BBQ Chicken-Stuffed Delicata Squash For Full GAPS

These BBQ chicken-stuffed delicata squash bring together soft winter squash and tender pulled chicken coated in smoky pineapple barbecue sauce. The chicken cooks covered in a low oven until it pulls easily from the bones. Then the squash roasts at a higher temperature, ready to open and fill.

Plan a long oven window for this meal. The chicken needs five to six hours, followed by about an hour for the whole delicata. The cooking order below uses one oven. You can shred and sauce the chicken while the squash roasts, then fill the cooked vegetables just before serving.

I cook before second shift and do not have a big bulk-prep routine in place yet. That does make the weekdays harder. For a meal this size, I want to see what can be prepared ahead before deciding when to start. The stock and barbecue sauce are separate jobs you can finish before the chicken goes into the oven.

Have two cups of prepared homemade chicken meat stock and half a batch of smoky pineapple BBQ sauce ready. This recipe uses that sauce’s twelve-ounce tomato-paste formula. Divide its finished batch into two equal portions and use one here.

Why Use Delicata Squash?

Delicata is a small winter squash with a long shape and pale skin marked by green stripes. Its cooked flesh is soft and gently sweet, making a useful place for the sauced chicken. You open the cooked squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds before filling the cavity.

Use twelve small squashes, about ten pounds altogether. Try to choose pieces of similar size so they finish roasting at roughly the same time. The weight is a planning guide for the whole vegetables, including their skin and seeds.

Winter squash is allowed on Full GAPS. Sweet potato is a different food and is excluded from that menu. This version keeps the stuffed-vegetable meal while using delicata for the squash you will eat with the chicken.

What Goes Into The Chicken

A whole chicken: Start with one fresh or fully thawed bird. Remove any packet from its cavity. Choose a covered oven-safe casserole that holds the bird comfortably, with room for the liquid around it.

Coconut oil: Two tablespoons of natural, non-hydrogenated coconut oil coat the chicken. Soften or gently melt the measured fat if needed to spread it. It will melt into the cooking liquid as the casserole warms.

Stock and water: Put the measured two cups of prepared chicken meat stock in the casserole, then add filtered water as needed to bring the liquid about two-thirds of the way up the casserole. The water amount depends on the pot and bird. It is not a fixed extra cup amount.

Garlic, vinegar and seasonings: Use four crushed garlic cloves, two tablespoons apple-cider vinegar, a quarter teaspoon each of pure smoked paprika and dried thyme, and one teaspoon natural sea salt. These season the chicken before the barbecue sauce is added.

Prepared barbecue sauce: Use half the finished batch linked above. Add it to the shredded cooked chicken, where it can coat the meat. Keep the rest of the sauce covered for another meal.

How To Make BBQ Chicken-Stuffed Delicata

1. Prepare The Covered Chicken

Heat the oven to 300°F. Put the whole chicken in a large lidded casserole. Coat it with the measured coconut oil and sprinkle on the smoked paprika, thyme and half the teaspoon of salt.

Add the crushed garlic, apple-cider vinegar, two cups of prepared stock and the remaining half teaspoon of salt around the bird. Add filtered water until the liquid reaches about two-thirds of the casserole’s depth, with the chicken in place. Cover with the lid.

2. Cook Low And Covered

Cook for five to six hours. Near the end, check whether the meat pulls from the bones easily with a fork. The covered liquid keeps the chicken in a moist cooking environment. Expect soft skin and tender meat rather than a dry, crisp roast.

This chicken preparation follows the covered whole-bird casserole method in Dr. Natasha’s 2020 Gut and Physiology Syndrome. The book gives a low oven range of 285–320°F and five to six hours. The 300°F setting used here is within that range.

3. Roast The Whole Squash

Take the cooked chicken casserole out of the oven and raise the oven to 400°F. Wash the twelve delicata squash and pierce their skins in a few places. Arrange them on baking sheets with enough space for the whole pieces.

Roast for about one hour, until a fork goes through the skin into soft flesh. Check individual squashes if their sizes differ. A large piece can need more time than a smaller one beside it.

Keep the cooked chicken covered and warm while the squash cooks. Shredded chicken can be held gently over low stovetop heat with some of its cooking liquid to keep it moist. If preparing the chicken a day ahead, cool and refrigerate it, then warm the portion needed for filling.

4. Shred And Sauce The Chicken

When the chicken is comfortable to handle, lift it from the liquid and remove the bones and any hard cartilage. Keep the tender meat, soft skin and fat. Pull the meat apart with two forks into pieces that will sit easily in the squash cavities.

Let excess liquid drain back into the casserole before mixing in half the prepared barbecue-sauce batch. Fold the sauce through the chicken until it coats the shreds. The filling should look moist and sauced, without a deep pool of cooking liquid around it.

5. Open And Fill The Delicata

Let the cooked squash cool enough to handle comfortably. Open each one lengthwise and scoop out the seeds, leaving the cooked flesh in its skin. Support the soft squash underneath as you work so the shell holds its shape.

Divide the barbecue chicken between the twelve squash cavities. Serve warm. You can eat the soft flesh with the chicken and leave the rind if you prefer. For smaller portions, divide a filled squash rather than trying to add more filling than the cavity can hold.

Where This Fits In GAPS

This is a Full GAPS meal after winter squash, pineapple, tomatoes, mustard and the included seasonings have been introduced. It has a fully cooked chicken and squash base, with the separate cooked-pineapple barbecue sauce added at the end.

The 2020 GAPS book permits cooked winter squashes and gives the covered whole-bird preparation used here. Natural, non-hydrogenated coconut oil is also permitted for cooking. Use the homemade stock and sauce linked in the ingredients rather than substituting commercial stock or a sweetened bottled barbecue sauce.

The meat stock is a finished ingredient made separately. Measure the two cups after straining it. The barbecue sauce has its own complete recipe and measurements; making it ahead is part of planning this meal.

The measured meal has no dairy or egg ingredients. The sauce contains mustard and coconut. It does not fit No-Plant GAPS because of the squash and sauce, and it is not presented as a ketogenic meal.

Planning The Cooking And Portions

Allow about thirty minutes for preparation, shredding and filling, with the stock and sauce already made. Cooking takes roughly six to seven hours when you use one oven: five to six hours for the covered chicken, then about one hour for delicata.

The card uses the longer cooking allowance, seven hours, plus thirty minutes preparation, for a planned seven-and-a-half-hour total. The chicken’s tenderness and squash’s softness still decide when they are ready. Larger vegetables, extra oven batches and a bigger pot can add time.

This recipe makes twelve filled squashes, enough for twelve generous portions or up to twenty smaller portions.

For a double batch, use casserole space for two chickens and baking-sheet space for twenty-four squash. Use separate casseroles or cook in batches as needed.

Storage And Reheating

Divide leftover chicken and squash into shallow containers and refrigerate promptly. You can keep the filling separate from the squash if that makes portioning easier. Keep the containers covered.

Freeze cooled portions for later meals when useful. Gently warm the chicken with a little reserved cooking liquid if it needs moisture, and warm the cooked squash before filling. Keep an eye on the flesh as it reheats; it is already soft and does not need another hour of roasting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Make The Chicken Ahead?

Yes. Complete the covered cook, remove the bones and refrigerate the cooled chicken in portions. Warm the amount needed while roasting the squash, then mix it with the measured barbecue sauce before filling.

Why Is The Chicken Covered?

The lid and liquid make this a moist, low-oven preparation. The goal is meat that pulls from the bones and shreds easily. A soft skin is expected after that covered cook.

How Do I Know The Squash Is Ready?

Test the flesh through the side with a fork. It should yield easily rather than resisting with a hard center. Similar-sized pieces help, but check the larger ones before deciding the whole tray is finished.

How Much Barbecue Sauce Goes In?

Half a finished batch of the linked smoky pineapple sauce. Divide that batch equally rather than guessing a cup amount. Fold it through the drained shredded chicken so it coats the meat.

Can I Replace The Delicata With Sweet Potato?

Keep delicata for this Full GAPS recipe. Sweet potato belongs later in Step 5 of Coming Off GAPS. The foods for that transition are a different part of the protocol from the Full GAPS menu used here.

Recommended Equipment

Use a large oven-safe casserole or Dutch oven with a lid that fits the whole chicken and liquid comfortably. Le Creuset Artichaut cookware fits this covered-oven job. You also need baking sheets for the squash, measuring cup and spoons, a fork, two forks for shredding, a spoon for removing seeds, and a knife and cutting board.

Have heat-safe supports ready for the hot casserole and trays. Choose enough oven and counter space for the batch before beginning, especially when doubling.

More Family Meal Planning

If you want another tomato-and-pineapple condiment, the separate tomato-pineapple BBQ sauce uses eighteen ounces of paste and its own covered simmer. It is a different sauce recipe from the one measured in this filling.

My upcoming Large-Family Batch Plan is for planning larger portions and the meals that follow. Watch the WFLI shop for it if you want help arranging the preparation, storage and portions around a family week.