Butternut Breakfast Soup

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I love having soup for breakfast — it is everything I look for in the perfect morning meal. First and foremost, it provides optimal nutrition to start the day — high-quality protein, vegetables (esp. greens!), and a good dose of bone broth. Secondly, it is super convenient, all I need to do is re-heat a portion that I’ve made earlier in the week (that’s either been sitting in my refrigerator or frozen) on the stovetop. Especially during the cooler months, it can be nice and warming too! I like to add a little dose of probiotics by scooping a nice portion of fermented vegetables (like sauerkraut or fermented carrots) to my dish to round things out.

So, what makes this particular recipe a “breakfast” recipe? Honestly you could make it for any meal, but I associate it with breakfast because I often make it while I am preparing another dinner, leave my Instant Pot to cook/depressurize/stay warm overnight, and then I have this soup waiting for me when I wake in the morning. You can easily make this recipe in a regular pressure cooker — just use your stovetop to cook the vegetables in the bottom of your pot before adding the soup ingredients, and set a timer/manage the pressure during cooking. It is super versatile, and I hope it helps you answer that difficult Autoimmune Protocol question, “What’s for breakfast?”.

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5.0 from 2 reviews
Butternut Breakfast Soup
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon solid cooking fat
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 small, whole chicken (about 4 pounds)
  • 1 small butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded, and cubed
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ pound baby spinach
  • ½ lemon, juiced
Instructions
  1. Place the solid cooking fat in the bottom of your Instant Pot and select the "saute" function. When the fat has melted and the pot is hot, add the onion, and cook, stirring, until translucent and lightly browned, about six minutes. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for another 30 seconds, until aromatic.
  2. Add the water to the pot and turn off the heat. Add the chicken, squash, and sea salt to the pot. Lock the lid, and set your machine to pressure cook on the manual "high" setting for 16 minutes.
  3. When the machine indicates the dish is finished cooking, immediately place a towel over the steam valve, carefully opening with the use of a wooden spoon (careful -- you can burn yourself easily here!) to quick-release the pressure. Once the steam is released, remove the lid, and allow to cool.
  4. Once the dish has cooled enough, remove the whole chicken from the pot, take off the meat, and place back in the pot with the spinach and lemon juice. Place back into the Instant Pot container to heat to temperature, and enjoy!
  5. If you are going to be portioning this soup into jars for storage in the freezer, allow it to cool completely and spend 24 hours in the refrigerator before doing so -- the soup will have a better flavor when you reheat it!

 

About Mickey Trescott

Mickey Trescott is a co-founder here at Autoimmune Wellness and a co-teacher of AIP Certified Coach. After recovering from her own struggle with both Celiac and Hashimoto’s disease, adrenal fatigue, and multiple vitamin deficiencies, Mickey started to write about her experience to share with others and help them realize they are not alone in their struggles. She has a Master's degree in Human Nutrition and Functional Nutrition, and is the author of three best-selling books--The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook, The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook, and The Nutrient-Dense Kitchen. You can watch her AIP cooking demos by following her on Instagram.

28 comments

  • Rita says

    If you do not have an instant pot, would it work okay in a slow cooker?

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hi Rita, I bet you could make it in a slow cooker, but I’m not sure the timing conversion since I don’t have one. Maybe you could compare similar recipes and come up with something? If you figure it out let me know and I will make a note on the recipe!

      • Dylan says

        I don’t have an instant pot where I live and had to substitute for a different kind of squash. Also, I used several chicken legs instead of the whole chicken because of the cost. All that to say, I doubled the water and cooked it on the stove for 2.5-3 hours. Probably work just the same in a slow cooker. You have to be kind of careful with the squash because overcooking it will turn it to mush. I’m guessing in a slow cooker, you could do 4-6 hours and be fine. Just make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through.

        I enjoyed the recipe. Will be making it again. It really did make a great addition to my breakfast meals.

  • Katie says

    I just got an InstantPot and can’t wait to start using it. I love soup, too… even for breakfast, so I look forward to trying this recipe out! Thanks!!

  • Wehaf says

    I have recently started the AIP and am already tired of meat patties for breakfast – this looks like a good option for some variety.

    In your clients’ experience, how long on the AIP does it take to start seeing results? I have Hashimoto’s and celiac disease, and also currently have systemic candidiasis. Should I expect to feel noticeably better in two weeks? Six weeks? Ten?

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hi Wehaf,
      The answer to this question is highly individual – I’ve seen people all over the spectrum, from weeks, to literally years. I would say most people, but not everyone, fall into the 2-3 months category. Be aware with Hashimoto’s you may still need to be treated with thyroid hormone, and for Candida, you do need to be treated for the infection as well. If these two issues are not managed properly you might only have little, or no success with food eliminations. Hope it helps!

  • Lily says

    I don’t have access to fresh rosemary, how much dried rosemary should I use? Thanks!

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hi Lily, When I use dried herbs I use 1/3 as much as I would fresh. Hope it helps!

  • Chenille says

    Is there a reason you use water instead of bone broth in this? Thanks! 🙂

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Chenille, You can use bone broth if you’d like, but cooking the chicken and vegetables makes a broth of its own.

    • Amy says

      I would still add some bone broth for its nutritional value, as I don’t think the cooking process is going to get much out of the bones. It’ll be a nice chicken and veggie broth though.

      • Flora Mondecar says

        I make this recipe a lot, particularly when I’m feeling worse from Lyme treatment. I just cook it in a pot on the stove. The longer I cook it the softer the bones get, hence making bone broth. And I do chew the softer ends of the bones.

  • Mommysalami says

    Just tried the soup. The flavor is great, but chicken was still a bit raw. I had a 4.5lb chicken ands used an instapot. The instapot guide suggested 8min/lb, but fear the squash would be complete mush. Would it help to use cut up chicken vs the whole chicken?

    Aside from this, its tasty.

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hi Mommy Salami, if you cooked the meal for 16 minutes at high pressure the chicken should not have been raw- the meat should be falling off the bone. Are you sure your Instant Pot was sealed properly? I agree cooking at 8 minutes per pound would result in mush.

  • Mommysalami says

    Good news since last posting. Seems like the issue I had was with the instapot itself. After a 2nd meal was ruined, appears I had a disfunctional instapot. Made the soup just now using my new pot, and it turned out great. I did split chicken in half just to be certain. Flavor definitely develops as it sits. Thanks again.

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Sorry to hear about the defective IP, but glad you got it figured out!

  • […] delicious and comforting, especially with the pan juices. This would make a great chicken soup, like this AIP version. Or, if you need shredded chicken for tacos, enchiladas, chicken salad or a casserole, this is a […]

  • Marie Pironneau says

    Why does it say 1h20 min when it’s 16 min + a few min of sauteing? Or am I missing something? 🙂

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Hi Marie! The time counts the prep time (like chopping ingredients), and the time it takes the Instant Pot to come to temperature (usually about 30 minutes for a full load). Hope it helps!

  • Salma says

    Hello! How long would this cook on stovetop? Thank you.

  • Flora says

    I have times that I live on this soup. Do you have any nutrition info on this soup that I could put into my weight loss app? A while back I guesstimated 414 calories. 🤔

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Flora, we don’t provide nutritional info, but you could easily plug all of the ingredients into a tracker to find out!

  • Sloan Foxe Ashley says

    Love this soup! Thank you!

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