Sweet Dumpling Squash Soup
This Sweet Dumpling Squash Soup recipe is the perfect way to celebrate one of autumn’s most unique squash varieties. As easy as roasting, blending, and topping with crispy bacon!
Celebrate Autumn with Sweet Dumpling Squash Soup
Every fall, without fail, I make some sort of blended squash soup. I’ve tried it with all sorts of varieties of squash, including butternut, acorn and delicata, but my very favorite variety for soup is sweet dumpling squash.
With it’s naturally sweet and nutty flavor, and luxuriously creamy texture when pureed, let me show you why sweet dumpling squash is the perfect variety to make the best squash soup.
This post will explain what sweet dumpling squash is, how to cook it, and how to turn it into soup.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe for Squash Soup
- It has a really rich and creamy texture with only a minimal amount of dairy. It’s just super comforting and delightful.
- It reheats really well, so it’s an excellent option for meal prep, or to make a big batch and freeze portions for future weeknights.
What is Sweet Dumpling Squash?
Sweet dumpling squash is a small winter squash that weighs about about one to two pounds (it’s about the size of a grapefruit). It’s available during the fall and winter, at farmer’s markets and some grocery stores.
Dumpling squash has hard, speckled green and white skin, and ridges like a pumpkin.
It has pale orangish-yellow flesh and stringy pulp. Just like pumpkins, the seeds of sweet dumpling squash can be roasted and snacked on (use any recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds for squash seeds, too). I also like the roasted seeds sprinkled over savory cottage cheese.
What Does Sweet Dumpling Squash Taste Like?
The orange flesh of a dumpling squash is very sweet, as the name implies. It also has a nutty flavor that makes it ideal for savory cooking (just like pumpkin can be used for pies AND savory pumpkin dip).
The flesh is on the drier side, which means it caramelizes very well when roasted (and gets even sweeter), and becomes smooth and creamy when pureed.
The taste is comparable to a mild pumpkin flavor, with a little bit of sweet potato also.
Squash Soup Recipe Ingredients
- dumpling squash – you’ll need 2-1/2 pounds of dumpling squash for this recipe, which is about 2 medium dumpling squashes, usually. A little bit more or less is just fine.
- garlic – you’ll need 2 cloves of garlic, and you can leave their skins on!
- onion – I like the sweetness of a yellow onion for this recipe, but white onion works, too.
- olive oil – for roasting the squash, garlic and onion.
- salt and pepper – savory seasonings to balance the sweetness of the squash.
- sage – fresh sage leaves provide the best flavor, but a pinch of dried sage works in well, a pinch. Dried sage is the key ingredient in Jeff’s grandma’s classic stuffing recipe, also.
- broth – I like the flavor that chicken broth adds to this sweet dumpling squash soup, but vegetable broth is great, too!
- spices – a combination of cumin, paprika and turmeric enhances the sweet and savory notes of the squash and provides deep depth of flavor. Turmeric also enhances my slow cooker carrot soup, and cumin is one of my favorite spices for Lebanese kafta.
- half and half – finish the soup with a dash of half and half or cream to make it extra delicious.
- bacon – I like to cook a few slices of bacon in the oven and crumble them over the soup. If turkey bacon is more your speed, check out my tutorials on how to cook turkey bacon in the oven and turkey bacon air fryer! Save your bacon grease for a batch of my bacon gravy recipe if you’re inclined.
How to Cook Sweet Dumpling Squash
Sweet dumpling squash can be steamed or microwaved, but the best way to cook it is to roast it (I feel the same way about cauliflower, ala pizza with garlic).
First, you’ll want to cut each squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place the halves on a baking pan, drizzle them with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.
Transfer the squash to a 375 degree F oven and roast one hour or until the squash is very tender.
How to Make Winter Squash Soup
You’ll start this sweet dumpling squash recipe by roasting the squash, garlic and onion, which will take about an hour in total.
Once the squash is tender, let it cool slightly and then scoop out the flesh and discard the skins. Put the squash flesh into a blender or food processor, along with the onion and garlic cloves (remove and discard the garlic skins).
Add the sage, broth, a bit of water and the spices and blend until everything is nice and smooth. Then, you’ll be transferring the mixture to a pot on the stove and cooking it for a few minutes until it’s warmed through.
Stir in the half and half, and adjust the consistency of the soup by adding additional water or broth if needed. Taste the soup and season with additional salt if it needs it.
Garnish with bacon and serve this sweet dumpling squash soup hot!
Home Chef Tips
- If you have an immersion blender, feel free to use that to puree the soup instead of a traditional blender.
- If bacon isn’t your thing, this soup can be garnished with croutons or a sprinkle of roasted pumpkin seeds.
What to Serve with this Recipe for Squash Soup
If you’d like to serve this soup (or my old fashioned ham and bean soup) with a salad, I’d recommend a simple green salad dressed with citrus salad dressing or creamy feta dressing.
If soup and a sandwich is your ideal combo, the best prosciutto sandwich or my salmon BLT recipe would pair well with this dumpling squash soup.
And easy yeast rolls are a perfect pairing for any soup.
Squash Soup Recipe FAQs
That’s one of the unique things about this variety of squash – you can eat the skin! Unlike other varieties of autumn squash where the skin is thick and too tough to chew, the skin of dumpling squash is very thin and entirely edible.
For this sweet dumpling squash recipe, I chose to use just the flesh of the squash so my soup had a brilliant orange color, but if you’d like to also puree the skin into the soup, you’re welcome to do that.
Yes, just like my best gravy recipe and lamb bolognese, this sweet dumpling squash soup freezes very well. Simply thaw and reheat before serving. Give it a good stir, as it might separate a little bit, but will come back together with stirring.
Yes, you can freeze sweet dumpling squash, including this soup. Transfer the soup to freezer-safe containers and refrigerate them, uncovered, until they are fully chilled. Then, cover and freeze up to 3 months.
Winter Squash Soup
Ingredients
- 2 medium dumpling squashes 2-1/2 pounds total
- 2 garlic cloves in their skins
- ½ large yellow onion roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 fresh sage leaves
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ¼ cup water plus additional if needed
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ cup half and half
- 4 slices oven bacon crumbled
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Halve squashes and scoop out seeds. Place squash halves, cut sides up on one rimmed baking pan, and garlic and onion on another rimmed baking pan. Drizzle everything with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Transfer both pans to oven. Roast garlic and onion 30 minutes or until onion is golden brown. Remove garlic and onion from oven.
- Turn squash over and roast 30 minutes longer or until very tender. Let squash cool 10 minutes.
- Scoop squash flesh out of skins and transfer flesh to blender. Remove garlic from skins and add garlic to blender. Add sage, broth, water, cumin, paprika, turmeric and roasted onion to blender. Blend until smooth.
- Transfer squash mixture to large pot on stove and cook over medium heat 4 to 6 minutes or until warmed through, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in half-and-half. If thinner consistency is desired, add additional water or broth in 2 tablespoon increments until desired consistency is achieved. Taste soup and season with additional salt if needed.
- Serve soup garnished with bacon.
Notes
- If you have an immersion blender, feel free to use that to puree the soup instead of a traditional blender.
- If bacon isn’t your thing, this soup can be garnished with croutons or a sprinkle of roasted pumpkin seeds.
I like to make smoothies and milkshakes in a blender. 🙂 Thank you.
I like to make strawberry smoothies.