This is one of my all-time favorite soups, especially in the fall. The acorn squash, pear, and Chinese 5-spice are just MAGICAL flavors together.
Servings: 3
Ingredients*
Veggies
- 1 acorn squash 1.5 to 2 lb squash
- 1/2 of a yellow onion, diced 5 oz
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced 3 oz
- 1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, sliced 8 oz
Protein
- 2 cans adzuki beans, drained 18 oz
Fat
- 1.5 Tbsp olive oil for the soup
- 1.5 Tbsp sesame oil for the mushrooms
Fruit
- 2 ripe pears 9 oz
Condiments & Spices
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger minced or grated
- 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- 1/4 tsp good quality sea salt
- 2 tsp fresh lime juice
- soy sauce or tamari for gf
Suggested Equipment*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Cut the acorn squash in half, scoop out the seeds with a spoon, and roast face down on a piece of parchment paper, lightly sprayed with oil, salt, and pepper if desired. Roast for 30-40 minutes, until soft.
- Sauté the onions and peppers in the 1.5 Tbsp olive oil for about 10 minutes, or until the onions begin to brown.
- Add the ginger and garlic and sauté for 1 more minute over medium heat.
- Stirring often, add the salt, five-spice, and pear, and cook for another minute before adding the vegetable stock. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat to medium low and simmer for about 10-15 more minutes, or until the pears are tender.
- If you are going to purée some of the soup, purée half of it now, either using an immersion blender or by transferring half of it to a blender.
- Add the adzuki beans to the soup. Cover and simmer over low heat until the beans are heated, about 5 minutes. Thin with extra broth if the soup is too thick.
- Meanwhile, prepare the mushrooms. In a cast iron skillet or other kind of skillet, heat the 1.5 tablespoons of sesame oil over medium heat. Brown the mushrooms for about 5 minutes.
- Add a splash of soy sauce and lime and stir until combined.
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PERFECT timing!! I have some adzuki beans in my pantry and have had no idea what to do with them. This looks delicious! Thanks Katie – love all the how to pictures.
Hi Katie! What is Chinese 5 spice?
Sent from Mrs T
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If you look in any spice section of any grocery store you should be able to find it. It’s a particular spice blend.
So this makes 3 servings total, right? How much does 1 serving approximately weigh?
1 serving approximately weighs 1 lb, 2 oz. Sorry, I forgot to add that into the recipe. I’ll edit that right now. Thanks!
Wonderful recipe. Thanks so much for posting this !
Delicious recipe.Thanks for sharing!!
YUMMMM! Such intriguing flavors. The pear with the five spice with the sesame/soy shiitake. SOOO good Katie! This takes a while to make, but it felt very nurturing to do all the prep on this dreary Friday! I did about 1/2 puree using the immersion blender in the pot – just like your pictures.
Sounds like beautiful self care Jenny! 😘
This is my favorite recipe so far! Took me a while to make but so worth it! Buying veggies presliced will make a big difference. Used navy beans because I could not find adzuki anywhere. Are they hard to find or partial to health food stores? Other than the mushrooms is there any reason not to do this on a slow cooker?
I know, it’s hard to find adzuiki beans for some reason. I think we finally found them at whole foods. Sometimes they are in natural food sections. I don’t think there’s any reason not to do this one in a slow cooker, let me know how it goes!
Made this today – delicioussss combo of flavors, especially the hint of pear against everything else. I blended half and like that because it made it a think soup with just a bit of chunkines. I used black beans, garbanzo, and pinto, and it still turned out well.
I thought this was delicious!!! I like texture so I did not blend 1/2.
OH WOW! Does this look good! Thank you, Katie! You’re always so precise with your recipes and I appreciate it! I’m getting back on the BLE train and I’m planning out my meals for this next week. Can’t wait to try this one out!
Do you think I could use other spices than Chinese 5 spice?
The Chinese 5 spice is what makes this soup so freaking yummy, in my opinion. You could swap it with something else, but it would be a pretty different soup. Maybe garam masala or curry powder?
I had never used Chinese 5 Spice. I agree with you, Katie, this spice makes this dish! So unique and deeeeelish!!