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
Cooking right now while I have electricity:) 20 degrees in Texas with MORE sleet and snow tonight…..going to add some kind of beans too
looks and sounds so healthy ..ty 🙂
I made this tonight and it was excellent! I blew it and didn’t have white wine vinegar so I used red wine vinegar. I also added some kidney beans because I was starved from swimming. Also, I don’t use veggie broth – I mix the vegan better than bouillon with water. Otherwise I stayed pretty on point with the recipe and it turned out wonderful. It was easy
Incredible soup! Loved it – very simple ingredients. Is there nutritional information that goes along with this recipe?
Thank you for this super delicious soup!! I’ve already made it twice and sent the recipe to my mom and they loved it too 🙂 I didn’t have quinoa so used brown lentil instead and came out great.
Wow! made this tonight – amazing! thank you for this healthy and hearty one pot meal!
I’m not vegetarian, so I used chicken broth and added some slightly spicy sausage, and between the bit if extra saltiness and the extra spice it gave it just the extra kick (and made it just a bit more filling) that I was hoping for! This was really lovely on a rainy late-fall day, and I’m excited to have leftovers for a few days!
We made this easy, flexible recipe and it was warm, comforting, and flavorful — and it uses lots of “power” foods. We didn’t have red pepper flakes, so used cayenne; no coriander, so we used a combo of ground cinnamon, ginger, and a pinch of allspice. We’re going to order some spices from Spicewalla and try the recipe again with our own curry mix. For variety, I think sweet potato might be good instead of squash.
Thank you for the recipe! It’s delicious!
I have a hydroponic garden. I started after COVID and will continue because it’s about to snow here.
I have kale coming out my ears 🤦🏼♀️
God bless!
My hubby made exactly beside green chilies being in diced tomatoes! So good! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you both enjoyed!
I made this last night and well… I ate it all myself. It was seriously so easy to make and so delicious. But seriously, I really ate this all myself in one day.
I made this except I substituted chickpeas for quinoa because quinoa has a lot of calories and does not fill me up. Plus I read chickpeas and kale go well. It came out very delicious and I will definitely make again! Thank you!
Hi Kristen, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve made this soup about 4 times now. I add hot Italian sausage, cannellini beans, and some chipotle chilis in adobo for a kick. It’s excellent. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Ken, I’m so glad you’re loving the soup!!
Have made this many times and LOVE it
I’m so happy to hear that!
can you sub apple cider vinegar for the white wine vinegar?
thank you
yep, you can!
Wow! Just made this and it was SO delicious!! Very easy to make . This is definitely a keeper.
Our whole family love this recipe particularly my young kids. I sometimes add chicken and it works really well. Always topped with Parmesan. A brilliant recipe that is a staple in our house! Thanks for sharing.
That was meant to be 5 stars by the way!
thanks Rachel! I’m so happy to hear that it’s become a staple recipe for your family!
I know this is an ‘old’ recipe but made it just now. It was so awesomely good. I added baby carrots because there was a bag that needed to be used. We ate it with a poached egg on top. My husband loved it! Thank you.
Looking forward to trying this – now. I’ve never cooked buttrernut squash before > Could you possibly just confirm whether or not (hopefully No but I assume the answer if Yes!) I need to peel it first, before dicing and cooking it?)
Thanks and Ta
best wishes – Eve
It sound delicious and easiy-ish
Hi Eve,
For this stew, I peel the butternut squash before cubing it.
Hope you enjoy it!
Love, love, love! I did, though, just discover what peeling butternut squash can do to fingers… wear gloves.. 🙂
Delicious!
I followed the recipe and it was a success.
I’ll do it again for sure.
Thank you so much