Warm up with a bowl of Moroccan-inspired Chicken Pumpkin Stew. This stew has amazing sweet and savory flavors combined with traditional Moroccan spices, which add a lots of warmth and flavor to this savory pumpkin dish.
This one-pot stew is family-friendly (not spicy!), gluten-free, and is amazing served as a soup, or over rice or couscous.
Savory pumpkin stew
Are you into savory pumpkin recipes?
We are!
Pumpkin is more than just pancakes and pies. Pumpkin makes an amazing addition to soups and stews, and this Moroccan-spiced pumpkin stew is one of our absolute favorite winter recipes.
It has quite a few ingredients but the results are soo absolutely worth it. Each ingredient adds warmth, flavor, sweetness, and wonderful savory flavor. This stew comes together in just over a half hour, but it tastes like it's been simmering on the stove for hours.
The delicious broth is flavored with the subtle sweet flavor of pumpkin, a bit of tomato paste, and a secret ingredient: honey!
This is a very family-friendly stew. Even though it has quite a bit of Moroccan spices, it is not spicy, and has hints of sweetness in every bite.
It's a healthy, gluten-free stew, substituting traditional potatoes with pumpkin, which is loaded with nutrients and vitamins.
Another savory pumpkin recipe to try: Roasted Pumpkin Frittata
Ready to get cooking?? Here's what you need:
Chicken pumpkin stew ingredients:
- 2 chicken breasts (about 1-1.5 lb chicken breasts, diced)
- Salt & pepper
- Olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2-inch piece ginger
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (or skip this for no spice!)
- 1 lb raw pumpkin or butternut squash, cubed into ½ inch pieces (about 4-5 cups) - more on this later!
- 1 medium apple
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (from ½ lemon)
We also made some rice to serve with this stew. You can also serve this over couscous, or just as-is, soup-style.
Yes, it sounds like a lot of ingredients, but they're really not hard to prep! When you look at them all prepped and ready to go, it's really not that much. And I promise you that it is absolutely worth it!
Get the ingredients ready! Any sweet pumpkin is great for this stew: sugar pumpkin, kabocha, or even butternut squash!
Related recipe: Slow Cooker Cassoulet
A few tips about the ingredients:
→ Cinnamon: yes, I love adding ginger to savory recipes! I add it to my sweet potato chili and chicken mole. Trust me, just try it!
→ What kind of pumpkin to use for stew: You can use any kind of pumpkin you like, but I prefer the sweeter pumpkins for this stew, such as sugar pumpkin, kabocha, or even butternut squash. Kabocha and sugar pumpkins can be REALLY hard to cut open, so (1) be careful and (2) look for quartered ones from the grocery store, so they are already cut open and it's easier to chop it up. Or go ahead and buy cubed pumpkin from the produce section of your grocery store, if your store carries it! It will save you some time.
→ Apple, honey, dried cranberries: Yes, yes, and yes! They might seem like sweet ingredients that don't belong in a savory stew, but trust me, THEY DO BELONG! Their sweet flavors go perfectly with spicy cinnamon and ginger and savory tomato paste, chicken broth, and pumpkin. Besides, the lemon juice balances out the sweetness. 🙂
Now that we have our ingredients, let's get cooking!
Cooking instructions
Prepare all the ingredients: peel and dice the pumpkin into ½-inch pieces, peel and dice the apple, grate the ginger (tip: grate the garlic on the same grater as the ginger!), dice the chicken.
Step 1: Start by seasoning diced chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a medium-sized soup pot and add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the chicken and brown it on both sides for 2-3 minutes. Then set the chicken aside on a plate. It's OK if the chicken is not fully cooked yet!
Step 2: Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the same pot, then add the diced onion, grated ginger, minced garlic, turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper (if using). Saute for 2-3 minutes, or until the onion just starts to soften.
Step 3: Add the chicken back to the pot, and stir it around just to get it coated in the spice mixture. Then add the rest of the ingredients.
Stir, bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes, or until the pumpkin is fully cooked.
You can turn the heat off at this point, or cook it juuuust a little longer to really soften the pumpkin. This would also thicken the stew a bit, since the pumpkin will get soft and slightly dissolve into the broth, giving it a wonderful, savory rich flavor. You can even help this along by smushing the cooked pumpkin a little with a spatula.
Can't wait to dive into this pot of pumpkin chicken stew!
Serve as a stew in a bowl, or over rice or couscous, spooning the delicious broth over the rice. Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves, green onions, and/or a dollop of plain Greek yogurt or sour cream.
However you decide to serve this savory pumpkin stew, I hope you love it as much as we do! If you end up making this chicken pumpkin stew, please take a picture and tag @babaganoshblog on Facebook or Instagram! I LOVE seeing your creations!
Other chicken stew recipes and sweet & savory recipes you will love:
- Ethiopian chicken stew - a low-carb keto-friendly stew with so much flavor!
- Chicken with mole sauce - another fantastic stew with complex delicious sweet & savory flavors!
- Brown rice with dried fruit - great served chilled or warm, the dried fruit add a lovely sweetness to this brown rice!
- Sweet potato chicken soup with black beans
- Vegan Instant Pot rice pilaf
- Moroccan meatballs with polenta
- Moroccan lentil soup
If you enjoyed this recipe, let me know with a comment and a star rating below. And don't forget to share it on Facebook and save it on Pinterest for later!
Moroccan Chicken Pumpkin Stew
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts - diced into 1-inch bite-sized pieces (about 1-1.5 lb)
- salt and pepper - to season the chicken
- 2 tablespoons olive oil - divided
- 1 small onion - halved and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves - grated or minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger - (about 2-inch piece)
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon - (or less, to taste)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper - (or less, to taste)
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 lb cubed pumpkin - about 4-5 cups of ¾-inch cubed pumpkin
- 1 medium apple - peeled and diced to ½ inch pieces
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice - (from ½ lemon)
- Garnish: chopped cilantro or green onions, dollop of plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- Optional: rice or couscous, for serving
Special equipment
- Soup Pot
Instructions
- Season the diced chicken with salt and pepper. Preheat a medium-sized soup pot and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the diced seasoned chicken over high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side to brown the chicken. Remove from pan. It is OK if the chicken is not fully cooked yet.
- Add the rest of the olive oil in the pan and add the sliced onion, minced garlic, ginger, ground turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper (if using). Saute over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, making sure to coat the onion in the spice mixture.
- Add the browned chicken back to the pot and saute for 1 minute, coating the chicken with the spice mixture. Add the chicken broth, tomato paste, cubed pumpkin, apple, cranberries, honey, and lemon juice. Give it a good stir, and bring to a gentle boil.
- Reduce heat and allow to simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, or until the pumpkin is cooked and fork-tender. Add additional water or chicken broth, if you find the stew a little too thick for your liking. Season with salt and pepper, if needed (I typically don't need this if using a salted chicken broth!).Remove from heat and serve as a soup, or over rice or couscous. Garnish with fresh herbs, more dried cranberries, or a dollop of yogurt/sour cream.
Nutrition
The nutritional information displayed is an estimate and not to be used as dietary or nutritional advice. Consult a nutritionist or dietician for nutritional info based on the exact ingredients you use.
Ela
Thursday 2nd of November 2023
Absolutely amazing stew! Served over couscous with ras el hanout, sumac, lemon and spring onions. With toasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds at the top. Genius combination of sweet and bitter flavours. Thank you for this recipe!
Luberta
Sunday 6th of November 2022
Can you use frozen pumpkin or should it only be fresh? Does It matter what kind of pumpkin used?
Kate
Friday 11th of November 2022
Frozen pumpkin might cook faster than fresh, but I am not sure of the exact cooking time. I've only used fresh. You can use any kind of pumpkin you like: pie pumpkins, bigger pumpkins, kabocha squash, butternut squash will work.
Lynn Modisette
Monday 3rd of October 2022
Outstanding and my husband loved this dish!
Kate
Monday 3rd of October 2022
So glad to hear! Enjoy!
Maria
Monday 8th of November 2021
Yummmmmy!!!! Thank you so much for this. Only thing I noticed that there was tomato paste called for above the actual ingredients list that goes w the recipe, but none in the recipe itself.
Kate
Tuesday 9th of November 2021
So glad you enjoyed!! Thanks for pointing that out, I included the tomato paste in the recipe now. But it should not make too much of a difference to the final flavor.
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
Thursday 20th of November 2014
I have a tagine so why not come over and we'll make this together. How good it looks!
Kate
Friday 21st of November 2014
You have a tagine?! That's awesome! Do you get to use it a lot?