A delicious roasted butternut squash, red potato, carrot, shredded chicken, onion and kale broth-based soup. This soup is filled with tons of flavor and very healthy!
Usually with soups, I like doing them in the slow cooker. My crockpot tends to be my best friend this time of the year. Dump ingredients in, wait a bit, and a delicious dinner later – sign me up!
Buuuut, there are also times when the crockpot can be a little inconvenient or just not work in the schedule. I don’t have one of those handy-dandy set the crockpot to start and turn off at certain times. Are they as cool as they seem? And follow up question, should they make it on my Christmas wish list? Oh yes. I’m already thinking about Christmas. Mostly Christmas food though is what’s on my mind. I spent about a good portion of my day earlier this week brainstorming and writing down Christmas food ideas. And let’s just say, I’m pretty excited. It’s gonna be good 🙂
Okay, okay. Sorry. No more Christmas talk until at least after Halloween. Fine, Thanksgiving. I can wait til then… At least, I think I can.
Got a bit off topic there. I can’t help it when holidays are involved! I’m kind of a Halloween-Thanksgiving-Christmas freak. I love em. (Who am I kidding..I love all the holidays!) But back on topic. Essentially, sometimes soups made on the stovetop are a wonderful thing. And eeeespecially when there are roasted vegetables.
Roasted butternut squash is a huge favorite around these parts. It’s our favorite way to eat it. (Even my meat-lovin’ husband can not get enough roasted butternut squash.) And adding some carrots + red potato to the mix makes for one heck of a roasting veggie party. But the party is only getting started because all that roasted goodness gets put into a soup with kale.
P.S. If you still are unsure of kale, have you tried it in soup yet? It’s amazing. Totally tender and very mild which is a great complement to the flavor bursting veggies. But it can be left out if your must or maybe even replaced with spinach.
And of course, you may be wondering about a few more substitutions or recipe notes. I used chicken bouillon cubes instead of chicken broth. I like both, but the cubes are more flavor-packed in my opinion. And with a brothy, vegetable soup, a flavor pack is a must! In the recipe I call for 3 extra large cubes or 6 small ones. You can also use the chicken bouillon powder. Just follow the directions to make sure you have the right about of cube/powder to each of the 6 cups of water.
The spices are also a MUST. It’s not much (only 1/4 teaspoon of each one), but they all add a ton of flavor. You can also increase any amount of any of those spices to your own preference. And salt and pepper – plenty of that along the way!
This soup does require a bit of time with all the veggie chopping, but let me tell you – this is WAY worth the time investment. Such a healthy soup with so much flavor – this one can’t be beat! 🙂
- 1 cup carrots 2 large
- 2 cups red potatoes 3 potatoes
- 4 cups butternut squash 1 small squash
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 9 cups water separated
- 3 extra large chicken bouillon cubes or 6 small ones
- 1.25 pounds large boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup yellow onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 cups kale
- 1/4 teaspoon each dried marjoram, sage, rosemary, thyme
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese optional
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking pan.
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Peel the carrots and butternut squash. Remove the seeds and stem from the butternut squash.
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Coin the carrots and cube the butternut squash.
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Leave the skin on the red potato and cube into small pieces.
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Combine the sliced carrots, cubed butternut squash, and cubed red potato in a large bowl. Toss with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
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Lay out the vegetables evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then flip and stir them around, bake for another 15 minutes, flip and stir them around and bake for 10-15 more minutes or until roasted to personal preference.
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Meanwhile, combine 6 cups of water with the bouillon cubes. Bring the water to a boil and whisk in the cubes to dissolve.
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Slice the large chicken breast into 3 even pieces (or use a few smaller ones). (The reason to cut them down is to help them cook quicker.)
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Place the chicken pieces in the boiling water with the chopped onion, and minced garlic and cover with a lid. Let the chicken boil until cooked through, about 10-15 minutes.
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Turn the heat to low, remove the chicken breasts and allow to slightly cool. Shred the chicken and return it to the pot with the remaining 3 cups of water.
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While the chicken is cooking, massage the kale under cold water and rinse well. Remove the stem and finely chop the kale.
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Stir the kale and roasted vegetables into the broth. Add the dried herbs - marjoram, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Season additionally with salt and pepper and additional poultry seasonings if desired.
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Optionally top each bowl with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Here are more delicious soups to try out:
Slow Cooker Sweet Potato, Chicken, & Quinoa Soup
Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Chicken Soup
(Slow Cooker) Spicy Chicken Quesadilla Soup
I completely agree, soup is so worth the extra time. I really want to try this!
I love using my slow cooker too, especially in the fall! It’s so nice to have it doing all the work for you on a lazy Sunday afternoon. This butternut squash soup sounds amazing for this time of year, Chelsea! I love all of the seasonings you added in here, I’m sure it made your house smell amazing! Pinned!
This looks so yummy! Squash is one of my favorite things about Fall, and I love that this soup has lots of it! I can’t wait to try this out for myself! Gorgeous photos!
I was thinking about Christmas cookies the other day too 🙂 I love this soup! Butternut squash and kale are two of my absolute favorite veggies – so this soup is perfect! I love making a huge pot of soup and then having a healthy dinner all week long, or freezing portions to eat later!
I love that you roasted the veggies before putting them in the soup – genius! This looks so delicious.
I don’t have a crock pot that starts or turns off automatically either — mine is 17 years old, and do I ever need a new one. This soup looks so good and my stomach is growling just looking at it! Pinned. 🙂
I love everything about this soup! I want one of those fancy crockpots, too. I definitely need to remember to put it on my Christmas list!
There are crockpots that can be programed to turn off and on? I want one of those too… and also one with a cast iron insert so I don’t have to sear in a separate pan 🙂 This soup looks amazing and I love your bowls.
I have never had kale in a soup before.. you definitely have got me curious to know what it tastes like Chelsea. Great soup recipe and photography too!
http://themagicchef.blogspot.com/2014/09/zuppa-toscana.html
I do make soup with kale, and it is a fantastic addition to the mix. This butternut squash soup looks like the next one I will try…looks incredible!
Thanks Tom!
Oh a pan of roasted butternut squash doesn’t last around this house…its out fave as well! And loving all the flavors in this soup. Definitely needs to happen soon!
Butternut squash and kale is one of my favorite combos! This soup looks so so good! I have been making soup probably twice a week lately – I can’t get enough!
I love soup, because there is always leftovers that taste great or freeze well. It’s filling without being heavy.
Soup is top notch.
I totally agree! Thank you Carol 🙂
This soup looks incredible – love butternut squash and kale. Great idea to roast the veggies first too – I can just imagine how flavorful this is. All the best flavors of fall in a bowl – so so good!
Chelsea this soup looks like the answer to my prayers. <3 This cold just WON'T go away and I need all the soup I can get. Wonder if I can get the bf to whip this up for me? 😉 Pinned!
This soup is right up my alley! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Made this soup for dinner tonight. Although I didn’t have any sage 🙂 It tastes amazing. Love the roasted vegetables and lightness to it. I had rainbow carrots (purple, white, orange), with the dark Kale, orange and red the dish was beautiful.
Your comments always make my day!! Thanks so much for coming back and commenting on all the recipes you’ve tried – it means a lot to me!! Glad you liked this one, and I love your additions – sounds gorgeous 🙂
I am wondering if anyone has tried this without the chicken. If I decide to leave the chicken out, should I add something else in order to balance the flavors?
I made this yesterday and it was delicious!! Thank you so much for the healthy and flavorful recipe! I’m excited to try some more recipes from your site.
Thanks again Chelsea!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this soup Melissa! It’s one of my favorites 🙂 I hope you love whatever you try next!!