Our 20 Best Butternut Squash Recipes
There are several seasonal ingredients we gravitate toward in the fall, including apples, pumpkins, cranberries, and, of course, butternut squash. Soft and creamy when cooked, with the ability to taste sweet or savory depending on the preparation, it's a versatile food we keep coming back to. You can add it to macaroni and cheese, make it into soup, and even use it to create a version of chicken Parmesan. Read on for those dishes, as well as other butternut squash recipes we love.
Butternut Squash Casserole with Leeks, Prosciutto and Thyme
This luscious squash-studded bread pudding is the ideal accompaniment to roasted meats and birds, or cut it into large squares and serve as a main course with a green salad on the side.
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Winter Squash Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage
"This classic northern-Italian combo of sage-Parmesan-gnocchi-brown-butter is one of my top five desert-island dishes," Andrew Zimmern writes.
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Spice Roasted Butternut Squash
Cumin, coriander and cayenne bring warmth and spice to this tender roasted squash.
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Roast Chicken with Butternut Squash
Chicken quarters roasted with golden squash and sage are nice for a chilly autumn evening. To help the squash to brown evenly, be sure to spoon off the fat from the roasting pan after removing the breasts.
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Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage
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Mashed Potatoes with Butternut Squash
For ultrafluffy potatoes, Grace Parisi presses them through a ricer. To achieve a similar texture, pass the potatoes through a food mill or a fine-mesh sieve. If you choose to mash them by hand, be gentle; otherwise, the potatoes will turn gluey.
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Mushroom, Butternut Squash & Gruyère Tart
This sweet, savory, and cheesy tart is perfect for fall and winter.
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Gingered Butternut Squash Soup with Spicy Pecan Cream
Chef Dean Fearing loves the holiday feel of butternut squash, especially when it's combined with ginger, as it is for his smooth, gently sweet soup. He tops it with whipped cream flecked with chopped pecans for a number of reasons: "Usually holiday soups have a dollop of cream—adding pecans gives it a dollop of flavor. And crunch. I think everything should have a little bit of crunch to it. "
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Farfalle with Spicy Sausage and Butternut Squash
Sweet squash is the perfect counterpoint to spicy sausage in this warming winter pasta.
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Baked Butternut Squash and Cheese Polenta
This crusty baked polenta is swirled with mashed butternut squash and smoked Gouda cheese.
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Butternut Squash Risotto with Crispy Pancetta
Feel free to swap any type of winter squash for the butternut used in this simple and satisfying risotto.
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Butternut SquashPolenta Gratin
Sweet puréed squash comes together with nutty polenta in this warming gratin.
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Butternut Squash Soup with Crisp Pancetta
This creamy soup gets a jolt of texture from supercrispy pancetta.
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Lentils with Butternut Squash and Merguez Sausage
This dish from chef Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco comes together in four steps, and since the sausage is cooked separately, it's a meal you can serve to both vegetarians and meat-eaters at the same time.
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Lamb and Butternut Squash Tagine with Apricots
Savory lamb, salty olives, and ras el hanout (a North African spice blend of coriander, cumin, and a range of warm spices) are balanced by sweet butternut squash, apricots, and a touch of honey.
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Risotto Nero with Squash & Burrata
Nancy Oakes makes this gorgeous risotto with Venere black rice, a naturally black short-grain rice. The glossy grains are especially striking served with the golden butternut squash puree and creamy white burrata.
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Coconut Chickpeas with Winter Squash
Starchy, slightly sweet plantains are a natural addition to winter squash. Here, New York chef JJ Johnson simmers both, along with canned chickpeas, in coconut milk that's been steeped with aromatics. The result is creamy, fragrant, and so comforting.
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Roasted Butternut Squash with Curry Leaves
"A sprinkling of marash chile flakes and curry leaves with coconut oil add a bit of heat and an intoxicating fragrance," Nik Sharma writes, "while the black mustard seeds add a hint of nuttiness."
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Golden Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash Puree
The neck of the butternut squash is easy to peel and cube, making it perfect for easy pasta dishes. This recipe is a great way to use up that pesky bottom half, as here the halved squash is simply baked until soft, and then the flesh is scooped out.
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Curried Squash Galette
With a superflaky crust (the secret: frozen grated butter) and a lightly spiced sweet-savory winter squash filling, this rustic galette from Food & Wine's Justin Chapple makes a perfect vegetarian meal; serve it with a green salad.