Chicken and Butternut Squash Soup

Nutrition Snapshot

  • About 35 grams of protein in one bowl, from chicken breast and white beans, about three times what a typical vegetable soup carries.
  • Butternut squash, white beans, and carrots bring about 7 grams of fiber and a large dose of vitamin A, which the squash gets its color from.
  • The trade-off: canned beans and broth make this a moderately salty soup even with the low-sodium versions. The card shows the amount, and the notes show how to lower it.

Onion and frozen carrots softened in a pot, then low-sodium broth, a bag of frozen butternut squash, thyme, and whole chicken breasts, simmered until the chicken is cooked through. The chicken comes out and gets shredded with two forks.

Half the soup is blended smooth with a can of white beans, which thickens it and turns it gold, and then the chicken and the second can of beans go back in. It is a thick, sweet-savory soup that eats like a stew, and it is better the next day.

Why This Soup Is Great for Muscle After 40

Muscle starts to go in the forties, at a rate of a few percent a decade at first, and nobody notices, because the scale does not move and the mirror barely does. Strength is what gives it away, years later: a jar that will not open, a suitcase that got heavy.

By then a good deal of muscle is gone, and getting it back is slower than keeping it would have been.

The first thing to change is the protein at each meal. Muscle rebuilds in response to a dose of protein of about 30 grams at a time, and most meals fall short of that dose even when the day’s total looks fine. Dinner is often a soup or a pasta that carries 12 or 15 grams, which is below the amount that switches rebuilding on.

A Soup Built to the Dose

This soup is built to reach the dose. A pound and a quarter of chicken breast and two cans of white beans across six bowls put about 35 grams in each. The squash and beans make it filling enough to be dinner on its own. Why 30 grams, and how to get there at breakfast and lunch too, is in How Much Protein in One Meal Builds Muscle After 40.

The Difference Between a Soup and a Meal

Most homemade soups are vegetables and broth, and they carry 5 to 12 grams of protein a bowl. That is why a bowl of soup for dinner often ends in a snack an hour later. The chicken here is a pound and a quarter, where most soup recipes call for a single breast, and the beans add another 8 grams a bowl.

The protein is also what makes the soup hold as a dinner in the freezer; a portion thawed and heated is a full meal, with nothing to add.

Blend Half, Leave Half

Blending half the soup with one can of beans gives a thick, creamy body with no cream, and leaving half whole keeps pieces of squash and shredded chicken to chew. An immersion blender in the pot for thirty seconds does it; a regular blender works with half the pot, lid ajar for steam. For a fully smooth soup, blend everything, chicken included.

A bowl of thick chicken and butternut squash soup with white beans in a deep soup bowl.

Chicken and Butternut Squash Soup

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Whole chicken breasts poached in low-sodium broth with frozen butternut squash, carrots, onion, and thyme, then shredded; half the soup blended with white beans for a thick gold base, the rest left whole. Six bowls, about 35 grams of protein each, freezes well.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 6 bowl (about 1 3/4 cups)
Course: dinner, lunch
Cuisine: American
Calories: 353
Ingredients Equipment Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 2 cups frozen sliced carrots
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 bag (20 ounces) frozen cubed butternut squash
  • 1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cans (15 ounces each) low-sodium white beans rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt added at the end
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice or cider vinegar

Equipment

  • Large pot or Dutch oven
  • Immersion blender or regular blender
  • Two forks for shredding

Method
 

  1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the onion and carrots until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and stir 1 minute.
  2. Add the broth, squash, and whole chicken breasts. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and simmer gently, partly covered, until the chicken is cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes.
  3. Lift the chicken onto a plate and shred it with two forks. Add one can of beans to the pot.
  4. Blend about half the soup smooth with an immersion blender, leaving plenty of squash pieces, or blend half in a regular blender and return it.
  5. Stir in the shredded chicken and the second can of beans. Heat through, then add the salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Taste and adjust.
  6. Serve hot. Keeps 4 days in the refrigerator or 3 months frozen.

Nutrition

Calories: 353kcalCarbohydrates: 42gProtein: 35gFat: 6.8gSaturated Fat: 1.4gSodium: 538mgPotassium: 1265mgFiber: 7.4gSugar: 6.4gCalcium: 133mgIron: 4.8mgMagnesium: 95mgPhosphorus: 397mgCholine: 90mg

Notes

Lower-sodium version: skip the salt at the end and use no-salt-added beans, which cuts the sodium by about a third. Canned beans are convenient; a pound of dried white beans cooked ahead and frozen in 1 3/4-cup portions replaces the two cans, costs less, and skips the can lining. Chicken thighs work in place of breast, with a little more fat and about 20 minutes to cook. Frozen sweet potato or a can of pumpkin works in place of butternut squash. A spoon of plain Greek yogurt on top adds 3 grams of protein a bowl.

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Gluten Free

Chicken, butternut squash, white beans, carrots, onion, and thyme are naturally free of gluten. For people with celiac disease, check the broth for wheat or barley-derived flavorings and the canned beans for wheat-based thickeners. People who avoid gluten by preference can use any brand.

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