Silky Acorn Squash Soup with Halloumi Croutons

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Holiday meals are so epic that individual dishes tend to get lost. It’s an endless parade of decadence. No matter how special they may be, it will always be hard for soups, sprouts, and sides to steal the show. But despite all this indulgent noise, we still have to put effort into each dish. That’s because a low note in a sea of high notes is bound to be the most memorable. Sad but true. So while it may be tempting to phone it in on the soup course (if you’re even bothering with a soup course) I’m here to tell you it’s not worth it. But I get it, when you’re elbow-deep in a turkey, soup may seem like a low priority. The solution? This Silky Acorn Squash Soup! It’s tasty, festive, and nearly effortless to put together.

Okay, before we tackle how to put this soup together while we’re up to our eyeballs in to-do list activities, let’s talk about what it is. As the name suggests, this Silky Acorn Squash Soup features roasted squash, onions, carrots, and apples pureed into a seriously smooth soup. It’s not called silky for nothing. The soup is then decked out with petit seared halloumi croutons, fried sage, pepitas, and pomegranate arils for extra festiveness and tang. What I love the most about this recipe, is the soup mostly comes together on a sheet pan in the oven and out of mind. I don’t know about you, but my stovetop real estate is at a premium at this time of year. It really helps to keep it clear. 

The first thing we have to do is prep the veg for the oven. Start by chopping a couple of onions into wedges. Next, grab a few large carrots and cut them into chunks. Arrange both on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Add several whole garlic cloves, apple wedges, and two acorn squashes halved and placed cut-side-up. Place a large pat of butter in each squash cavity. Drizzle the lot with chili oil (or olive oil, if heat is not your thing) and sprinkle with salt. Pop the sheet pan in the oven and roast for an hour, turning the pan once halfway through. The onions, apples, and carrots will be a little charred at the end of the roasting process, please don’t worry about it. The char will add an amazing depth of flavor to the finished soup. 

Once your veggies are out of the oven, let them chill on the counter until the squash is cool enough to handle. Scoop the flesh out of the skins and place it in a blender or a food processor. Add the remaining roast veggies and a cup or two of vegetable stock. The liquid is mostly there to help the blender or food processor break down the veg. Blitz everything together until very smooth. We will add more stock to this later on, so if your mixture looks more like a mash than a soup, I promise it’s temporary. 

Transfer the puree to a pot and add the remaining vegetable stock. I used 4-5 cups of stock. I’m going to leave it up to you to determine how much stock you need. This is personal preference territory. Ask yourself how thick you want your soup to be and then add a little stock at a time until you reach that consistency. The one thing I will point out is if you want to add the halloumi croutons, I suggest leaving your soup fairly thick. If the soup is too thin, the croutons will sink to the bottom. Not a deal breaker in my book, everything will still taste amazing. But if you’re considering aesthetics, I think the halloumi croutons look much more compelling when you can actually see them.

Place the soup over low heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. We’re just trying to heat it through really. This is also a great time to taste the soup and adjust the seasonings accordingly. I did add a little more salt and a bit of honey to amp up the sweetness of the squash.

While the soup is simmering away we can tackle the toppings. The first thing we’re going to do is fry the sage. I like to do this first because we get two ingredients for the price of one. We obviously get delicate, crispy fried sage but we also get sage-scented oil to fry our halloumi croutons in. It’s win/win! I always mention this, but it is worth repeating, don’t add too many sage leaves to the pan at once. They cook and burn quickly so make sure you can keep track of them and pluck them out of danger at a moment’s notice. I recommend adding no more than four leaves to the pan at a time. 

Once your sage is nice and crispy, it’s the halloumi’s turn. I gave my halloumi a fine dice because I think the mini cubes are charming. If you would prefer chunkier halloumi bites, you have my blessing. Regardless of the dimensions of your halloumi croutons, the method for frying them is the same. Pile them into a skillet and leave them undisturbed in a single layer. Run a spoon or spatula under them to flip. My only aim was to get a deep sear on one side. The halloumi croutons are so small you would go cross-eyed, trying to flip and sear them on all sides individually. Some battles are just not worth it. 

Once your halloumi is fried, you’re home free. Ladle the soup into bowls and top them with a spoonful of the halloumi croutons, a few sage leaves, and a sprinkling of pepitas and pomegranate arils. And that’s your soup done!

Now, let’s talk about how this soup fits into your holiday prep. This is a very flexible recipe, there are plenty of make-ahead stopping points along the way. You could easily roast and store your vegetables 2-3 days in advance. You could go a step further and make the puree which you could easily freeze. Honestly, you could freeze the finished soup, defrost it, and then make the garnishes the day of. The only drawback to freezing the finished soup is volume. The added stock will increase the number of containers you will need and they will impinge on your available freezer space – something that is at a premium at this time of year. 

And that’s everything you need to know about this Silky Acorn Squash Soup with Halloumi Croutons. A full-bodied, velvety soup that couldn’t be simpler to make. This soup is the definition of an easy win. 

Enjoy!