Of course when I see a new recipe on TikTok, I must make it… So, I went ahead and made the butternut squash soup by Paige Tapp in my small college kitchen for my boyfriend, Mike, and two of my friends, Caitlyn and Jimmy! Here’s how it went:
First I must start off with the ingredients:
1-2 Butternut squash (depending on the size)
1 onion
1 large bulb of garlic
Olive oil to taste
2 cups Almond milk (or regular milk)
Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste
Croutons for the toppings (I got gluten and dairy free ones which were surprisingly good)
** You can also add in 2 sweet potatoes like I did for additional flavor**
Appliances you need:
Oven
Blender
Cooking pans
The story:
I began with peeling and cubing the sweet potatoes, cutting the tops off the garlic, and roughly chopping the onion. Then I cut the squashes in half and scooped out the middle. I should probably note here that you are better off peeling the squash too as it becomes incredibly difficult to scoop the insides out later on … But we will get to that eventually!
I placed everything in pans and covered them in olive oil, salt, and red pepper flakes. I baked them at 400 degrees for 50 minutes. I am going to be honest with all of you: I overcooked the sweet potatoes a little bit so they probably don’t have to be in the oven for as long. Also, depending on your oven it might take a little longer for the squash to be soft enough to blend, so I recommend just keeping an eye on them and making sure they are fork tender.
Once everything was cooked, I tried to scrape out the insides of the burning hot squashes with Mike’s help (here’s where peeling the squash beforehand would have been helpful lol). I have to say that the best part was squeezing the cloves out of the garlic (like you have probably seen on TikTok before). Finally, I placed all the ingredients in the blender while they were hot, with around 2 cups of almond milk and blended it until everything looked smooth.
Mike was on plating duty and he poured the soup into the bowls for my friends, and then into the bowls for us. We topped with the croutons and dug in!
Since I knew I was going to be writing an article about this soup, I asked my guests for their reviews and here’s what they said:
- Mike – 5 stars, a bit spicy, consistency was “thicc and foamy,” 4.7 presentation because he poured it out himself
- Caitlyn – 5 stars, good flavor, “tasted like fall,” consistency was thin mashed potato which she said was a high compliment, presentation was good, color made her excited to eat it
- Jimmy – 5 stars, flavor was sweet and salty, “chowder-like,” would eat again, excellent service, above average presentation, good color
Based on these reviews, I cannot tell if they were being super nice or if they really did enjoy it, BUT I do know that I had a ton of fun making it. I thought that it was delicious considering it was my first ever attempt at homemade soup! Also, I loved how I knew all the ingredients that were in the soup as it was full of veggies which made me feel like it was super healthy lol :) All in all, I will definitely be attempting another TikTok recipe while at school and until then, eat some good soup!