Chickpea Stew with Sausage and Butternut Squash

This Chickpea Stew packed with lean turkey sausage and butternut squash is the perfect hearty soup to have any time of year.

Its name may be a bit of a mouthful, but once you’ve had a mouthful of the soup, I promise that you won’t mind so much, since this deceptively rich tasting soup is chock full of nutrients that will help you stay healthy all year long – you'll be singing its praises to everyone you meet!

What goes in Chickpea Stew with Sausage and Butternut Squash?

While the main ingredients are in the name, it takes a whole lot more than just those things to make a soup. The other ingredients in this hearty, tasty soup include, but are not limited to, onion, garlic cloves, celery ribs, carrot, chicken broth, dried sage, lemon, olive oil, with salt and pepper added to taste – if there is one of the main ingredients that you or your family aren’t a fan of for one reason or another, there are some easy substitutes listed down below!

Can I Make it in a Slow Cooker or Instant Pot?

This soup recipe is amazing in a slow cooker or an Instant Pot, though you will want to cook your turkey sausage on the stovetop before adding it to the rest of the soup, as the texture of the sausage becomes tough and chewy if you let it cook in the slow cooker or instant pot – not very pleasant to eat. Then let that bad boy cook for 6 to 8 hours in a slow cooker – or 40 minutes in the Instant Pot, if that's more your speed.

How to Store Leftovers

Leftover soup can be put in a sealed container and left in the fridge perfectly well for up to three days, give or take – however, you can also keep your soup in the freezer for somewhere between two to three months if you want it to last even longer.

If you choose this route, be sure to let the soup sit until it is room temperature before you ladle it into a freezer safe container – I don’t recommend glass because the soup will expand as it freezes. Also be sure you don’t put too much soup into whatever container you do use, otherwise you end up with soup all over the inside of your freezer.

My favorite “hack” is putting one family serving of soup in a Ziploc bag and laying it flat in the freezer, allowing the soup to flatten itself out as it freezes; do this with multiple bags, and in the end you have stackable soup that you can then easily take out and thaw, since the thinness of the flattened soup allows it to thaw faster!

Recipe Swaps

It’s very easy to swap the parts of this recipe for something else entirely different, depending on your personal tastes and desires – here are a few suggestions for things you can swap for the main ingredients. Instead of:

• Turkey sausage: Try ground turkey, lean ground beef, ground chicken, ground pork, vegetarian ground crumbles, shredded cooked chicken, precooked sausage, chicken sausage
• Chickpeas: Try white kidney beans (cannellini beans), black beans, lentils, black eyed peas, or add a cooked grain like rice or quinoa before serving
• Butternut squash: Try acorn squash, sugar pumpkin, sweet potato, carrots, potatoes, or parsnips. Also more than one vegetable can be used to add more variety.

Can You Make it Vegetarian?

If you’re vegetarian then have no fear, you can still eat this amazing soup with just a small modification! Substitute the turkey sausage for your favorite protein alternative, and this recipe works perfectly well no matter the form the protein takes; I’m a big fan of chopping up a few beyond burgers and putting that in the soup instead of the turkey sausage.

If you decide not to have any meat or meat substitute you may want to add some beans or even pasta just to give the soup a bit more body.

Healthy Topping Suggestions

I adore soup topping, but some of them can be downright unhealthy, which makes absolutely no sense when so many soups are so healthy, so here I’ve included a list of healthy soup toppings that work great on this soup and just about any other one as well:

• Avocado
• Croutons
• Baked tortilla chips
• Silvered almonds
• Grated Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese
• Green onions
• Herbs
• Parmesan crisps
• Pesto
• Pomegranate
• Pumpkin seeds
• Salsa
• Sauteed peppers
• Yogurt

Health Benefits of Chickpea Stew

This Chickpea Stew with Sausage and Butternut Squash is packed full of nutrition, making it an easy choice for a healthy meal, and offers several health benefits that will make it one of your favorite meals. Here are just a few:

• Turkey Sausage: A high protein meat that is low in calories and low in fat and cholesterol.
• Chickpeas: High in fiber, and also contains iron, calcium, potassium, and B Vitamins, helping your heart, blood pressure, bone health, and so much more.
• Butternut Squash: Contains 400% of your daily recommended Vitamin A as well as Vitamins C, E, B1, B3, and B6…just to name a few.

Other Healthy Soup Recipes

• Cabbage Soup
• Slow Cooker Chicken Quinoa Soup with Kale
• Sausage, Pepper, and Spinach Soup
• Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken Artichoke Soup
• Sausage and Lentil Soup