This spiced fall stew is full of butternut squash, kale, quinoa & tomatoes. It's one of our favorite healthy dinners, and it's great to pack for lunch!
And soup season continues! It might not be snowing here, but the fact that it’s been 80 degrees outside doesn’t stop me from craving big pots of stewy vegetables. Plus I just love having the leftovers around for lunch all week. They get better on the second day, and even better on the third day.
This stew has pretty much all of my favorites: hearty butternut squash, quinoa & kale. It all gets simmered in a stewy tomato broth. It’s a pretty simple recipe that you should spice up as much as you like. I used cumin, coriander & smoked paprika, but (as I type this), I’m thinking about how delicious it would be in a curry-spice direction. I’ll keep you posted when I give that a go…
I’m excited to partner once again with Crate & Barrel. They have so many kitchen staples that I use all the time – this classic French oven, my go-to vegetable peeler, not to mention these bowls, and how cute are those wooden spoons?
If you love soup as much as I do, make this stew, and then try this many-veggie soup & this spiralized veggie minestrone!
Butternut Squash, Kale & Quinoa Stew
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cups cubed butternut squash
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon red chile flakes
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth
- ½ cup dry quinoa
- 2 to 3 cups chopped kale
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and a few pinches of salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 4 minutes.
- Add the butternut squash, another pinch of salt, and stir. Let the butternut squash cook for a few minutes, then stir in the garlic, cumin, coriander, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Add the white wine vinegar and stir to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes, broth, and quinoa. Cover and simmer until the butternut squash is tender and the quinoa is cooked through, about 40 minutes. Halfway through the cooking time, I like to taste and adjust seasonings. Add additional spices if you like.
- When the soup is nearly done, stir in the kale and cook about 5 minutes more, or until the kale is wilted. Taste and adjust seasonings again.
This post is in partnership with Crate & Barrel.
Products used in this post: Le Creuset Signature 5.5qt Round French Oven, 18th Street Bowls, Suits Napkins, OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler, Shesham Wood Spoon, Shesham Wood Straining Spoon
Making this right now! Iam so excited as all these ingrediants are my fav! Ill post back on how it turns out 😉
I used your recipe to get ideas for seasoning a simple squash soup I was making to use my CSA box. Your seasonings were great! Thanks for sharing your culinary talents.
Hi, I’m just wondering what size your servings are? I work where I am scaling recipes up for 50 or more and want serving sizes to be about 2 cups, which I don’t think yours are?????
Hi Elizabeth – maybe 1 1/2 cups? It’s a hearty stew, and it serves 4 for us. I didn’t measure the cups at the end, but I’d say the serving size is less than 2 cups.
Just made this for the first time. Eating it as I write this 🙂 It is FANTASTIC! I am so glad I doubled it 🙂 The bonus is that it’s as pretty as it is tasty 🙂 Thanks for the excellent recipe 🙂
This is SO delicious! I used a big fresh tomato instead of canned diced (it’s what I had on hand), and it worked out perfectly.
Thanks!
Has anyone tried this in a crock pot?
I have made this both ways, on the stove and in the crock pot. Both worked out wonderfully, however I did have to keep adding liquids throughout the day with the crock pot though as I was at an all day event and the quinoa kept soaking up the liquid. It was a huge hit though! I waited to add the kale until right before serving if I remember right.
This is so helpful – thanks for reporting your feedback!
This was yum. Me and my fussy 6 year old love it. Thanks.
Yay, I’m so happy to here it was kid approved!
Finally got around to making this and it’s very tasty! Really easy to make too. I used a little adobo sauce instead of the smoked paprika and coriander then added a little shredded sharp white cheddar on top =) I think next time I’ll serve with some rustic bread and earth balance spread on the side…yum!
Hi Lynn, I’m so glad you liked it! I love your idea of using adobo sauce – YUM!
This looks delish! where’d you get that pretty towel?
Crate & Barrel!
Hi Angela !
Just made this on a cold, raw New England night! Was a great way to start off the New Year in a healthy way!
Thanks for all you do for my healthy family cooking!
Does anyone know the yield for the recipe? Serving size?
Hi Angela, it makes 4 meal-sized bowls (sorry I don’t know the exact measurement in cups)
How many calories is in this stew? Thanks
I’m looking forward to making this in a few hours so you might not even see this question in time, but is there another kind of vinegar one could sub for the white wine? I read it as white vinegar when I was at the store. :/ I probably have all sorts of other types of vinegar, just not white wine vinegar….
Thanks! Love your site and the cookbook!
Hi Breanne – red wine vinegar or even balsamic would work! Hope you enjoy 🙂
Thanks! It was delicious! And leftovers for the rest of the week = win!
I’m so glad!
Delicious and simple (and I’m not vegan). I doubled the recipe. Thanks!
I had some organic squash and kale that I needed to use up so I searched; what I found is a lot of recipes with sausage. This did not look particularly great but I tried it. I used fresh tomatoes from My CSA instead of canned diced tomatoes. As well as kale, leek (instead of onions), garlic and squash. I also used chicken broth and ground up the coriander because on hand I only had whole coriander. I believe this is the most delicious soup I have ever made. Thank you for the recipe!
I’m glad you liked it!
Can I through all of this into my crockpot??
I made this last night. What a great stew! Thanks!
So good. I would not change a thing in this recipe. Perfect balance of flavors!
Hi Lisa, so glad you liked it!
Made a double batch. Loved it!
hi,
can I addchicken breast to this anyway? I would love to add chicken wondering how I can properly incorporate it?
looks amazing BTW can wait to try.
Hi Taylor, I don’t really cook chicken so I’m not sure what step to incorporate it…