This chicken stew recipe is packed with fantastic flavor and health benefits, thanks to the butternut squash and quinoa. Comfort in a bowl! 330 calories and 5 Weight Watchers Freestyle SP
I was patting myself on the back for this hearty chicken stew recipe all day long. Tasty? Oh my, yes. Healthy? You better believe it. Aroma? I'd say it gets a "15" on a scale of 1 to 10. This recipe formed in my head slowly, starting with some chicken thighs sitting in the fridge. Then I picked up a butternut squash at the grocery store, with the thought of making soup. Instead, I cubed and steamed the squash, mashing half of it to help thicken the stew. In went the quinoa, one of my favorite grains, for an extra punch of protein and fiber. The topper was a kick of briny flavor from some kalamata olives and a burst of freshness from a handful of chopped parsley.
While low in calories and fat, a bowlful of this chicken stew recipe easily satisfied my craving for comfort food. Also, butternut squash is high in Vitamins A and C, as well as fiber, so I knew I was getting a well-rounded meal to keep my body healthy for my daily workouts. One can not keep up with a high-energy "power pump" instructor without some decent fuel from which to draw. Seriously, this woman makes the Energizer bunny look like a total slacker. And she has about a dozen grandkids! Inspirational? Yeah, I'd say so.
This stew can be made in advance, but you may need to add a little more chicken broth before serving because the quinoa will expand as it sits. Either way, the flavors and textures are fantastic and it is sure to become a cold-weather favorite.
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Hearty Chicken Stew with Butternut Squash & Quinoa Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds butternut squash peeled, seeded & chopped into ½-inch pieces
- 3 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 14 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- ⅔ cup uncooked quinoa
- ¾ cup pitted & quartered kalamata olives
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Steam the butternut squash until barely tender, about 10 minutes. Remove half of the squash pieces and set aside.
- Steam the remaining squash until very tender, an additional 4 to 6 minutes. Mash this squash with the back of a fork. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the chicken broth to a simmer.
- Add chicken thighs, cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken thighs to a plate and allow to cool. Pour broth into a medium-sized bowl.
- Return the saucepan to the stovetop and lower heat to medium. Add olive oil.
- Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is starting to turn brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the salt, minced garlic and oregano. Cook, stirring, for 1 additional minute.
- To the saucepan, add tomatoes, butternut squash pieces, mashed butternut squash. Stir to combine.
- Stir in reserved chicken broth and quinoa. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the quinoa turns translucent, about 15 minutes.
- Shred the chicken with your fingers or a fork.
- Stir the chicken, olives and pepper into the stew and simmer, uncovered, to heat, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in parsley and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Other healthy stew recipes:
Left to right: Italian Split Pea Stew with Cauliflower, Spiced Mushroom, Chickpea & Tomato Stew, and Curry Red Lentil Stew with Tomatoes
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Laura
I don't know what I did wrong, but this was the most fowl thing I think I've ever made. I took one bite and threw out an entire crockpot of food. 🙁
Dara (Cookin' Canuck)
Hi Laura, I'm not sure what went wrong, but I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I know how frustrating that can be! There have been so many positive comments from other that have made this recipe, and I would love to help you figure out what went wrong. Just as a starting point, did you make the recipe as written?
Amy
Thanks, made this tonight and it was a big hit! My five year old who is always suspicious of food that is mixed together even liked it!
anders
Thank you! I just made this recipe and it is so delicious!!!!!! I added a scoop of roasted pumpkin puree that was leftover from my pumpkin pie earlier in the week and roasted the squash. Turned out wonderful 🙂
Bianca
This was a great recipe! I was worried about it tasting bland but not so. Especially the kalamata olives, that was key! I subbed spinach for parsley, as I am not a parsley fan. Thank you!
Diane in NC
Hello! I found this on Pinterest. I'm having it for lunch right now. It's delicious! I'm not big fan of olives so I left those out. I threw in some chopped swiss chard at the end just because I'm trying to get more greens in and thought it would work well. It did. Otherwise, I made the recipe exactly as instructed and it is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Mary
Hello.. this sounds yummy. I have all the ingredients on hand (surprisingly enough) except I have acorn sqush... would that work as a subsitute? thanks for sharing what looks like an exceptional stew. can't wait to try it.
Heather
This was unbelievably good. My 16 year old had four bowls after his swim meet. It tastes so yummy, I cooked the whole thing in my crock pot. I started with frozen chicken thighs for 8 hours on low then added the roasted smashed butternut squash and the chicken broth and seasonings and quinoa. I threw in the butternut squash the last little bit so it was still firm but heated through after roasting earlier in the day. So so good.
Jill
Do you think I could keep this warm in a crock pot for a couple hours, or would something get funky with it?
June
This stew is awesome! I like to use my crockpot during the week so I cooked all of the veggies in the crockpot all day on low. I then added leftover rotisserie chicken and 2 cups of cooked quinoa to the crockpot a short time before serving. I didn't look at the entire recipe at first, just the photo, and thought the olives were black beans. I don't like kalmata olives so I substituted black beans for fun. YUM!
Diane in NC
I thought they were black beans before reading the recipe too!
Jennifer
Made this a couple of nights ago and it was wonderful and Hubby LOVED it. He added a good bit of fresh ground pepper and I added crushed red pepper flakes and it was even better. Thanks for the recipe!