How to Make The Weight Watchers Butternut Squash Soup Recipe

WW, or Weight Watchers, is America’s most popular diet brand. Founded in 1963 in Queens as an informal club of friends trying to lose weight, WW has helped tens of millions of Americans lose weight and keep it off for months or years. It’s been a long journey from Jean Nidetch’s kitchen to millions of homes across the country.

Though in the 2000s, WW came under attack in the media for allegedly scientifically unsupported plans, the company came back, and remains one of the world’s most successful diet plan companies.

Weight Watchers’ butternut squash and apple soup is a fine example of this harvest-inspired soup. Using ingredients that are all fresh and ready in the fall, our variation on this classic recipe is not only low-calorie, using 0 WW points, but it’s tasty, quick to put together, and easy.

This variation uses roasting in the oven to caramelize and bring out some of the best flavors in this classic dish. You’ll love the rich, roasted flavors of our butternut squash and apple soup, inspired by the WW version of the same dish.

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How to make the Weight Watchers Butternut Squash Soup Recipe at Home

Ingredients

4 cups Vegetable or Chicken broth
12 oz Raw butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch cubes
½ large uncooked sweet onion (like a Vidalia onion), cut into wedges.
½ small, peeled Fresh apple, cut into to 2-inch cubes
¼ tsp table salt, or to taste
⅛ tsp Black pepper, or to taste
⅛ tsp Ground nutmeg, or to taste

Equipment

Sheet pan
Stock pot or Dutch oven
Blender (either a jar blender or stick blender. Stick blender must be a heat-safe version.

Directions

Optional pre-step: In a 450-degree oven, roast the squash until the top is golden and preferably lightly charred. This will deepen the flavor of the squash, but it will also darken the color of the soup. Repeat with apples if desired. If you prefer a paler-colored soup or don’t want the flavor of roasted squash and/or apples, omit this step.
In a large stock pot or Dutch oven, combine the broth, squash, onion, and apple. Add salt. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
Remove the lid of the pot to allow liquid to evaporate, reducing the heat to low.
Gently simmer until the squash is very tender, about 10 minutes.
Using an immersion blender or, in batches, a conventional blender, puree the soup. As an option, use a potato masher to get the same effect, if you don’t have a blender in your kitchen.
Season with the salt, pepper and nutmeg; serve.

*Serving size: about 3/4 cup

FAQs:

How Does Weight Watchers Work?

Weight Watchers is the world’s most used diet program. Its points system is balanced to try to produce a healthy and varied diet that encourages weight reduction while on the program and designed to be easy to convert to real-world food behavior once participation in the program ends.

In its favor, the plan’s designers argue that it is based on solid scientific evidence and that millions of people have lost weight on Weight Watchers’ program and kept it off.

How do Zero-Point Foods Work On Weight Watchers?

This recipe as written is considered a ZeroPoint™ food by WW. ZeroPoint™ foods are foods that are considered foundational to healthy eating. Examples given by WW of ZeroPoint™ foods include chicken and turkey breast, corn and popcorn, fish and shellfish, or tofu and tempeh. These are foods that are considered the best basis of a healthy diet.

WW has been criticized for some of their inclusions on the ZeroPoint™ list, in particular eggs, which are rich in cholesterol and relatively calorie-dense. However, they defend their use of the list as a foundation for good eating habits.

Is butternut squash good for digestion and fitness?

Butternut squash is rich in soluble and insoluble fiber, both of which are very good for your digestion. Insoluble fiber helps bulk up stool, making constipation less likely and making bowel movements more productive to getting waste out of the body. Soluble fiber is one of the classic low-breakdown carbohydrates, creating a slow and steady release of energy. Eating butternut squash is absolutely healthy and great for digestion.

In addition, butternut squash is rich in electrolytes, making it an excellent choice for someone who is athletically active. Electrolyte-rich butternut squash helps replenish the body after heavy work. Active athletes may be interested in adding butternut squash soup to their diets.

What variations on this soup are there?

Butternut Squash soup often is finished with butter, a process known in the culinary industry as “monter a beurre,” mounting or finishing a dish with butter.

Butter-finished soups have additional calories (for this soup, about 25 calories per serving assuming 1 tablespoon of butter), but many people believe the flavor is worth it. For those choosing not to use animal-based proteins and fats, using a tablespoon of olive oil will have a similar effect, both in finishing richness and in additional calories.

Another flavor-enhancing option that does have some caloric impact is adding a dash of maple syrup to the stock to bring out the sweetness of the stock. If you have bonito flakes around, dashi may be an excellent alternative to chicken or vegetable broth, giving the soup an Asian flair along with mirin, garlic, ginger, soy, or other ingredients.

Are there any problems with eating butternut squash?

Although butternut squash is extremely high in beta-carotene, an amino acid that promotes optical health, consuming too much of this compound may increase the risk of lung cancer. Also, variations of this recipe that include added fats or sugars may lead to additional calories through high levels of sucrose or lipids. Use your judgment when using and modifying a butternut squash soup to take advantage of other ingredients.

What Controversies Has WW or Weight Watchers been a part of?

Since 2000, some scientists have argued that there’s little evidence for permanent weight loss and that a person can only be healthy while varying their weight no more than 10-15% from a baseline set in early adulthood. Since Weight Watchers was advertising significant and durable weight loss, this put them in controversy, especially with the emergence of movements like Health At Every Size (HAES), which emphasizes fitness and metabolic conditioning without putting the precondition of weight loss on the person.

Despite its rebrand, Weight Watchers continues to have some issues with what critics refer to as “diet culture,” including promoting a “healthy eating” app for kids called Kurbo. Critics accuse this app of encouraging disordered eating among children.

How do I join WW?

WW or Weight Watchers takes applications directly on their website to use their services. With pricing starting at $15 a month, WW is a great, convenient way to help yourself get into new diet habits, especially around the new year. Its programs are simple and convenient to use.

They advertise that they use nutritional and behavioral science to change your relationship around food, and provide a support system to improve the chances that you can lose weight and keep it off long-term.

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How to Make The Weight Watchers Butternut Squash Soup Recipe