Veggie Chicken Soup with Butternut Squash

Soup season! Best time of the year. And this veggie chicken soup with butternut squash is making it’s debut in my home, and will be on repeat! Everyone loved it, EVEN THE LITTLE BOYS.

One thing I’ve learned about my kids, is that if they smell those house-warming, homemade smells, like the sautéing of onions and celery and garlic etc… they’re more likely to brave actually TASTING the veggies when the chunky, colorful soup is put in front of them. Even veggie-hating little boys can’t deny the smells of COMFORT.

Also a big hunk of crusty bread helps.

Anyway, this was loved by all of us. And I’m going to admit something, I used to avoid butternut squash because it’s higher in carbs than some other veggie options. But the more I’ve experimented and calculated, the more I realize how little a difference it makes in the final macro-count of a serving, when I incorporate a little bit of a delicious, starchier veggie. Not to mention of course ALL OF THE HEALTH BENEFITS to enjoying a wide variety of veggies.

What You’ll need for this Veggie Chicken Soup with Butternut Squash

• Veggies!: Onions, celery, carrots, butternut squash, peas, and sneaky cauliflower
• Chicken: I love to get the already shredded rotisserie chicken breast from Costco for soups! Makes my life so much easier this time of year. But feel free to use what you’ve got.
• Bone Broth: I’ve also include the macros if you’d rather use regular chicken broth, but I’m sold on the gut-health benefits of bone broth right now, and am excited to get it our tummies as often as possible! Also for those of you looking to get in more protein, it’s PACKED. The truth is, that used to turn me off because I’d rather enjoy my protein in my chicken etc, but it’s a 5 gram difference in this whole serving, so I’ll sacrifice a few bites of chicken for the health of our guts!
• Spices: Garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, and poultry seasoning. Nothing fancy but ALL YOU NEED to make this so rich in flavor.

How you make this Veggie Chicken Soup with Butternut Squash

Is it getting annoying yet how I keep repeating the title? Google makes me do it. Love me still. xo

Anyway, here’s the simple version:

• Sauté all of your veggies for about 10 minutes until desired tenderness
• Add garlic and spices and sauté a bit longer
• Add chicken, bone broth, blended cauliflower (don’t stress, steam a bag, toss it in a blender with a bit of your broth), and your frozen peas. (I’m so obsessed with my Ninja IQ and let it sit on my counter for good. Makes stuff like this a breeze. Also makes my nightly shake… which makes me the happiest girl on earth.)
• Simmer and ENJOY with a big hunk of crusty bread because this healthy soup left you room for it!

Veggie Chicken Soup with Butternut Squash

A delicious, soul-warming and veggie-packed soup my whole family loves!

Print Pin Rate

5 from 1 vote

Author Lillie

Course Soup

Cuisine Comfort, Healthy

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 7

Calories 235 kcal

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups onion diced (one whole 12-oz bag of frozen diced for ease!)
• 2 cups celery chopped (250 g)
• 2 cups butternut squash chopped (1 lb–I buy mine pre-chopped)
• 2 cups carrots chopped (270 g)
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 3 cloves of garlic minced (or frozen Dorot cubes)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary minced (or 1 tsp dried)
• ½ tsp poultry seasoning
• 3.5 cups rotisserie chicken breast 535 g
• 5 cups bone broth 1 Costco box plus 1 cup/240g
• 10 oz bag of fresh cauliflower florets may use frozen too
• 1 cup frozen peas 123g

Instructions

• Heat a large heavy-bottomed pot over high heat. Spray with olive or avocado oil spray. As you get them chopped, add onions, celery, squash, carrots, salt and pepper and sauté for about 10 minutes, or until tender and very fragrant.  You can use a lid to speed up the process, just be sure to stir occasionally. If you feel like that’s too hot in your pot, cook over medium-high. Don’t burn, but a little bit of brown bits on the bottom of the pot mean more FLAVOR.
• Add garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, and poultry seasoning.  Sauté for a few more minutes, then add shredded chicken, and bone broth. Turn down to medium.
• Steam a 10 oz bag of cauliflower florets in the microwave according to package directions (or use your favorite steaming method.) In a high-speed blender, blend the steamed cauliflower with about ½ cup of the broth (right out of your pot) to help thin it out.  Add pureed cauliflower to your soup. Stir well to incorporate.
• Stir in frozen peas.  Let it simmer until you’re ready to eat! I like to let a sprig of rosemary simmer in there too. Remove sprig of rosemary and the bay leaf and enjoy.

Notes

1. For logging purposes, search MFP for “Lillie Eats and Tells Veggie Chicken soup with butternut squash” and log as many grams as you like!
2. If you’d rather use regular chicken broth, you’ll shave off about 5 grams of protein per serving.  I’ve calculated the soup using Costco’s boxed organic chicken broth as well and this 400 gram serving would come to: 214 cal, 23c/2.6f/25p. I used to avoid bone broth on purpose because I’d rather enjoy my protein in extra chicken. But there’s so much research about the gut-health benefits of bone broth, so I’m jumping on the bandwagon!
3. Instant Pot: Sure! But here’s why I don’t. If I’m starting with cooked chicken, I just don’t see the point. Sautéing your veggies is always going to bring out the most flavor, and while you can use the sauté setting on an IP, it doesn’t get as hot, and just doesn’t save any time in my opinion. I love using my IP when I want to throw in raw chicken. So if you go that route, saute your veggies, add raw chicken, and cook at high pressure for 10-12 minutes (12 might make your veggies too soft if you don’t like that, but 10 might make the chicken a little harder to shred.).  If you use your IP with the cooked chicken, just toss the pre-cooked chicken in AFTER you’ve pressure cooked the rest of the ingredients for about 8 minutes.
4. Slow cooker: I haven’t done it myself, but just add all ingredients to a slow cooker for 4 hours on high! The liquid reduction might be a little different, but I’m sure it’ll be great! You could cook raw chicken in there, remove, shred, and return to pot. OR, use the precooked. If you add it for the full 4 hours, it might break down a bit more into smaller pieces which is fine! But if you prefer it in larger chunks, add the shredded chicken in at the end.

Nutrition

Serving: 400gCalories: 235kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 30gFat: 3gSodium: 685mgFiber: 5.9g

Keywords butternut squash, chicken, one pot, soup, veggie

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