This is the soup to make when you want something creamy, sweet and bright orange without a speck of flour. Roasted squash and slowly softened carrots do the thickening, and a cup of homemade coconut milk makes it silky.
This Full GAPS butternut squash, carrot and coconut soup combines roasted squash with carrots and leeks slowly sweated in a covered pot. Meat Stock supplies the savory base, and one cup of homemade noncanned coconut milk is stirred in after the vegetables are blended smooth.
Yield
4 to 6 servings
A blended soup is a useful way to serve cooked vegetables with homemade meat stock. With six kids and a second-shift job, I cook in the morning before work, and one pot of meat stock goes on first thing every day. This soup uses that stock alongside roasted squash and softened carrots.
Choose the measured cooking fats for the people eating the soup. Use ghee or butter after the applicable dairy introduction, or choose coconut oil in both fat positions for the dairy-free route.
Ingredients
For The Roasted Squash
- 2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 2-inch chunks
- 1 tablespoon melted ghee or coconut oil
For The Soup
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, ghee, or coconut oil
- 3 carrots, cut into one-quarter-inch-thick coins
- 1 leek, white and light green parts only, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 1/2 teaspoons high-quality mineral salt, plus more to taste
- 3 cups finished homemade chicken meat stock
- 1 cup finished homemade coconut milk
- Up to about 1/2 cup filtered water, optional, for a thinner soup
Measure The Finished Coconut Milk
Make the homemade coconut milk as its own recipe, then measure one finished cup after straining. One cup of shredded coconut and one cup of water do not guarantee one finished cup of milk.
Make The Soup
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and place a rack in the middle position.
- Line a baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
- Spread the 2-inch butternut squash chunks on the sheet. Pour the tablespoon of melted ghee or coconut oil over them and toss gently to coat.
- Roast for 30 minutes, until the squash is soft when pierced with a knife.
- While the squash roasts, melt the 2 tablespoons butter, ghee, or coconut oil in a large pot over low heat.
- Add the carrot coins and chopped leek. Stir to coat the vegetables in the fat.
- Cover the pot and let the carrots and leek sweat over low heat for 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid and stir in the dried thyme and 1 1/2 teaspoons mineral salt.
- Add the 3 cups Meat Stock and the roasted squash. Warm until small bubbles break the surface.
- Blend until smooth with an immersion blender. A standing blender may be used in batches.
- Stir in 1 cup homemade coconut milk.
- Taste and add mineral salt only if needed. For a thinner consistency, stir in up to about 1/2 cup filtered water.
- Ladle into bowls and serve.
Roast The Squash Before It Enters The Pot
The squash follows a separate 30-minute roasting step at 400°F. Keep the pieces at the source’s 2-inch size so the measured roasting time and softness endpoint stay attached to the same preparation.
Toss the squash with its measured tablespoon of melted ghee or coconut oil before roasting. Choose ghee only after its dairy introduction; coconut oil supplies the dairy-free fat choice.
Roast until a knife meets little resistance in a squash piece. The pieces do not need to char, and the ingredient list adds no sweetener or extra spice coating.
Roasting softens the squash for blending. The carrots and leek have their own covered 30-minute cook over low heat.
Sweat The Carrots And Leek Slowly
Use 3 carrots cut into one-quarter-inch coins and the white and light green portions of 1 chopped leek. Stir them into the 2 tablespoons melted fat, cover the pot, and keep the heat low.
Keep the pot covered and the heat low for the 30-minute vegetable cook. The carrots and leek should soften without browning; lower the heat if their edges begin to color.
After the covered cook, add the measured 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and 1 1/2 teaspoons mineral salt, followed by the stock and roasted squash.
The vegetable stage does not need starch, flour, or another thickener. Butternut squash and carrots give the blended soup its body, and coconut milk finishes the consistency.
Use Meat Stock, Not Bare-Bone Broth
The finished WFLI formula calls for exactly 3 cups finished homemade chicken meat stock. Prepare it from raw meaty bones, joints, cartilage, connective tissue, fat, and a substantial amount of meat according to the current GAPS cooking authority.
Use completed raw-meaty meat stock for this soup. Long-cooked bare-bone broth is a separate preparation and does not replace the measured stock here.
The three-cup measurement is part of the soup’s balance. It loosens the roasted squash and sweated vegetables enough to blend while leaving room for the final cup of coconut milk. Do not increase the stock and then reduce the coconut milk to compensate; that would create another ratio.
Warm the stock and vegetables until small bubbles break the surface, then blend. The method does not require a long reduction.
Keep The Fat Branches Clear
The squash uses 1 tablespoon fat, and the carrots and leek use 2 tablespoons. Keep those amounts in their own steps.
For the cultured-dairy branch, roast with ghee and sweat the vegetables in unsalted butter or ghee. Use these only when the applicable dairy-introduction steps have been completed. Butter and ghee are not excluded merely because they come from dairy; their correct form and placement control their use.
For the dairy-free branch, use coconut oil in both measured positions. That creates a complete soup using coconut oil and homemade coconut milk without adding an unmeasured replacement fat.
Use the qualifying ghee, butter or coconut oil listed in the ingredient amounts, keeping the tablespoon for squash separate from the two tablespoons for the pot.
Why This Soup Fits Full GAPS
Butternut squash, carrots, leeks, thyme, mineral salt, Meat Stock, qualifying fats, and homemade coconut milk fit the Full GAPS version in the forms used here. The soup contains no grain, starch, canned coconut milk, commercial broth concentrate, or bare-bone-broth substitution.
This complete roasted-squash and coconut-milk soup belongs to Full GAPS. Its stage is based on the full preparation, not the stage of one vegetable by itself.
The official Full GAPS framework centers meals on meats, stocks, eggs, fermented dairy when tolerated, and vegetables. This soup provides Meat Stock and a concentrated mix of cooked vegetables, with the coconut-milk or cultured-fat branch chosen according to the recipe and current dairy sequence.
For this Full GAPS soup, choose ghee or butter only after the applicable dairy progression, or use the measured coconut oil. Homemade coconut milk finishes either fat choice.
Adjust The Consistency Without Changing The Formula
Blend the soup smooth before adding the coconut milk. An immersion blender keeps the full batch in one pot. If using a standing blender, work in batches and return the blended soup to the pot before stirring in the measured cup of coconut milk.
After blending and adding coconut milk, add filtered water a little at a time if you prefer a thinner soup, up to about 1/2 cup.
Add water gradually and stop when the soup reaches the intended consistency. The optional water changes thickness, not the ingredient identity or seasoning structure.
Keep The Main Ratio Intact
The finished soup uses 2 pounds squash, 3 carrots, 1 leek, 3 cups meat stock and 1 cup finished homemade coconut milk. Measure those completed components before the final consistency adjustment.
If you scale the batch, multiply every measured ingredient by the same factor. Preserve both 30-minute vegetable preparations, the 400°F roasting temperature, and the blend-before-coconut-milk order. The optional filtered water remains a final consistency adjustment rather than a replacement for any portion of the Meat Stock or coconut milk.
Storage And Serving
Divide leftovers into shallow covered containers and refrigerate promptly at 40°F or below. Use refrigerated soup within 3 to 4 days.
Serve the soup warm. Its blended squash and carrots supply the body; the finished homemade coconut milk adds coconut flavor and creaminess.
FAQ
Can I Use Bone Broth Instead Of Meat Stock?
No. Use 3 cups correctly prepared raw-meaty Meat Stock. Bare-bone broth remains a separate later preparation under the current GAPS recipe authority.
Can I Use Canned Coconut Milk?
Use one measured finished cup of the linked homemade coconut milk. Canned coconut milk is a different product form.
Can I Replace The Leek With Onion?
This version keeps the source’s 1 chopped leek. No exact onion quantity was supplied, so an onion branch is not invented here.
How Can I Make The Soup Dairy-Free?
Use 1 tablespoon coconut oil on the squash and 2 tablespoons coconut oil for the carrots and leek. The remaining formula already uses homemade coconut milk.
How Do I Make The Soup Thinner?
After blending and stirring in the coconut milk, add up to about 1/2 cup filtered water. Add it gradually and keep the 3 cups Meat Stock and 1 cup coconut milk unchanged.
Related Recipes
Recommended Equipment
- An uncoated stainless steel rimmed sheet lined with parchment, as the recipe calls for
- An enameled cast iron soup pot with a lid for the covered sweat and simmer
- An immersion blender, or a standing blender with a glass jar
- A chef’s knife, a sturdy peeler and a wood cutting board
- A wooden spoon and a stainless steel ladle
Next Steps
Soups & Stews Cookbook and Dairy introduction chart are coming soon.
Ingredients
Method
- Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle. Line an uncoated stainless-steel rimmed sheet with parchment.
- Spread the 2-inch squash chunks in one layer. Pour the melted tablespoon of ghee or coconut oil over them and toss to coat. Roast for about 30 minutes, until the squash is soft when pierced with a knife.
- Meanwhile, melt the separate 2 tablespoons butter, ghee, or coconut oil in a Le Creuset Artichaut enameled pot over low heat. Add the carrot coins and chopped leek. Stir to coat, cover, and let them sweat for 30 minutes without browning.
- Remove the lid. Stir in the thyme and 1 1/2 teaspoons mineral salt. Add the 3 cups Meat Stock and the roasted squash. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer.
- Blend until completely smooth with an immersion blender, or carefully blend in batches in a standing blender and return the soup to the pot.
- Stir in exactly 1 cup of the finished homemade coconut milk. Taste and add more mineral salt only if needed. For a thinner soup, add filtered water gradually, up to about 1/2 cup. Serve warm.
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