Favorite Seasonal Bisque Recipe
A Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque is the best way to keep warm on these ever-cooling autumn days. This favorite seasonal recipe is thick, yet smooth and creamy.
It’s warmth and comforting taste, bring the perfect combination of sweet and savory. The best way to make Butternut Squash Bisque is by pureeing sweet, freshly harvested, diced and seasoned butternut squash then swirling it with butter, heavy cream and egg yolks.
Brief History of the Bisque
The Bisque originated in France and was traditionally made with seafood. It has always been known for its bold seasoning as well as its smooth and creamy texture – that is why pureeing our ingredients is so important. By blending all the flavors and textures together, we end up with a rich, thick, smooth and creamy comforting bowl of fall perfection.
Best Ingredients for Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque
Butternut Squash
It’s very important to start off with our star ingredient. After all, we couldn’t have a Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque without a Butternut Squash. Obvious…we know. The type of Butternut Squash you use, however, is completely up to you. You can use squash from a can. You can buy it cubed, or even frozen. But for us, the BEST Butternut Squash to use is a freshly harvested, sweet, local (and organic) squash! Visit your local farm or farmer’s market to select the most beautiful harvest Butternut Squash!
For this recipe, use a 3 lb. squash. Cut it in half, remove seeds and place cut-side-up on a baking sheet. Bake at 350º F for about 45-60 minutes or until soft all the way through (test by piercing with a knife). Let your squash cool and then scoop out the flesh and puree in a blender or food processor. A smooth, creamy puree is key for this fall favorite!
Seasoning
Sounds just as obvious as the need for butternut squash, but it’s worth pointing out — this bisque would be pretty bland without seasoning. The perfect Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque needs a tad bit o’ sweetening from brown sugar. Adding onions, garlic, as well as a variety of spices and herbs brings out a much more savory experience. And for that perfect trifecta of sweet, savory and a little heat, we like adding a dash of cayenne pepper.
Utopihen Pasture Raised Organic Eggs
Other than the fact that our eggs are the best, why would you want to put them into your bisque? Organic eggs — specifically the egg yolks — are a great way to add richness, creaminess and some great Omega-3 fatty acids to our bisque. Eggs also act as a thickening agent, which makes this fall soup even better.
Our Utopihen Pasture Raised Organic Eggs come from hens on a mission to make positive changes for our planet and for you. Their diet consists only of organic, non-GMO, pesticide-free ingredients. Additionally, the Certified Humane family farms that raise them have met all the standards and have gone through the long, extensive process required to earn the USDA Organic seal — which also means the hens never receive antibiotics or hormones and are allowed to live naturally, with no forced molting or any other non-natural practice.
We feel it’s so important to use organic, humane, products in our recipes. Who doesn’t want to feel comfortable and confident in the products they use?
Heavy Cream
We don’t use a lot of heavy cream here but just the right amount brings an added smoothness and richness to our Butternut Squash Bisque.
How to make Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque
We don’t know about you, but when we hear the word “bisque” we get a little intimidated. Is it the fact bisque was invented by the French, who happen to be the champs of complex cooking? Or is it because it’s not our traditional chicken noodle soup? Either way we thought we would provide a list of steps that would help making our Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque a seamless process. Here goes…
Prep and measure out all your ingredients ahead of time. This will allow you to move forward easily with each step.
Make sure your blender is ready. Don’t have a blender? You can use an emulsion hand wand or food processor.
Have a pot lid ready once the bisque begins to simmer — it may bubble and splatter. The butternut mixture will be thicker to start and will liquify more as it simmers.
Make sure not to skip the step of whisking your heavy cream and egg yolks together. This will insure your yolks won’t curdle when added to the blending hot bisque mixture. Add the mixture in slowly.
In case you were wondering, your yolks will cook in the hot bisque mixture once added into the blender. They will continue to cook as bisque is being blended and when you add the bisque back to the pan for one last heating. For an added touch warm the soup bowls prior to serving soup in them.
Garnishing your Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque
This bisque is fantastic on it’s own but just like fall needs leaves, we think bisque needs a little garnish. We like a crunchy factor, hence our candied spiced pumpkin seed suggestion. However, pine nuts, roast pumpkin seeds or walnuts will work great as well.
Add a dollop of sour cream. It adds a coolness to the heat and is a wonderful compliment to all the savory flavors.
Sprinkle your bisque with some cayenne pepper. If heat isn’t to your taste you can omit it.
So pull up a bowl or two and enjoy!
Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque
Equipment
- Blender (optionala)
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 Yellow Onion
- 2 tbsp pressed Garlic
- 4 cups Butternut Squash puree – freshly cooked and mashed
- 4 cups Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
- 2 tbsp Light Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3/4 tsp ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp dried Thyme
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground Ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground Cayenne Pepper
- 2 Utopihen Pasture Raised Organic Egg Yolks
- 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
Spiced Candied Pumpkin Seeds
- 1/4 cup roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- 1 tbsp Granulated Sugar
- 1 tbsp Light Brown Sugar
- 1/2 tbsp Utopihen Pasture Raised Organic Egg Whites
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Garnish
- Spiced Candied Pumpkin Seeds
- Thyme sprigs
- Sour Cream
- Cayenne Pepper
Instructions
Creamy Butternut Squash Bisque
- Melt Butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the Onions and Garlic to saucepan. Sauté 6 minutes or until translucent. Stir often to keep the Onions and Garlic moving around to avoid burning.
- Stir in the Butternut Squash puree and the stock. Bring mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium/low and continue to simmer for about 15 minutes. Mixture will liquify more as it cooks. You may want to put a lid on your sauce pan as the mixture can bubble and splatter.
- Place your Heavy Cream and Utopihen Pasture Raised Egg yolks in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
- Add in the thyme, Nutmeg, Ginger, Cinnamon, Salt, Cayenne Pepper and Black Pepper. Stir
- Pour Butternut Squash mixture into a blender and puree, about 3 minutes on medium speed.
- With blender running on medium, slowly pour in the Heavy Cream and Utopihen Pasture Raised Organic Egg yolk mixture. Blender needs to be running at a good speed so that the yolks do not curdle when added. The heat of the soup mixture will cook the yolks as they are blended together.
- If your sauce pan has any Butternut Bisque mixture that stuck to the bottom or the side, rinse out the pan. This will help ensure your soup is smooth when poured back into the pan.
- Pour mixture back into saucepan and heat over low/medium heat until desired temperature is reached.
- Ladle into bowls.
- Garnish with Spiced Candied Pumpkin Seeds, Thyme Sprigs, Sour Cream, and Cayenne Pepper.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- To reheat, spoon into bowls and microwave at 30 seconds, then in 10 second intervals until desired temperature is reached.
Spiced Candied Pumpkin Seeds
- Mix Pumpkin Seeds and Utopihen Farms Pasture Raised Organic Egg Whites together.
- Next, add the sugars and Cinnamon. Mix very well so Pumpkin Seeds are coated.
- Pour onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Scrape out all the seeds and the sugar mixture onto baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 300º F. Mixture will puff up as it bakes and will turn light golden brown.
- Let cool. Mixture will deflate once it begins to cool. Then break up by hand or chop into pieces.
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