This chicken vegetable soup with butternut squash made its debut in my home this soup season, and everyone loved it. EVEN THE BOYS. Soup season! Best time of the year.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Veggie Chicken Soup with Butternut Squash
- Serves: 7
- Calories: 235 cal
- Protein: 30g
- Fat: 3g
- Carbs: 23g
- Why You'll Love It: A delicious, soul-warming and veggie-packed soup my whole family loves!
One thing I’ve learned about my kids: if they smell those house-warming, homemade smells, like onions and celery and garlic sautéing on the stove… 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 smell of COMFORT. Also, a big hunk of crusty bread helps.
It has a little sneaky cauliflower blended into the broth, just like my healthy lemon chicken soup and creamy chicken pot pie soup.
Does Butternut Squash Go Well in Chicken Soup?
YES! I’ll admit, I used to avoid butternut squash because it’s higher in carbs than some other veggies. But the more I’ve experimented and calculated, the more I realize how little difference a bit of a delicious, starchier veggie makes in the macros for a serving. Not to mention ALL the benefits of eating a wide variety of veggies. It adds a little sweetness and color to every bowl. If you love it too, try my simple roasted butternut squash, butternut squash bacon and caramelized onion flatbreads, or creamy tomato butternut skillet lasagna.
What Adds the Most Flavor to Chicken Soup?
Sautéing your veggies first. Cook them over high heat until they’re tender and very fragrant, and don’t stress about a few brown bits on the bottom of the pot. A little bit of brown means more FLAVOR. Then the garlic, rosemary, bay leaf, and poultry seasoning go in. Nothing fancy, but ALL YOU NEED to make this so rich in flavor.
Important Ingredients and Substitutions
- Rotisserie chicken breast: 3.5 cups (535g). I love the already shredded rotisserie chicken breast from Costco for soups. It makes my life so much easier this time of year! But feel free to use what you’ve got.
- Butternut squash: 2 cups chopped (1 lb). I buy mine pre-chopped.
- Frozen diced onion: one whole 12 oz bag, for ease. Fresh works too.
- Bone broth: I’m sold on the gut-health benefits of bone broth, and it’s PACKED with protein. If you’d rather use regular chicken broth, you’ll shave off about 5 grams of protein per serving. With Costco’s boxed organic chicken broth, a 400g serving comes to 214 calories, 23g carbs, 2.6g fat, and 25g protein.
- Cauliflower: a 10 oz bag of florets, steamed and blended with a little broth. Fresh or frozen both work. It makes the broth thicker and heartier.
Before You Start Cooking
- Grab a large heavy-bottomed pot. This makes 7 big servings.
- Plan on about 45 minutes. That’s 30 minutes of prep (all that chopping) and 15 minutes of cooking. Add the veggies to the pot as you get them chopped.
- Have a blender ready. You’ll blend the steamed cauliflower with a little broth from the pot. I’m so obsessed with my Ninja that it sits on my counter for good. I use this one. It also makes my nightly chunky chocolate peanut butter protein shake, which makes me the happiest girl on earth.
- Tracking macros? Search “Lillie Eats and Tells Veggie Chicken Soup with Butternut Squash” in MyFitnessPal and log as many grams as you like. Here’s how to create a recipe in MyFitnessPal if you change things up. If you want a plan for the whole week, my macro-friendly meal plans send you a new menu and grocery list every Thursday, with the macros already done.
How to Make Chicken Vegetable Soup with Butternut Squash
- Sauté the veggies. Heat a large heavy-bottomed pot over high heat and spray with olive or avocado oil spray. Add the onions, celery, squash, carrots, salt, and pepper and sauté for about 10 minutes, until tender and very fragrant. You can use a lid to speed it up, just stir occasionally. If it feels too hot, cook over medium-high.
- Add the seasonings. Add the garlic, bay leaf, rosemary, and poultry seasoning and sauté for a few more minutes.
- Add the chicken and broth. Stir in the shredded chicken and bone broth and turn the heat down to medium.
- Blend the cauliflower. Steam the cauliflower in the microwave according to the package directions. Blend it in a high-speed blender with some broth from the pot to thin it out, then stir it into the soup.
- Add the peas and simmer. Stir in the frozen peas and let it simmer until you’re ready to eat. I like to let a sprig of rosemary simmer in there too. Remove the rosemary sprig and bay leaf before serving.
Can You Make This Soup in the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker?
Sure! But here’s why I don’t. When I’m starting with cooked chicken, I don’t see the point. Sautéing your veggies on the stove brings out the most flavor, and the sauté setting on an Instant Pot doesn’t get as hot. I love my Instant Pot when I want to use raw chicken. If you go that route, sauté the veggies, add raw chicken, and cook at high pressure for 10 to 12 minutes. With precooked chicken, pressure cook everything else for about 8 minutes, then add the chicken after.
For the slow cooker, I haven’t done it myself, but you could add everything for 4 hours on high. If you like bigger chunks of chicken, add the shredded chicken at the end.
What to Serve with Chicken Vegetable Soup
A big hunk of crusty bread, because this healthy soup leaves you room for it! For something fresh on the side, try my kale Caesar salad, simple arugula salad, or creamy cucumber salad.
How to Freeze Chicken Vegetable Soup
This one is on my list of macro-friendly freezer meals, and it reheats so well.
- Take out the bay leaf and rosemary sprig before freezing.
- Freeze the soup without noodles. If anyone in your family likes noodles in theirs, cook them fresh and add them to their bowls.
- Portion into containers and label with the date and grams (one serving is 400g).
- Thaw overnight in the fridge, or reheat from frozen on the stove over low heat.
- Keeps up to 3 months.
More soups to keep in the freezer: my chicken minestrone soup, easy lasagna soup, and healthy white chicken chili. And if you want a soup that starts with raw chicken, try my Instant Pot creamy tomato chicken soup.
Chicken Butternut Squash Soup Calories and Macros
One 400g serving of this chicken vegetable soup with butternut squash has 235 calories, 30g protein, 3g fat, and 23g carbs, with 5.9g fiber. That’s made with bone broth and doesn’t include bread. The full nutrition is in the recipe card below.
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Veggie Chicken Soup with Butternut Squash
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
- For logging purposes, search MFP for “Lillie Eats and Tells Veggie Chicken soup with butternut squash” and log as many grams as you like!
- 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!
- 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.
- 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.
Tried this recipe?
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I substituted sweet potato for butternut squash just because I had some that needed to get used and this soup was beyond delicious! The layers of flavors you can get with this soup is unbelievable. I love using the cauliflower as a slight thickener, genius! My kiddos loved it as well. I added some noodles to their bowls like Lillie often mentions for her kids 😊.
I will be making this more often!
I’m confused about the ingredients. Is the ingredient list for one recipe that serves 7? Or is it for one single serving?
This recipe is delicious – my entire family loved! I served the kiddos over pasta and they ate two servings.
Loved it! I blended the cauliflower with 4oz of Greek cream cheese and 1/2 a cup of broth. It made is soo creamy!
Loved! I used my leftover Turkey from Thanksgiving in place of the chicken. Sooo delicious! I also didn’t have the squash on hand to add but couldn’t tell it was missing because the soup was that fabulous!
Just made this and your white chicken chili. Both soo good!!! Thanks for recipes!!!
So glad you liked it!