Butternut Squash and Chicken Farrotto
This Butternut Squash and Chicken Farrotto is filling and full of flavor. My husband raved about it and took all the leftovers to work the next day for lunch, so it was clearly a hit in our household. If you’re wondering what the heck farrotto is, it’s meant to be like a risotto that uses farro instead of arborio rice. It’s cooked the same way you’d make a risotto, though it’s not quite as creamy as the rice version. I love farro, which is a grain that sort of reminds me of a cross between rice and barley. It’s a bit chewy like barley is an adds great texture to this dish. I’ve been able to find it easily in my local grocery stores, but if you have trouble I’m guessing you could substitute pearled barley without much editing.
In addition to the farro, this dish is packed with chicken, roasted butternut squash, fresh spinach and flavored with herbs, broth, wine and parmesan cheese. I think the wine adds delicious flavor, but if you don’t have any or don’t cook with wine you can substitute additional broth. Not only is this Butternut Squash and Chicken Farrotto delicious and satisfying, a 1 & 1/3 cup serving is 444 calories or 7 WW Points. To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Looking for more tasty, lightened up comfort food meals? Check out my Barley Beef Skillet, One-Pot Turkey and Veggie Spaghetti, One-Pot Cajun Chicken and Sausage Pasta, Chicken Tetrazzini, Swedish Turkey Meatballs, One-Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese, Pumpkin and Sausage Stuffed Shells, Chicken and Dumplings Casserole, One-Pot Creamy Garlic Chicken Pasta, Stuffed Turkey Bundles with Gravy, One-Pot Spicy Dirty Rice with Chicken and Sausage, Butternut Squash Pasta with Bacon and many more in the Comfort Food category of my recipe index!
Butternut Squash and Chicken Farrotto
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups peeled and cubed butternut squash, cut into ½”-1” cubes
- 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup uncooked pearled farro
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rubbed sage
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 oz parmesan cheese, finely shredded
- 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
- 10 oz cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees* and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Toss the cubed butternut squash in 2 teaspoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the squash in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Flip the squash cubes over with a spatula and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
- *While the oven is heating, drizzle the remaining teaspoon of oil in a 5 QT Dutch oven or large pot and bring to medium heat. Add the onions and stir to coat. Saute the onions, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until softened and translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for an additional minute until fragrant. Add the farro and stir to coat. Cook for another minute and then add the wine and stir. Allow the wine to simmer until absorbed by the farro.
- Add ½ cup of broth and continue to cook, checking and stirring fairly regularly until absorbed. Add an additional ½ cup and repeat ½ cup at a time until all 4 cups of broth are absorbed. In my experience, this will take around 40 minutes total. You don’t have to stir continuously with farro like you would with arborio rice (the traditional risotto base), but you’ll want to stir every couple minutes and check to see if the liquid is absorbed.
- When all the liquid is absorbed and the farro is tender and chewy, stir in the thyme, sage, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and add the Parmesan and spinach and stir until well combined. Add the roasted butternut squash from step one and the chopped chicken and stir together. Heat for another minute or two, stirring regularly until spinach is wilted and the ingredients are heated through.
Notes
444 calories, 46 g carbs, 4 g sugars, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 37 g protein, 8 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com) MYWW SMARTPOINTS PER (1 & 1/3 cup) SERVING: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Green: 9 SmartPoints/ Blue: 8 SmartPoints/ Purple: 4 SmartPoints Weight Watchers Points Plus:
10 per (1 & 1/3 cup) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below) Adapted from Yummy Mummy Kitchen