Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup -- The Comfort Food I Made to Remind Myself I Can Cook

November. Caleb turns two on the 24th. Thanksgiving is the 26th. My second son is about to be a two-year-old and I'm planning a birthday party and a Thanksgiving dinner simultaneously because that's what happens when your kid is born on Thanksgiving week. The party will be small — desert small. Tamara and her kids. Beth and her baby. Patricia. The daycare friends. Ten people, tops. Cake, food, Caleb in a birthday hat looking confused. The cake: chocolate this time. He's had chocolate now (the broccoli holdout, the chocolate enthusiast — his priorities are clear). A small two-layer chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and a '2' candle. Homemade, obviously. I considered ordering from the one bakery in town but Mom said, 'Rachel Leigh Abernathy, you are not BUYING a birthday cake when you can MAKE a birthday cake,' and that was the end of that conversation. Thanksgiving planning: Mom and Dad are not coming this year. The pandemic, Dad's health risk, the distance — it's too much. This will be the first Thanksgiving I cook ENTIRELY MYSELF. No Mom in the kitchen. No co-cooking. No supervision. Just me, the binder, the oven (adjusted down twenty degrees), and the audacity to attempt a full Donna Abernathy Thanksgiving in a three-square-foot kitchen. The menu (scaled down because it's three of us, not six): - Turkey breast (not a whole turkey — no room in the oven) - Mom's stuffing - Mashed potatoes - Gravy from the drippings - Cranberry sauce (homemade, with orange zest) - Green bean casserole - One pie: pecan (Ryan's favorite) No sweet potato casserole. No rolls. No second pie. This is the desert Thanksgiving: stripped to essentials, the way the desert strips everything. Mom's nightly call has become a Thanksgiving prep session. She walks me through the timeline: what to make Wednesday, what to do Thursday morning, when to start the turkey, when to pull the gravy. She's coaching me the way she coached me through my first casserole in Jacksonville. Except now she's coaching a Thanksgiving for three in the Mojave Desert. 'You can do this,' she said. 'You've been cooking for three years. You've survived deployment and PPD and a pandemic and Twentynine Palms. You can make Thanksgiving dinner.' I can make Thanksgiving dinner. (Can I? I'll let you know on the 26th.) Made Mom's chicken soup tonight. The comfort food. The pre-challenge food. The food you make when something hard is coming and you need to be reminded that you can cook. I can cook. I CAN cook. The dumplings are perfect. The pot roast is excellent. The biscuits 'will do.' I can make Thanksgiving dinner. I think.

The night before I started Thanksgiving prep, I needed something that wasn’t the turkey, wasn’t the pie, wasn’t the stuffing—something just for me, to prove I still had my footing in that tiny kitchen. Mom’s chicken soup was the ritual, but this Instant Pot butternut squash soup has become my own version of the same thing: warm, simple, and deeply reassuring. It’s the food I make when something hard is coming and I need to hear myself say, out loud, that I can cook. If you’re staring down a big meal—or just a big week—start here.

Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 1 medium butternut squash (about 3 lbs), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and chopped (Honeycrisp or Fuji work well)
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or full-fat coconut milk
• Pepitas and a drizzle of cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Saute the aromatics. Set the Instant Pot to Saute mode. Add olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3–4 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
2. Add squash and apple. Add the cubed butternut squash and chopped apple to the pot. Stir to combine with the onion mixture.
3. Season and add broth. Sprinkle in the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and pepper. Pour in the broth and stir everything together. Make sure the squash is mostly submerged.
4. Pressure cook. Cancel Saute mode. Secure the lid and set the valve to Sealing. Cook on Manual (High Pressure) for 10 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes, then carefully switch the valve to Venting to release any remaining pressure.
5. Blend until smooth. Using an immersion blender directly in the pot, blend the soup until completely smooth. Alternatively, carefully transfer in batches to a countertop blender—fill no more than halfway and vent the lid to allow steam to escape.
6. Finish with cream. Stir in the heavy cream or coconut milk. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. If the soup is too thick, add broth a splash at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency.
7. Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with a swirl of cream and a handful of pepitas if desired. Serve warm with crusty bread or alongside whatever is already making your kitchen smell like November.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 195 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 27g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 310mg