Butternut Squash and Chicken Soup (Paleo)
Butternut Squash and Chicken Soup recipe. A delicious, creamy, dairy free, and healthy butternut squash soup recipe made with added chicken and bacon.
I’m super excited about this Butternut Squash & Chicken Soup recipe.
It is a warm and creamy soup with a rich roasted butternut squash flavor. It has extra protein thanks to the added grilled chicken and it has an amazing savory taste from the bacon, chicken stock, and sage and thyme spices.
Note: this post was originally published in October 2016. It was updated with new photos and recipe tweaks in September 2020.
My friend recently made me butternut squash soup and it was ammmmazing!
I asked her for the recipe and made my own dairy-free healthy butternut squash soup recipe from it.
This is the recipe that my friend gave me and that I used as inspiration for this Butternut Squash and Chicken Soup. It is so good!
Now normally I would have made this soup with just butternut squash and no added chicken, but my husband appreciates protein in every meal.
And by protein, I mean he needs some sort of meat or chicken. So, adding chicken and bacon here seemed perfect!
I partnered up with US Wellness Meats for this post and had the pleasure of testing out several of their grass-fed and all natural meat and poultry items.
Ingredients needed to make this Butternut Squash and Chicken Soup:
- butternut squash
- olive oil
- shallots
- garlic
- chicken breast
- salt
- pepper
- dried thyme
- rubbed sage
- red pepper flakes
- chicken stock or bone broth
- coconut cream– using coconut cream is a great alternative in dairy-free butternut squash soup
- cumin
- ground nutmeg
- honey
- bacon
As you can see from the ingredient list, this recipe is composed of simple real food ingredients. So if you were wondering, “is butternut squash soup healthy?”, the answer would be, yes!
The Smoked Uncured Bacon I received from US Wellness Meats is nitrate free, has no preservatives, and only 2 ingredients–pork and salt–as it should be! It works perfectly for a butternut squash soup with bacon!
Their Chicken Stock is naturally Paleo and their chicken breast is all natural with no hormones or antibiotics, and from free range chickens that have been fed a vegetarian diet.
Side note: I was offered products from US Wellness Meats, but they did not ask me to share my opinions on my blog. My opinions are 100% my own.
How to make this dairy free butternut squash soup:
To start off, you roast the butternut squash. To do this, cut the butternut squash in half, slather it in some olive oil and sprinkle it with some thyme, rubbed sage, salt and pepper.
Then, flip the butternut squash over so the skin is facing the aluminum foil, and put the whole thing in the oven.
While the butternut squash cooks, sautée the shallot and garlic in a large soup pot. Then add the chicken, along with some thyme, sage, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.
Once the chicken is grilled and cooked through, remove it from the pot, leaving behind the onion and garlic.
Note: as soon as the chicken is cooled, you can cut it into bite sized pieces.
Then, once the butternut squash is roasted, and cooled a bit, cut it into cubes and remove the skin.
Add the roasted butternut squash chunks to the soup pan, along with chicken stock, coconut cream, honey, sage, thyme, cumin, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Let it all boil for 10-15 minutes.
Then, either use an immersion blender or regular blender to puree the soup.
Lastly, microwave the bacon until the bacon is crispy and then crumble it up.
How to serve this Paleo Butternut Squash and Chicken Soup:
You can either put the diced chicken into the whole pot of soup OR into each individual bowl of soup.
I personally like putting the butternut squash soup into all the bowls first, then adding the diced chicken into each bowl.
I like less chicken, and my husband likes more, so it is easier to adjust this way.
THEN, top each bowl with crumbled up bacon. Legit butternut squash soup with bacon is life!
I like splashing some coconut cream on top of my soup, along with salt and pepper and fresh herbs.
And that is it! A yummy gluten-free butternut squash soup is ready to be eaten!
Other healthy soup recipes you may enjoy:
This Dairy-free Sweet Potato Broccoli Soup (Paleo, Whole30, GF) has a creamy sweetness thanks to the sweet potato and great broccoli flavor.
This Paleo and Whole30 Tomato Vegetable Soup (GF) is loaded with veggies and herbs and tastes just amazing!
This Carrot Ginger Soup by Foolproof Living is made by roasting carrots and seasoned with ginger. YUM
Other butternut squash recipes:
This Roasted Butternut Squash from Healthy Seasonal Recipes is seasoned with paprika and turmeric and is an amazing Paleo and Vegan side dish.
Butternut Squash and Chicken Soup (Paleo)
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash, ( about 3-3.5 lbs), cut in half and with the seeds removed
- ½ Tbs olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced shallots, (2 large shallots)
- 1.5 Tbs diced garlic, (4 cloves)
- 1 pound chicken breast
- 1 1/4 tsp salt, divided
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, divided
- 3/4 tsp dried thyme, divided
- 3/4 tsp rubbed sage, divided
- a pinch of red pepper flakes
- 4 cups chicken stock, ( or bone broth)
- ½ cup coconut cream, (canned)
- 1/8 tsp cumin
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbs honey
- 5 strips of bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover a cookie sheet in aluminum foil.
- Cover the cut sides of the butternut squash with 1/2 Tbs olive oil, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, a pinch thyme, and a pinch sage. Place the squash face down (cut sides down) on the cookie sheet. Bake the squash in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until soft ( the time it takes to soften depends on how thick it is). Set aside to cool.
- Put ½ Tbs of olive oil into a large soup pot over medium heat. Cook the diced shallots and garlic, until fragrant, about 3-5 minutes. Add the chicken to the pot and cover it with 1/4 tsp salt, ¼ tsp ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp rubbed sage, 1/2 tsp thyme, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook the chicken until cooked through (4-6 mins per side depending on how thick your chicken breast is). Remove the chicken from the pan, leaving the garlic and onions in the pan.
- Remove the butternut squash peel, and cut the butternut squash into cubes. Add the squash to the soup pan along with 4 cups of chicken stock, ½ cup coconut cream, 1/8 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, 1/4 tsp dried thyme, ½ tsp rubbed sage and 1 Tbs honey. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Puree the soup using an immersion blender or a blender. Taste and season with more salt and pepper or thyme and sage if you think the soup needs it.
- Put 5 strips of bacon on a plate lined with paper towels and cover the top of them with paper towels. Cook for 5 minuets in the microwave. Once the bacon has cooled, crumble it up.
- Cut the grilled chicken into bite sized pieces. Add the diced chicken to the soup or to each individual bowl of soup. Then sprinkle soup with crumbled up bacon.
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