Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash
Hearty chicken stew with butternut squash, tender baby potatoes, and fall-apart chicken. This one-pot chicken stew is nutritious, family-friendly, and easy to make!
If you love butternut squash, try Lentil and Butternut Squash Chili or Butternut Squash and Cranberry Quinoa Salad.
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Pair it with a salad like Brussel Sprouts Apple Salad, Grapefruit Avocado Salad, or a Harvest Salad.
Reasons to Love This Recipe
If you’re looking for a hearty and healthy meal that’s perfect for fall, chicken stew with butternut squash is a great option. Here are a few reasons why we love this dish:
- It’s easy to make: While there are many variations of chicken stew with butternut squash, most recipes are fairly simple and don’t require a lot of prep work. Many can be made in a slow cooker or Instant Pot, which makes it a great option for busy weeknights.
- It’s comforting and satisfying: There’s something about a warm bowl of stew that just feels comforting and cozy. The combination of tender chicken, flavorful broth, and sweet butternut squash makes for a satisfying and delicious meal.
- It’s versatile: While this is delicious on its own, it’s also easy to customize to your liking.
If you tried our One-Pot Chicken Stew then you will love this butternut squash stew!
Ingredients
To make a delicious chicken stew with butternut squash, you will need a variety of ingredients. Here are the main ingredients you will need:
- Chicken: The star of the show in this recipe is the chicken. You will need boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this dish.
- Butternut Squash: Butternut squash is a sweet and nutty winter squash that pairs perfectly with chicken.
- Vegetables: To add flavor and nutrition to the stew, you will need a variety of vegetables including carrots, onions, garlic, baby potatoes, canned tomatoes, and tomato paste.
- Seasonings: To season the stew, you will need a variety of herbs and spices including bay leaves, parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Liquid: To ensure the stew is flavorful and not too thick, you will need a combination of liquids including chicken stock and apple juice.
For a full ingredient list and quantities see the recipe card below.
Substitutions and Variations
If you want to switch up the ingredients in your butternut squash stew, there are several substitutions and variations you can try. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Protein Substitutions: Instead of using chicken, you can try using other types of protein in your stew. Some options include beef, pork, turkey, or vegetarian options like chickpeas or tofu.
- Vegetable Variations: While butternut squash is a classic ingredient in chicken stew, you can experiment with other vegetables to add variety like sweet potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, or greens.
- Flavor Enhancements: To add even more depth of flavor to your chicken stew, consider incorporating spices, herbs, wine, or coconut milk.
How To Make
- Toss chicken with flour until fully coated. Cook until lightly golden, about 6-8 minutes. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper.
- Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of chicken stock while scraping the bottom to loosen the browned bits. Add carrots, onions, and garlic, and cook until onions begin to soften. Stir in butternut squash, potatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, remaining chicken stock, apple juice, and bay leaves.
- Season everything with salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer, covered, over low heat, for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to simmer for 15 minutes longer or until the vegetables are tender.
- Discard bay leaves and stir in parsley.
How Long Does it Take to Cook Chicken Stew?
Chicken stew requires about 45 minutes total of simmering time. The longer it cooks the more delicious it will be. So definitely give yourself plenty of time to simmer.
Extra Tips for Making Chicken Stew
- Use the right oil. Use high-smoke oil such as avocado oil for cooking the chicken.
- Do not substitute chicken thighs. You can definitely use chicken breast in place of chicken thighs, however, you will lose some of the flavor. Chicken thighs have more fat, therefore, resulting in more flavor, especially when sautéed at high heat.
- Save on prep time. To save on prep time, purchase pre-chopped butternut squash. It’s already washed, peeled, and chopped for you.
- Apple juice. You can use sweetened, low-sugar, or unsweetened apple juice.
Storage and Reheating
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Label the container with the date you made the stew to ensure you know when it needs to be eaten by.
Reheat the stew in the microwave, making sure to stir it every 30 seconds to ensure it is heated evenly.
Recipe FAQs
If the butternut squash in your stew is mushy, it’s likely because it was overcooked. Butternut squash cooks faster than chicken, so it’s important to add it to the stew at the right time. You can add it in the last 30 minutes of cooking to prevent it from becoming too soft. Alternatively, you can cook the squash separately and add it to the stew when it’s done.
The length of time chicken stew needs to simmer depends on the recipe and the cut of chicken you’re using. In general, chicken stew should simmer for at least 30 minutes and up to one hour. The longer it simmers, the more tender the chicken will be. However, you don’t want to overcook the chicken, or it will become tough and dry.
The best chicken for stew is bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs or boneless thighs. They have more flavor and are more tender than chicken breasts. Chicken legs and drumsticks are also good options. If you prefer white meat, you can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
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If you try Butternut Squash Chicken Stew, please let me know how you like the recipe in the comments below.
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Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 1 hr
- Total Time: 1 hr 15 min
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Description
Hearty chicken stew with butternut squash, tender baby potatoes, and fall apart chicken. This one-pot meal is nutritious, family friendly, and easy to make!
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. avocado oil or other high-smoke point oil
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless, chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 cup carrots, thinly sliced on diagonal
- 1 medium onion, cut into wedges
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 cups chopped butternut squash
- 12 oz. baby gold potatoes, scrubbed + chopped
- 1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup apple juice
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
- Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
Instructions
- Heat oil in a dutch-oven over medium-high heat. Toss chicken with flour and add to the dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook chicken, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden, about 6-8 minutes.
- Add about 1/4 cup chicken stock while scraping the bottom of the dutch-oven to loosen browned bits.
- Add carrots, onions, and garlic, and cook until onions begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add butternut squash, potatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, remaining chicken stock, apple juice, and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and let the stew simmer for 30 minutes, covered. Uncover and continue to simmer for 15 minutes longer or until the vegetables are tender. The liquid will slightly reduce.
- Discard bay leaves and stir in parsley.
Notes
- A Quick Tip: Chop your butternut squash and potatoes into similar size so they cook evenly.
- Substitute for Apple Juice: Apple juice adds slight sweetness to the chicken stew but if you don’t have any that’s okay. You can simply add more chicken stock in place of the apple juice.
- Leftovers: Leftover chicken stew will last in the refrigerator for 3-4 days when stored in an airtight container.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 296
- Sugar: 9.6 g
- Sodium: 310.4 mg
- Fat: 9.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 34.9 g
- Protein: 20.6 g
- Cholesterol: 73.4 mg
Serving Sides Dishes
Hi! I'm Katya -- a former corporate paralegal turned full-time recipe developer and blogger behind Little Broken. Here you'll find family-friendly and seasonal recipes made from real ingredients.
This was really good. I substituted celeriac for the potatoes, left out the apple juice and flour. Instead I thickened it slightly with a cornstarch slurry. My boyfriend said he’d eat this every day.
Your recipes are always fantastic. I’ve made this before but swapped out the potatoes and apple juice with turnip and extra chicken stock to lower the carbs. Turned out great. 😊
Thank you!
This was really good! Normally when I make a recipe for the first time I try to make it per instructions, but I had to make a couple changes and it still worked out brilliantly, very thick and hearty.
I made this as a way to use up some leftover butternut pumpkin so I didn’t have as much as asked for and added more potatoes. I think this recipe would lend itself well to adjustments to use up old/leftover veggies. I also forgot about the apple juice and didn’t have any so I just added the extra chicken stock then stirred in a dash of apple cider vinegar at the end, which worked well.
Had to swap out the Squash for Sweet Potato because my supermarket was out of stock, but the recipe still worked a treat. Really hearty and warming. Also a fantastic recipe for cooking after work if you peel and chop everything ahead of time, then it’s more or a less a ‘throw everything in the pot and relax for half an hour’ cook.
This was absolutely delicious. We mash and freeze the leftover squash every-time we have it. I was looking for a recipe to use some of it. My husband was shocked it was squash. A nice thick stew. I’m not sure if my garlic was strong but next time I will cut it in half. Also did a pinch of cayenne pepper. Will be making again for sure!
I was searching for something with butternut squash that was healthy and quick. What a win. I used a small butternut squash two good size chicken breasts and I substituted the diced toms with fire roasted diced toms. Goodness gracious, I highly recommend this stew! So good on a cold day and full of flavor. Pleasantly surprised on how easy too! Thanks 🙂
Thank you for your feedback! So glad you enjoyed it.
Can i freeze the butternut and chicken stew
It should freeze just fine but the texture might be not as creamy and thick when you reheat it.
I made this tonight and it was a huge hit! A couple things I did differently though – no potatoes in the house (how!!?), so I added some red lentils and cannellini beans. I also omitted apple sauce because I didn’t have that. Did add a lot of chopped kale for added veggies.
Literally sooo delicious!! Thanks for the recipe.
I made this in my crockpot using leftover oven roasted Turkey from thanksgiving. All the rest of the ingredients I used were the same. I did add some extra other spices and herbs. Cooked on low for 7 hours. Came out perfect! Thank you.
What spices did you add??
The recipe is amazing, but I decided to switch it up a bit by adding potatoes and carrots to the chicken broth. Then I precooked the chicken with onions, parsnips and squash whilst adding flour to that mixture. Additionally, I added spinach, lentils, parsley, thyme, basil and sage along with some ginger. and apples to the stew and let it simmer. Moreover, I added a flour slurry to thicken the stew and apple cider instead of apple juice.
The recipe is amazing, but I decided to switch it up a bit by adding potatoes and carrots to the broth. Then I precooked the chicken with onions, parsnips and squash while adding flour to that mixture and added spinach, lentils and apples to the stew and let it simmer. Additionally, I added parsley, thyme, basil and sage along with some ginger.
I loved it. My daughter and son-in-law were just okay with it. It’s a great soup for cold weather and as a senior who eats somewhat lighter than in my younger years, it really hit the spot. I will definitely make this for myself again.