Ingredients
- 4 pounds butternut squash peeled and cubed
- 1 Vidalia onion chopped
- 1 cup carrots peeled and chopped
- 15.25 ounce can pears drained
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced or 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened and cubed
- 1 cup heavy cream
For serving:
- Pepita seeds
- Chopped fresh parsley
- Crusty bread
Method
- Spray a 6–8 quart slow cooker with nonstick spray. Add in the squash, onion, carrots, drained pears, broth, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours, until the vegetables are very tender.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth right in the crock pot. No immersion blender? No problem—carefully transfer the soup to a blender in batches, then return it to the crock pot.
- Stir in the cubed cream cheese and heavy cream. Keep stirring until the cream cheese is fully melted and blended in.
- Ladle into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of cream or olive oil, a handful of pepita seeds, and a sprinkle of fresh parsley. Don’t forget the crusty bread on the side for dipping!
Nutrition
Notes
Tip! To bring your cream cheese to room temperature quickly, simply place the cream cheese in the foil packaging on the lid of the crock pot for 30 minutes. The heat from the lid will soften the cream cheese in a jiffy!
Shortcut tip: Use pre-cubed butternut squash from the store to save time.
Make it dairy-free: Swap cream cheese and cream for coconut cream or a plant-based alternative.