You're making soup all wrong - clever vegetable hack will make life so much easier

Soup season is finally here but chopping butternut squash and pumpkins can be very tricky - so here is a handy four-step hack that will make your life much easier

With summer officially over and autumn very much upon us, it's the perfect time to enjoy hot, tasty soups once again.

The end of September in the UK often marks the beginning of soup season, with the colder temperatures and shorter days giving us the perfect excuse to make homemade soup for either lunch or dinner. Butternut squash and pumpkins are an excellent base for soups, with their naturally creamy texture and sweet, nutty flavour providing the perfect balance.

Soups are also a great way of staying healthy and consuming extra vegetables. Butternut squash and pumpkins are packed with essential vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and fibre, so they also give us a number of health benefits.

Making soups with these foods can sometimes be difficult, however, as it seems to always take ages to cut and prepare the vegetables. Their density and tough outer skin make chopping tricky and significant force is often required.

Once peeled, the squash also becomes slippery, making it harder to safely cut into uniform pieces. With sharp knives involved, this presents a risk of accidents, so home cooks need to be extremely careful.

Luckily for us, Britsuperstore have come up with a simple, expert hack for making butternut squash prep an absolute breeze! Simply follow the four-step guide below!

Begin by piercing the squash

Before microwaving the butternut squash, use a fork or the tip of a knife to pierce the skin with several holes. This allows the steam to escape and prevents the butternut squash from bursting in the microwave.

Microwave the squash

Place the whole butternut squash in the microwave and heat it on max for between two and four minutes, depending on the size of the vegetable. This will soften the skin and flesh slightly, which makes it much easier to cut.

Let it cool and peel and cut

After microwaving, let the squash cool for a couple of minutes. You should now be able to peel and slice. Use a sharp vegetable peeler to remove the softened skin. Chop off the ends of the squash, slice it in half and scoop out the seeds.

Bonus hack

If you plan to roast the squash to use in a soup, roast the whole thing first instead of chopping it into pieces. The contents can then be scooped out, which will save you a lot of strenuous chopping time.