weighing about 1kg - peeled and sliced into chunks with the pips removed (380 cals)
- 250 g carrots - peeled and chopped (100 cals)
- 2 red peppers - chopped (88 cals)
- 175 g red lentils - 581 cals
- 1 tsp cumin - 8 cals
- 1 tsp paprika - 6 cals
- 1 tsp garlic salt - 10 cals
- 1.5 litres stock made with 5x veg oxo stock cubes - 75 cals or 25g vegetable bouillon for gluten free (60 cals)
- 200 g mature cheddar cheese - grated (820 cals)
- Good pinch of salt and pepper
- A few chopped up chives to garnish - negligible cals
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat a large pan and squirt in the spray oil, add the onion and a pinch of salt (helps prevent the onion from browning) and cook on low until they’re softened (about 3 or 4 minutes). Add in the butternut squash and carrots, give it a stir and cook for a further couple of minutes.
- Add in the red peppers, lentils, cumin, paprika and garlic salt and cook for another minute, then add in the stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, take the soup off the heat and blend using a stick blender. Add in the cheese (I tend to reserve a bit for garnishing) and a good pinch of salt and pepper and stir until the cheese has melted.
- Ladle the soup out and garnish with a some chopped chives and any reserved cheese.
✎ Notes
Nutrition
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dosirakbento says
wow, vibrant colour!
Gluten Free Fabulous says
Looks fantastic - I'll be giving it a try 🙂
yourperfectburn says
Looks like a good recipe to try out. I love the way you put the cals after each ingredient. Its a huge help for someone like me who needs to count cals. Thanks for sharing.
nickycorbishley says
No worries, hope you enjoy it. I know what you mean about the cals. I don't do it for all my recipes yet (some of the cake cals would be a little scary!) but I make sure I do it for recipes I put in my 'skinny eats' section.
yourperfectburn says
I noticed that. There is nothing wrong with cake, just don't eat it every day 😉