…with apples and spinach and spicy and everything else that makes you all giddy because the season we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. My nails are already colored for fall, I’m currently wearing a burgundy plaid shirt, and I just finished my second enormous bowl of stew filled with Fuji apples and butternut squash. Have I been waiting for this season for ten months? YAH.
Fun flavored coffee, beautiful trees, and backyard fires with hot tub parties – it’s finally here! I’m so excited and lucky for you, I’m sharing my excitement this week through some of my favorite fall favored recipe, starting with Chef Chloe’s Curried Butternut Squash, Apple, and Lentil Stew.
I made this for the first time last year and fell in love. It’s simple, fresh, filling, smells DIVINE, and vegan! You know what that means? Healthy baby. The vegetables and aromas in this dish range from butternut squash, seasonal apples, carrot, fresh spinach, ginger, and more.
The only ingredients not pictured are vegetable broth, lentils, seasonings, and tomato paste. Speaking of, you know how annoying buy a small can of tomato paste is when all you really need is a tablespoon right? Well next time scoop out the remaining paste and spread a tablespoon out on a piece of parchment and freeze! You’ll never have to waste and keep re-buying tomato paste. Little life hacks complete me.
The hardest part of this dish is the prep. Turn up some jams, clean your cutting board, and allow yourself a good 10 minutes to cut them veggies. Once the carrots, onions, squash, ginger, garlic, and apples are cut – it’s time to cook. The carrots and onions are cooked first over medium high heat with the lid on. Keeping the lid on will trap the steam and sweat the vegetables, cooking them without adding color. The aromatics, tomato paste, and curry powder are added after a few minutes and then cooked out. I always like to cook out the tomato paste for a minute or two, it rids any pasty tasty shiz. That makes sense, right?
I then add the broth and lentils and bring it to a simmer for 20 minutes. After the lentils are cooked, the squash and apples are stirred in and cooked til tender, about 20 more minutes. Just before serving I stir in some fresh spinach and watch as magic happens.
Magic as in the spinach instantly wilts and adds a bang of color.
Everything in this dish is warm and comforting and perfect for fall. I added a pinch of cayenne because spicy curry makes me drool. The squash and apples are tender, the carrots are perfectly sweet, the lentils add a healthful filling touch, and the spinach adds the perfect crunch. This is exactly what I’ve been missing in life. Go make this.
- 1 white onion - small dice
- 2 large carrots - peeled, small dice
- 3 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 teaspoons ginger - minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- 1/2 cup dry lentils
- 2 1/2 cup vegetable broth (plus more if needed)
- 1 butternut squash - peeled, medium dice (about 4 cups)
- 2 Fuji apples - medium dice (I left my skin on)
- 2 c. fresh spinach leaves
- pinch cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper as needed
- 2 T. olive oil
- In a large pot heat the oil to medium high heat. Add the onions and carrots and cover with a lid. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent. Keeping the lid on will sweat the vegetables, making them tender without caramelizing!
- Add the ginger, garlic, tomato paste, curry powder, and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the lentils and broth and bring to a boil. Cover and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 25 minutes.
- Add the apples and squash, stir, and cover/simmer for 20 minutes or until fork tender. I added about 1/4 c. more broth after adding the apples/squash.
- Taste for seasoning. I added a pinch of cayenne for spice and some more salt. Before serving, stir in the spinach until wilted.
- Enjoy!!!
- Depending on the size of your squash, you may need to add one-two more cups of stock to the stew, depending how much liquid is left after letting the squash simmer for the first 10 minutes.
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I found this recipe on foodgawker.com when searching for butternut squash recipes and made it for dinner today. I made 2 minor changes to account for ingredients I had on hand: Jonathan apples instead of Fuji and chopped kale instead of spinach. I also ended up adding a little more extra water than you did (I must have had a bigger squash). I added the kale about 10 min before the end of cooking time since I knew it needed more cooking time than spinach. It was very good! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I have saved it to make it again.
Hello
Great recipe.I found it on pntrest.Very filling and everyone loved it.
Thank you.
This turned out great! Love sweet/savory soup combos like this.
So yummy! It might be helpful for people to know about how many cups of squash you used…I used a giant winter squash of some mystery variety that was given to me instead of a regular butternut squash, and I just had to guess on the amount. I then ended up using a whole “box” (32 oz.) of broth (I used chicken instead of vegetable). It turned out perfect, though!
Great tip! I will fix right away. Glad you enjoyed 🙂
All the famalam liked this. It’s in my recipe folder now. Thanks!
What if I put too much broth? How do you make it less soupy and more stew like?
More lentils or add some rice! Anything starchy that uses liquid to cook will help thicken it up. Hope this helps 🙂
I would love to try this recipe but I do not like the spices that are the hallmark of curries—cumin, paprika, chi;i powder…anything smoky. Could you please recommend another type of spice mix that might please my palate and still be wonderful? Thanks!
Hi Charlene,
The recipe is designed around the curry flavor profile and uses savory ingredients like the lentils and spinach to compliment. I would substitute the lentils for white beans, and keep the spinach (or use kale), and seasonings like thyme, garlic, Rosemary, pepper, and nutmeg. There’s a recipe on here titled “hearty white bean soup”to use as inspiration. I think the addition of the squash would be lovely!
Thanks, Lindsay! I found the white bean soup recipe and will use your suggestions and substitutions! I look forward to a new fabulous use for my butternut squash!
Thank you SO much for posting this! i made this DELICIOUS curry tonight and i loved it so much that i blogged about it, with a link back to your page so readers can get the recipe 🙂
https://darkmoonbakery.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/more-vegetarian-butternut-squash-dishes/
So glad you enjoyed! I’ll check out your recipe 🙂
This dish is absolutely delicious !!!!!
I added potatoes because I didn’t have enough butternut squash, and it was very yum! Forgot to put the spinach in, but had put beans and baby broccoli in. Sensational dish, thanks for sharing this recipe 🙂
Sounds yummy! I love the broccoli, totally trying this out!
I made this last night and it was truly delicious! I used large green lentils and cooked them a little less than suggested before I added the next ingredients–I like my lentils “just under” and was afraid they would turn out mushy otherwise. Also, I had to add a lot more broth, about 2 extra cups, because my squash absorbed a lot of the liquid. The stew smelled so amazing that I helped myself to a huge bowl as soon as the squash was tender, and only after I ate the whole thing did I realize that I had forgotten to add the spinach. Oh well! It was fantastic just the same. I’ll make sure to pack spinach for my lunches this week and watch the extra goodness of the greens wilt in my bowl. I’m trying to eat less meat and this stew did not leave me wanting. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it! This truly is filling and you’re right, you won’t even miss meat! Thanks for making 🙂
This was amazing. I have tried many BNSquash Curry recipes and this is one of the tops. My entire family loved it. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!