Loaded with protein and amazing veggies, Slow Cooker Chicken & Butternut Squash Stew is easy to throw together, hearty, full of flavor and is the perfect meal to make on a busy day. Whole30, Paleo, gluten free and dairy-free.
My Real Food Eating Journey
I started this crazy healthy living, real food eating journey when I was a brand new mom, working full-time as a preschool teacher. And my husband was deployed on the other side of the world. And my family was 3000 miles away. So to say that I was overwhelmed about how to cook a healthy real food meal while trying to juggle all the other things I had on my plate, is totally correct. Perhaps a bit of an understatement.
And, while it would have been totally understandable if I had resorted to fast food and convenience foods during that exceptionally crazy season of life, I didn’t (for the most part, because no one is perfect nor is there a need to be). Mainly because I had the determination. Determination to feed myself the way I knew I deserved to eat and to start my young daughter out on real food from the get go. So to help me keep my sanity and to get dinner on the table before 10pm, I learned to get creative and discovered a boatload of kitchen hacks.
This creative spark and kitchen hacks are one of the main reasons I started The Natural Nurturer. Because I truly believe that if I could make real, nourishing food with all the roadblocks I had in front of me during that season of life…that truly anyone can do it. I know some people hate it when others say that, but I truly believe it. If we want to be healthy bad enough, we will find a way.
Stepping off of my soapbox now and let’s get back to this Slow Cooker Chicken & Butternut Squash Stew.
Slow Cooker Chicken & Butternut Squash Stew
One of the healthy kitchen hacks that I used all the time then (and still now) is slow cooker soups. Friends, if you don’t have a slow cooker (or Instant Pot), you totally need one in your life for simplifying meals. Nothing is better then coming home at the end of a busy, hectic day to find your house smelling like heaven and dinner done and ready to eat. When I was juggling a gnarly San Diego commute as a full-time working mom, I was using my slow cooker ALL THE TIME. And that saved me from calling for delivery pizza more times than I want to admit.
This Slow Cooker Chicken & Butternut Squash Stew is an amazing family-favorite! Quick to throw together in the morning before heading out the door, it is full of amazing flavor, beautiful veggies and oodles of protein. In fact, it truly is a complete meal that takes minimal effort to create but is such a comforting dish to come home to.
Butternut Squash Stew Tips
- Use thawed, frozen or pre-cut butternut squash to make it even easier to throw together.
- Make it ahead of time and store in your freezer as an emergency meal for an extra crazy day.
Suggested Adaptations
- Up the veggies by throwing in some dark, leafy greens at the end of cook time. Think baby spinach, kale, or chard. These will wilt down in the hot soup in minutes.
- Top with diced avocado for some extra healthy fat!
- Serve this butternut squash stew deconstructed to young eaters. Sometimes, a big bowl of new foods (or just a new recipe of familiar foods) all mixed together can be overwhelming for kids (and even some adults). Try serving the shredded chicken and cooked veggies separately and offering the broth on the side for sipping. That way a resistant eater can try the elements of the soup individually, making it less intimidating.
- You can make the slow cooker chicken in your Instant Pot. Simply combine everything as you would for the slow cooker, but cook it on high pressure for 6 minutes. Naturally pressure release the end of the cook time.
Other veggie-loaded recipes you are going to love
- Slow Cooker Butternut Squash + Apple Soup
- Lemon Thyme Chicken in a Slow Cooker
- Slow Cooker + Instant Pot Butternut Squash Chicken Curry
- Almond Butter Beef Stew in a Slow Cooker
- Slow Cooker Creamy Vegetable Chicken Stew
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Slow Cooker Chicken Butternut Squash Stew
Equipment
- slow cooker
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 pound raw boneless chicken breasts or thighs
- 3 cups raw butternut squash cubed
- 3 ½ cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 cup carrots chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or to taste
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt or to taste depending on how salty your broth is
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh sage
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Once hot, add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. This is an optional step, but it adds to the flavor of the soup.
- Place onions in your slow cooker and add remaining ingredients. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on high until the chicken and veggies are cooked through, about 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low (times vary depending on your slow cooker).
- Once cook time is up, carefully remove the chicken and check with a meat thermometer that your chicken is cooked to at least 160℉. Shred it with two forks or simply dice it. Add back to the slow cooker, stir, and taste. Add additional salt or garlic powder if desired. Enjoy warm!
Notes
- Recipe updated 12/29/2019.
- Use pre-cut butternut squash to make it even easier to throw together. If using frozen squash, be sure to thaw squash before adding it to your soup.
- Make it ahead of time and store in your freezer as an emergency meal for an extra crazy day.
- Up the veggies by throwing in some dark, leafy greens at the end of cook time. Think baby spinach, kale, or chard. These will wilt down in the hot soup in minutes.
- Top with diced avocado for some extra healthy fat!
- Serve the soup deconstructed to young eaters. Sometimes, a big bowl of new foods (or just a new recipe of familiar foods) all mixed together can be overwhelming for kids (and even some adults). Try serving the shredded chicken and cooked veggies separately and offering the broth on the side for sipping. That way a resistant eater can try the elements of the soup individually, making it less intimidating.
Nutrition
The nutritional information is provided as an estimate only and may vary based on the product type, servings and other factors. If you are following a diet, please consult with a professional nutritionist or your doctor. Stay healthy!
Comments
Made this for dinner in my IP last night and it was a hit with the family! Loved how easy it was to throw together!
I’m so glad it was a success!
How long did you cook it in the instant pot?
I include that in the tips and tricks portion of the post
Did you use the slow cooker option on your IP? I haven’t been able to get mine to slow cook the same way my old crockpot did. 😟
The slow cooker feature on the Instant Pot is…..weird. I know the normal setting cooks like a low temp low and the high cooks like a high temp low…if that makes sense. At least on my IP, which is about 3 years old. Perhaps newer models have a better slow cooker feature
Great soup! Perfect for fall!
How much is one serving?
I would say about 1 1/2 cups
This is delicious! Today is rainy and I’m not feeling great, so the soup will get me through the next few days. I added bay leaf at the beginning and a squeeze of lemon at the end of cooking.
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Quick to make added a little bit more squash. Next I will leave the chicken out and purée.
This sounded delicious. I pureed everything but the chicken and then added kale. It was good but was missing a layer of something. It’s very low in fat so I think I’ll start by sautéing the onions before adding everything else next time just to add some more depth to it. Definitely worth trying again.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made this stew. Super easy and always yummy. I like to top it with sliced avocado for a little healthy fat or shredded cheese. Makes great leftovers too
This came together SO easily and the flavor did not disappoint! I will be making this regularly!
I am so glad you enjoyed it! We love it too and it is on constant rotation in our house.
Made this twice in 2 weeks because my husband loved it so much! Browned my onions and garlic prior to putting in crockpot. Added a can of white beans at the end, served it over wild rice with a big handful of flat leaf parsley and grated Asiago on top. I’ll keep this one on repeat for family gatherings (and “New mum” meals for friends). Shared it with many friends already!
Love the additions! So glad you enjoyed it!
This is so delicious! One of my new favorites and so easy when you use precut or frozen butternut squash. Also reheats great!
Agreed! I love to use frozen butternut squash in this one and I bet frozen carrots would make the prep time even easier!
This soup is so delicious! I took another reviewers suggestion and sautéed the onions and fresh garlic first then added everything to crockpot. Couldn’t find fresh sage so used rubbed sage and it was super flavorful. set to low for 8 hours in crockpot. Also added long grain wild rice to each bowl and poured soup on top. Fabulous recipe thank you!!
Yum! Love the idea of added rice!
I’m grateful for simple and healthy recipes like this, but I found this lacked so much flavor once done. To pump it up at the end, I added at least (didn’t measure) 1t salt, 1/2t pepper, 3/4t garlic powder, dried rosemary, & half can full fat coconut milk. Next time I may add ground ginger. I used chicken thighs. Also, I used an immersion blender for most of it but left some chunks of chicken. I also threw in some leftover brown rice since I blended it more than I meant to. With these changes, it was bursting with flavor and will make it again. This was a great base recipe to meet many of our food restrictions. Thanks!
Hi Leigh,
I love the additions that you made and am so happy it could provide for a dinner your family enjoyed! I think every person and family can have such a different flavor preference that it’s wonderful when someone can make something their own! I often suggest in my recipes for people to add salt, garlic and other spices “to taste” for this exact reason! What is bland to one person is far too salty to another. I think it also depends greatly on the broth used. Some have oodles of salt while others not so much. Thanks for the suggestions! I think I’d like to try this with the ginger added!
This is THE fall soup!! I love the flavor combos going on, it’s just delicious! For me and my family I know that we prefer pretty strong flavors so I just up the salt and pepper a bit, and then we also season our own bowls as needed. I sautéed the onion first and cooked this in my IP a few days prior to serving and it’s fantastic! Thanks for yet another marvelous and easy dinner!
This looks so good! All these ingredients are so good for you! It is nice to have a recipe that fits them all together!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
I usually store it in my fridge for 4 days or in my freezer for months
Do you use chicken broth?
I did, yes
Super easy and delicious, warm and cozy dinner on a chilly MInnesota evening. And I had all the ingredients in the fridge! Used chicken strips cuz I needed to use them up. Big thumbs up from the guy in the household.
Yay! It’s the perfect, hearty recipe to warm up with!
Add a can of coconut milk. It really ups the flavor!
I made this tonight and will make it again! I used my instant pot. I browned the chicken, then sautéed the onions and fresh garlic before adding the rest of the ingredients. Once cooked I mashed a bit of the veggies and it was DELICIOUS! Thank you!
Making this today … so excited. Used bone broth vs. regular chicken broth for added protein. Thinking about adding quinoa as well.
So good and so easy to make. This has become my favorite soup/stew recipe this winter.
I am so glad you enjoyed!
This sounds wonderful but I am allergic to onion and garlic. Any suggestions for “substitutions”? Thanks
Hmmmm. Those are tricky to replace. I know you can often use fennel or even celery for onions. But garlic is a bit harder. Maybe chives? I haven’t used these subs in this recipe but that is where I would start!
Made this last night with the instant pot directions you noted (cooking on high for 6 minutes) and it came out perfect! I had been planning to go the slow cooker route, but when my husband said he was feeling under the weather, I switched up dinner plans at the last minute and was so thankful for the IP directions. As others have mentioned, this is the perfect fall soup! Will definitely be making again and again. Thank you!
I am so glad you enjoyed it! Hope your husband feels better!
The perfect recipe for one of my favorite seasons. So colorful, healthy and inviting! 🙂
I really loved this recipe for Whole30 as an easy, enjoyable lunch option throughout the week. We added a little bit of red pepper flakes to give it a kick. Will make again!
Love that addition, Jess! And I am so glad you enjoyed it as much as we do!
Just finished cooking. Made the crockpot version. Put it on this morning and it smelled wonderful all day. I am not a sage person so I added thyme. Waited till the end to add salt and pepper as my broth was made with chicken flavored bouillon. I will make again. Maybe add mushrooms next time.
Loved this! I think it’s the perfect summer soup. It’s light and has bright flavor using butternut squash, not a heavy creamy soup. Will definitely be making again!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, April! Its one of my go-to “get into fall” dinners.
I rarely comment on recipes or anything else unless I really love it or really hate it, and this is a recipe that I LOVE!!! And more importantly my teenagers loved it too. It’s a great way to get them to eat more veg (that goes for the hamburger ghelper recipe on this website as well – big hit). It’s very versatile and forgiving (the second time i made it I finely chopped leftover veggie ends from my Zoodles: sweet potato and zucchini and threw them in and didn’t bother cooking my onions first and it was still YUM). It is a bit chop intensive unless you a)buy your veg already chopped or b) have the pampered chef hand chopper, which is what I use, and it makes short work of all the chopping. What took the most time was peeling the butternut squash 🙂 but again that can be purchased chopped and ready to go. I did make some changes which may have increased the flavor factor: I minced garlic cloves instead of using powder, I used homemade bone broth as my liquid, and I’m not a fan of sage so I put two heaping teaspoons (for 8 servings) of thyme instead and a sprig of rosemary from my garden. Oh and I always forget to pull out meat ahead of time so I put the breasts in frozen solid and cooked on high for 6 hours – they were fully cooked and fall apart tender. This soup is a creamy dream when finished – I didn’t purée – I found that a vigorous stir after removing and shredding the chicken was sufficient for me, but I like a little texture in my soups. I garnished with avocado and ate it with a side of tortilla chips. This is going in my weekly rotation! Thanks so much for this lovely recipe!
I am so glad that this was a hit with the family! Finding veggie-loaded recipes that our little and big kids will happily eat is SUCH a win. I appreciate you taking the time to share, Ariel!
Delicious! Added kale and served it over rice. Definitely will make this again.
So glad you enjoyed it, Pam! Love the addition of kale!
This recipe is delicious! We love it and have been making it almost weekly!
I’m so happy to hear that, Jen!
Making this for the second time today. The whole family loved it. We prefer thicker soups/stews so I added 1/4c fine corn meal to it after about 2 hours in the crock pot and it thickened it perfectly. The cornmeal complemented the flavor well.
Oh I love the idea of the cornmeal! I must try that!