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
Lovely! I love both kale and quinoa, and I’ve never tried them with butternut squash before. The stew sounds incredible, and I can’t wait to try it.
This looks amazing especially when snow is coming down outside! I love the combination of butternut and kale! So delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Alyssa
cupcakesandsequins.blogspot.com
Amazing! I’m so glad I doubled it!!!
thanks Joan!
I so WANTED to double it but only had enough for written recipe. So so amazing, thank you.
This looks so good and I love the pretty colors.
We’d be happy to send some snow your way! This stew looks like a perfect meal as we hunker down for yet another snow storm on the East Coast…
Ha, it’s ok, I’ll be alright 🙂
What a hearty meal! I think I going to try it tonight, maybe add a bit of chicken sausages. Thank you for sharing!
I made this last night and it was delicious!
I have plenty left for a few mere days. Perfect lunch meal 😉
I’m so glad you liked it! (and now have plenty of lunches 🙂
This stew looks just perfect! It has been absolutely freezing here this past week (and in fact yesterday was below -30 degrees Celsius with windchill!!) so warm, comforting meals like this are exactly what I’m craving.
yikes! Sending warm thoughts…
My family lives on leftovers so the fact that this gets better next day is perfect! Our weather is starting to approach fall in the southern hem and this is perfect for those chilly nights!
Love the colours in this! A good sign of how healthy it is methinks 🙂
Love this! Looks really tasty!
OMG I think I’m going to do this today for lunch!! Looks insane <3
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
Mmm this looks delicious and so healthy!
Hey this looks great i grow butternut squash in my garden, you can see some photos at http://www.swashmanor.com … I enjoyed your site, seems i am always looking at, cooking, or eating food of some sort! I just love food and cooking, i collect old cook books. Mostly southern, i own http://howtocooksouthern.com/ I try to focus on Southern Cooking, food history and Etc…. Wes :)>
​Great recipe! Thanks for sharing!
nastyadrama.ru
Yummy! this soup looks so delicious and healthy! Where do you live? It’s 80 degrees here too. I’ve been waiting for it to get cold again to make soup, but maybe I should just make soup regardless of the weather, ha!
Ha, Austin TX 🙂
This looks so good!
Yum I love the combo of spice and the veggies. Those bowls are super cute. Love anything with a low profile for photos! Thanks for sharing
Yum! This looks perfect for my 0 degree (celsius) day tomorrow!
Where do yo live Kristin? Yesterday we (Buffalo, NY) had a -25 to -30 wind chill all day. This stew will warm things up. 🙂
Wow! That’s cold! I live in Gothenburg, Sweden. Since it’s on the coast, it’s rare that it gets that cold 🙂
This is absolutely delicious. I used lemon juice because I didn’t have the vinegar. What are the carb/ calories per cup serving.
This sounds like a great mid-week dinner! I’ve pinned the recipe and will be trying it asap. As I’m not veggie, some leftover shredded chicken sounds like a great inclusion… ooh, or frying some hunks of chorizo in alongside the onions…
Anyway, what’s the reason for the white wine vinegar deglaze? I’ve never seen it in a recipe. How does it affect the taste?
Hi Rebecca, thanks! You can’t really taste the vinegar at the end, but it adds a balanced & bright flavor.
Can you use lemon juice or orange juice instead? Thx
I personally wouldn’t on this one…
Did you make the curried version? Wonder what it would be like w coconut milk?
Love it! I’m seriously obsessed with this recipe already sent it to all my friends. Only thing it gets a little too think at the end so I needed a little more broth to have it more soupy. Otherwise sooo yummy!
Very delicious recipe!
I made this soup tonight. Wow! It was delicious. I didn’t make any changes other than adding in 1 extra cup of broth. I really liked the chunks of butternut squash in the soup. It’s a hearty, healthy soup. Thank you for sharing. We will definitely have this again.
Hi Daisy, I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it!