Roasted Butternut Squash

Hunnie
Nov 15, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Mar 16

Butternut squash is one of my favorite fall veggies. It has this buttery flavor and reminds me almost like a sweet potato.

Key here is to chop the butternut squash so they’re all the same size. This way, when they’re roasting in the oven, they will cook at the same rate. This is a quick side dish recipe, so I’m giving you guys a quick post. You know the drill: a few facts about nutrition, and then comes the recipe.

BUTTERnut Squash: How fun is it that BUTTER is in the name

Technically, squash is considered a fruit (it grows from flowers and has seeds). There are more than 100 different kinds of winter and summer squashes. Specifically, butternut squash contains a considerable amount of fiber (2.8 grams per cubed cup) and it’s known to help prevent colorectal cancer. Like many other fruits and veggies, butternut squash has antioxidants as well. The beta-carotene in butternut squash is also good for eye health. According to the USDA, one cup of butternut squash contains 48% of the recommended daily amount of Vitamin C your body needs. Vitamin C is connected to wrinkle prevention and wound healing. So butternut squash is a dietary natural botox, sign me up. Nutritionally speaking, it’s the top squash (acorn is up there too) in the health category.

Recipe:

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped
- I used two fresh 20 oz precut butternut squash to save myself some time.
- I like to cut my butternut squash into ~1 inch cubes. It gives each bite a lot of crispy edges which I’m a fan of, instead of big mushy, middle spots.
4 tbsp of GOOD olive oil
2 tsp of fresh thyme
½ tsp of salt
1 tsp of black coarse pepper
4 tbsp of fresh sage, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
Peel, deseed and then chop the butternut squash into similar sizes. If the butternut cubes are different sizes, they will not cook at the same rate. I recommend cutting into ~1 in cubes.
Hold the top of the thyme sprig and slide your fingers down to strip the leaves off the stem. Do this until you have 2 tsp of fresh thyme leaves
Chop 4 tbsp of fresh sage
In a large bowl, add butternut squash cubes, sage, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper. Make sure everything is thoroughly mixed and the olive oil evenly coats all squash cubes
Then transfer to a large baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, mixing everything at the 15-minute mark to ensure it cooks evenly.