Squash season is the best season! Butternut squash is the ultimate ingredient to to serve with pasta. This recipe combines veggies, pasta and super moist chicken that all compliment each other perfectly and make a pretty healthy meal. This dish takes a little bit more work than my typical recipes, but it is so worth it! Try making this when you have a little down time on the weekend and have the leftovers throughout the week. Enjoy!

xoxo, The Secret GF

*serves 5

Ingredients:

8 chicken thighs

2 white onions

4 cloves garlic

20 fresh sage leaves

32 oz chicken broth

1 butternut squash

1 cup porcini mushrooms

6 cups packed baby spinach (about 5 oz.)

1 package brown rice spaghetti

¼ cup olive oil + more as needed

½ tsp salt + more to taste

¼ tsp pepper

Optional: parmesan cheese for serving

Steps:

Chop the onions and rinse the chicken thighs.
In a large, deep frying pan, sauté the onions at medium-high heat with about 2 tbsp olive oil until they are caramelized. Towards the end, crush the garlic and add it to the onions.
Once the onions are caramelized, add the chicken thighs skin-down along with more olive oil, as needed. Once the skin is browned, flip the thighs and add the chicken broth and about half of the sage leaves. Let this simmer with the cover on at medium-low heat for about 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, take the cover off and simmer for 30 more minutes. If the broth starts to cook down too much, put the cover back on.
While the chicken is cooking, dice the butternut squash. If you want a shortcut, try buying the pre-cut butternut squash from the grocery store – big time saver! Coat the diced squash in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and roast at 450⁰F for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Start the water for the pasta and cook the pasta until al dente (don’t forget to generously salt the water!).
While the pasta and squash are cooking, use a small frying pan to sauté the mushrooms with olive oil and salt.
After you drain the pasta, put it back in the pan and add the sautéed mushrooms, roasted butternut squash, and spinach. Scoop some of the broth from the chickens into the pasta and mix that in as well. The spinach should wilt from the heat of the other ingredients.
Lastly, use the pan from the mushrooms to crisp the remaining sage. In a generous amount of olive oil and salt at medium-high heat, fry the sage leaves until crispy.
To serve, scoop a portion of pasta with the butternut squash, mushrooms and spinach onto a plate. Top with a chicken thigh, extra broth and onions, crispy sage, and parmesan cheese.

Butternut Squash Pasta with Braised Chicken Thighs