Savory Bacon & Butternut Squash Soup with Homemade Croutons

There are SO many sweet butternut squash recipes out there but I decided to create a savory version because that's my favorite kind of soup!

Homemade Crouton Ingredients:

• 5 pieces of bread

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 4 tsp garlic powder

• 2 tsp dried oregano

• Generously seasoned with salt & pepper

Homemade Crouton Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut your bread slices into small squares (crouton size) and lay them flat on a baking sheet.

3. Drizzle the bread with the olive oil (don't drench it, but just so you can coat the pieces evenly)

4. Generously season the top with salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried oregano.

5. Roast until the pieces are a nice golden brown on one side and then flip them and do the same on the other side.

Soup Ingredients:

• 4 frozen bags of cubed butternut squash (12oz bags)

• 6 strips of bacon (cut/chopped into small pieces)

• 1 medium yellow onion

• 4 tbsp jalapeño (I use the jarred jalapeños and I finely chop them) (You can use a smaller amount, such as 1 tbsp, if you don't want it spicy)

• 1 tbsp of olive oil

• 4 cups of chicken broth (1 box)

• 1 cup of heavy cream (DF option: unsweetened coconut cream)

• 1/2 cup of sour cream (DF option: Good Karma)

• 1 tsp nutmeg

• 2 tsp minced garlic

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 2 tsp red pepper flakes (use a smaller amount if you don't want it too spicy)

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Top with homemade croutons (recipe above), green onions and red pepper flakes

Soup Directions:

1. Roast the frozen butternut squash in the oven until tender (400 degrees)

2. While the squash is roasting, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pot.

3. Add the diced bacon, diced onion and the diced jalapeño to the oil and cook until the bacon is crispy.

4. Put this mixture in the blender and puree it with chicken broth (1/2 cup-1 cup)

5. Once this is done, add it back to the pot.

6. When the squash is finished, add it to a blender (it will give you roughly 5-6 cups) with your chicken broth. Then fill the blender to it's max with chicken broth (roughly 1-2 cups).

7. Once you've blended your butternut squash and broth together, dump the mixture into a pot with the other puree you created.

8. Stir the mixtures together and add the remaining chicken broth, heavy cream, minced garlic and sour cream.

9. Then season with salt pepper, onion powder, oregano and nutmeg.

10. Cook on medium-low heat until the soup is thickened and then serve with homemade croutons and green onions!