This Fan-Favorite Soup Gets A Tasty Twist With Bourbon

We're big fans of soups at Chowhound. Chowders, pho, ramen, stews — you name it, we've got someone on board who loves it. But every now and then, we like taking some traditional, staple recipes and shaking things up a little, just to keep it fresh and exciting. Take this simple roasted butternut squash soup recipe, for example — already a total winner by itself. It's just one simple step to elevate it even further with bourbon.

Bourbon is great for both cooking and baking, with its notes of oak, caramel, and vanilla making it a particularly decadent addition. Butternut squash soup already has some warm and sweet flavors thanks to the natural sugars in the squash, and adding some bourbon enhances that. Bourbon also often has a smoky undertone, which suits squash perfectly and makes the dish feel even more cozy and warm. Just make sure to add bourbon at the right time. If you're making soup from scratch, add some bourbon to deglaze your pan after cooking down your aromatics. If you're just adding it to a store-bought soup, you want to add it in and then simmer your soup so it reaches the boiling point of alcohol (173 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least 15 minutes to reduce the alcohol content by more than 60%. This cooks off that sharp alcohol taste, leaving the delightful sweet and smokey notes of the bourbon as the star.

We've looked at some bottom-shelf bourbons that are actually worth the buy before, but you might want to stick to a middle-shelf bourbon when cooking. You don't need something super expensive when you're just going to be mixing your bourbon into soup, but you should keep your eye out for a few things while shopping. First: lean sweet. Check the reviews for your bourbon of choice or do a little taste test for yourself to make sure it's got the sweetness level you want. Second: Go for something with complexity. This is why you want to avoid bottom-shelf bourbons (or these other bourbons you should leave on the shelf), where the flavor is pretty straightforward, and the alcoholic edge is stronger.

Finally, go for something middling in cost since it'll give you both that boozy bite and the signature flavors of bourbon. Four Roses is a standard choice, along with Clyde May's Straight Bourbon Whiskey. The notes of spice, dried fruit, and honey in this brand make for a particularly good companion to squash. Bib and Tucker doesn't just have dried fruit notes but also brings some corn, licorice, and cocoa flavors to the dish. Something simple and sweet like Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 also does the trick since it's distinct without having a sharp or bitter aftertaste. Just add a few dashes to taste while cooking up your soup, and you can easily enjoy that lovely extra depth of flavor in your next bowl.