Kabocha Apple Ginger Soup – Easy Recipe

This warming squash soup made with roasted kabocha squash, apples, and ginger is extremely easy to make.

The past week rained pails and true to northern weather, even floated some snow. Bouts of percussive rain belted down outside, and I pushed aside worries of potential property damage. This kind of damp weather makes me crave a particular type of comfort food that can be spooned and mopped up with bread – that is, thick, viscous, carby soups.

I love a good pumpkin and squash soup. The base of this soup is roast vegetables – sweet squash and apples, aromatic onions and garlic, and zingy ginger. This medley is then scooped up and blended with water until smooth.

Being able to cozy up on the couch while a winter squash roasts away in the oven, that is true comfort and good fortune. The roasting squash fogged up window edges and infused the house with a slight allium fume, so that our cats also smelled like squash and onions when picked up hours later.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Kabocha squash: Kabocha squash is one of the thickest squashes. The texture is dense and sweet, reminiscent of anko (red bean paste). Unlike butternut squash, which is watery like a yam, kabocha squash is so dense and fudgy, you can feel the individual molecules of carbs on your tongue. The fudgy and sandy texture of kabocha squash reminds me of baking potatoes or chestnuts. Substitute kabocha squash with any other squash or pumpkin.
• Apples: I used one large fuji apple that had been bruised and lived in the bottom of the fridge. Any type of apple would work. This method of cooking (roasting and blending a company of vegetables) is especially useful for salvaging any partially damaged fruits and veggies.
• Aromatics: This recipe uses onions and garlic. It is not essential to have both. Onions provide body to the soup and is milder than garlic. Feel free to omit garlic or to use less than half a bulb.
• Ginger: Ginger makes this soup warming without being spicy. I used four slices around 1 inch in diameter and 1 cm thick. Ginger should be washed, but peeling is optional.
• Feta: Feta is blended in with the soup and crumbled on top just before serving. As a garnish, crumbled feta adds nice salty accents. Feta can be substituted with miso paste for blending.

Method and Variations

This soup is simple to make. In summary, all we need to do is roast the vegetable until tender and then blend with water to make soup.

This recipe is streamlined enough to be in the one pot/one tray category. Although the written recipe directs roasting the vegetables in a baking tray, you can make it a true one pot recipe by roasting your vegetables in a dutch oven (or other oven safe pot) and blending with an immersion blender.

Whenever I cook with hard winter squashes such as kabocha squash, I always find the peeling of the squash to be the most difficult part (see this other soup as an example). There is no peeling involved in this recipe. Instead, we halve and seed the squash, roast until tender, then scoop out the flesh.

This recipe provides an option to use feta or miso paste. If using feta, you can bake the feta in with the squash. To prevent the feta from melting too much, it is easiest to put it in the halves of the squash for roasting. You also can do this with miso. Roasting miso with the vegetables will deepen the umami flavor, but the high heat will kill the probiotics.

Print Recipe

Kabocha Apple Ginger Soup

This warming squash soup made with roasted kabocha squash, apples, and ginger is extremely easy to make.

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American, Canadian

Diet: Low Calorie, Low Fat, Low Lactose, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword: Apple, Comfort Food, Kabocha, One Pot/Pan, Roast, Soup, Squash

Servings: 4

Equipment

• Blender, food processor or immersion blender
• Roasting tray

Ingredients

• 1 medium kabocha squash
• 1 onion
• ½ bulb garlic
• 4 slices ginger
• 1 apple
• 2 green chiles or sprinkle chili flakes optional
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 big tablespoons feta or 1 big tablespoon miso paste

To garnish

• Yogurt or cream, feta, and/or tender herbs optional

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Meanwhile, halve the kabocha squash and scoop out the seeds. Peel and quarter the onions, wash and peel the garlic, and roughly core and chop the apple.
• Place all ingredients except for feta or miso in a roasting tray lined with aluminum foil. The oil should be evenly drizzled on the squash, apple, and aromatics. Fold/scrunch up the aluminum foil so the ingredients are covered on top. Covering or tenting the ingredients loosely like this with foil will trap steam inside and help the ingredient cook faster.
• Roast until everything is tender, approximately 45 minutes depending on the size of the squash. Optional: open the aluminum foil after 25 minutes and continue roasting – total cooking time may increase but this will yield more crispy edges and caramelization.
• When vegetables are tender, let cool slightly (or completely if necessary for your blender), then scoop out the flesh of the kabocha squash with a spoon. Blend the kabocha flesh, apple, aromatics, and feta or miso with water until smooth. Use enough water to blend smoothly.
• Reheat the blended soup in a pot, adjusting for taste and consistency.
• To serve, swirl in some cream or yogurt, sprinkle with more feta, or top with tender herbs.

Notes

The thickness of the soup can be adjusted after blending. The water amount will vary according to personal preference and the mass of the ingredients. Err on the side of less water when blending initially because it is easy to adjust by adding more water, but hard to undo too much water.