It’s September. Â Temps are (finally!) cooling down. Â There’s squash at the farmers market. Â And there’s candy corn at the grocery store. Â Yep, it’s officially fall!
While I haven’t caved on buying candy corn quite yet, I did stock up on a few of my favorite squash varieties at the farmers market.  So far I’ve bought butternut, kabocha, and acorn squash and can’t wait until the spaghetti and delicata squashes make their appearance!
Since it was still pretty warm last week, I wanted to make something that was still on the lighter side, but comforting and fall-like.  This Harissa Butternut Squash Soup definitely hit the spot.  It is seriously SO good.  It has the sweetness and silkiness from the butternut squash, and then a ton of flavor from the harissa.
Are you familiar with harissa yet?  I’ve proclaimed my love for it in a few of my other recipes (Harissa Chorizo Sweet Potato Hash, Harissa Chicken Salad, and Harissa Chicken Skewers with Herbed Yogurt Dipping Sauce) and now it’s back in this soup!
So what is harissa, exactly?  It’s a hot chile pepper paste used in a lot of Moroccan and Tunisian dishes.  I’ve made my own and bought it pre-made and I definitely think taking the time to make it yourself is the way to go.  BUT!  Especially now that I’m a mom, I totally appreciate the convenience of store-bought sauces and marinades.  So by all means, buy it from the store (or even easier – Amazon!)if you don’t have the time or desire to make your own.  Regardless, the harissa takes butternut squash soup up a notch.
I used my Vitamix blender to get this soup super silky smooth, so I would recommend using a high powered blender like that to achieve that texture. Â If you don’t have one, an immersion blender would work well, but it probably won’t get quite as smooth. Â Still delicious, though!
Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
Butternut Squash and Tomato Soup
Butternut Squash and Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Butternut Squash Tortellini Soup
Butternut Squash and Kale Minestrone
Taylor, those bowls are so cute!! Did someone you know make them?!
Thanks Beth! I actually made them in a pottery class 🙂
I have been meaning to try harissa for the longesttt time! I always forget! This soup sounds wonderful! And yay for squash season!!