Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash

Tired of the same old soups and stews? Try this fabulous Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash. Chock full of chicken and veggies, it’s the ultimate one pot meal.

The weather here has finally changed *YAY*! All it took was me leaving for a week and a half to Seattle. Take that Texas, pull it together, it’s autumn!

This stew is a great change from the same old – same old, plus it’s infinitely variable depending on your likes and dislikes. Don’t like tomatoes? Leave them out. Only have rice on hand? Sub it for quinoa. Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash is one of those dishes that’s even better the next day too and it freezes great.

I like to make this as simple as possible. Usually I buy precut butternut squash and frozen diced onion to save on prep time. If you look closely in the picture you’ll see there are pearl onions. That’s because when I looked in the freezer I was out of diced but had pearl left over from one of those random recipes that only used a cup of them. No problem!

If you’re one of the people who’s suspicious of quinoa, that’s okay although this is a great gateway dish. One of the problems people can have with quinoa as a side dish is that the texture is different than the only grain they’re used to; rice. In stew though it all comes together into a wonderful whole so the quinoa doesn’t stand out as much. If you hate quinoa you can definitely sub rice or barley or any other grain, adjusting the cooking time as necessary.

My favorite addition to this is the green chiles. I use mild for the children but feel free to spice it up and use hot. Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt is an excellent topper.

Well that was a boring write up. Don’t worry, there is plenty of fun to come. It’s December after all, the magical time of cocktails and appetizers! For the next five weeks or so dinner is just something to get through until the next party, am I right?!

Feeling soupier? Check out Italian Wedding Soup with pasta, beans and teeny tiny meatballs.

Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash

 

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Prep Time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

If you live where you can get Rotel, sub two cans for the can of tomatoes and cans of green chiles. I’ve found frozen diced butternut squash to be absolutely flavorless in this, but the diced in the produce section is perfect.

Author: Chef Shelley

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon fat of your choice
• 
  
• 2 cups frozen diced onion or 1 medium yellow onion, diced or half a bag of frozen pearl onions
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
• 
  
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced or 1 heaping tablespoon preprepped
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• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 2 4 ounce cans fire roasted, diced green chiles, mild or hot
• 1 – 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 
  
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped bite size or a pound more or less of preprepped
• ⅔ cup uncooked quinoa, rice, barley, farro or other grain (or cheat and use two cups cooked, just skip grain cooking time and go straight to cooking chicken time)
• 
  
• 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
• 
  
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach
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• Optional: sour cream for topping stew

Instructions

1. Add fat to a Dutch oven over medium high heat until the fat is shimmering or butter stops foaming. Add onions and oregano and sauté until translucent about 8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 30 seconds.
2. Add broth, tomatoes, chiles, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, add butternut squash and grain. Bring back to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer. Simmer 10 minutes if using a fast cooking grain like quinoa or white rice or 30 minutes if using a long cooking grain like brown rice, barley or farro.
3. Add chicken and keep at a simmer. Cook 5-7 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
4. Add a handful of spinach to each bowl and spoon stew over. Top with sour cream if desired.

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