33 Butternut Squash Recipes We Love

By Food & Wine
Updated September 05, 2019
Sarah Bolla
Every time fall rolls around, there are a few seasonal ingredients we gravitate toward—apples, pumpkins, cranberries, and, of course, the humble butternut squash. Soft and creamy, with the ability to taste sweet or savory depending on the preparation, it’s a versatile food we keep coming back to. It’s a heavenly (and sneakily healthy) addition to mac and cheese; we also love it in a soup, combined with ginger and a spicy pecan cream. Read on for those recipes, as well as other butternut squash dishes we love.
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Butternut Squash Casserole with Leeks, Prosciutto and Thyme

Alexandra Rowley
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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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Butternut Squash Glazed Tart

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You’ll be surprised at how delicious butternut squash is for dessert.

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Butternut Squash Risotto with Shrimp

Sarah Bolla
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Roasted butternut squash gets incorporated into decadent risotto, then topped with juicy shrimp in this fantastic dish.

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Winter Squash and Savoy Cabbage Gratin with Garlic Crema


San Francisco chef Matthew Accarrino of SPQR looks to cornstarch to thicken the creamy milk-based roasted garlic sauce here. It’s a rich but healthy combination of winter squash with cabbage, all topped with crunchy hazelnuts.

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Winter Squash Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage

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"My carbo-meter goes 'ding' every time the weather turns cool. If you can relate to this at all, I suggest you make this recipe right away. There is no better autumnal treat than this amazingly insane gnocchi classic. I dare you to eat just one bowl. I started making a lot of gnocchi about 26 years ago at a restaurant called A La Colonna, which a man named John Schumacher owned in NYC. I worked there one summer and got schooled on the gnocchi and risotto stations. This classic northern-Italian combo of sage-Parmesan-gnocchi-brown-butter is one of my top five desert-island dishes."—Andrew Zimmern

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Butternut Squash with Homemade Harissa

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Harissa, a garlicky North African chile sauce, is usually served with couscous and stews. The homemade harissa featured here is super simple to prepare, and any extra will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week, but jarred versions available at specialty markets make a fine substitute.

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Butternut-Squash-and-Sage Wontons

Tina Rupp
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"Wonton wrappers are terrific for making ravioli when you don't have time to make homemade pasta," says Jill Donenfeld. The wontons here, filled with mashed butternut squash and roasted garlic, get nicely crispy when sautéed in a touch of oil, but they're also delicious simply steamed.

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Spice Roasted Butternut Squash

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Cumin, coriander and cayenne bring warmth and spice to this tender roasted squash.

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Roast Chicken with Butternut Squash

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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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Braised Pine Nuts with Butternut Squash

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In this risotto-like dish, the pressure cooker's intense heat penetrates the pine nuts' outer membranes and makes them soft inside.

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Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage

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Squash and sage are a classic—and delicious—combination.

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Mashed Potatoes with Butternut Squash

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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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Butternut Squash Turnovers

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These buttery squash turnovers make a perfect fall lunch alongside a big green salad.

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Mushroom, Butternut Squash & Gruyère Tart

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Talk about rich in umami: this sweet, savory and cheesy tart is deeply savory.

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Gingered Butternut Squash Soup with Spicy Pecan Cream

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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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Fresh Butternut Squash Salad

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This unusual salad mixes paper-thin slices of raw butternut squash with slivers of prosciutto, chunks of Parmesan cheese and toasted walnuts. If the squash isn't completely fresh, blanch the ribbons in boiling water for 2 minutes to soften them slightly and bring out their flavor.

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Farfalle with Spicy Sausage and Butternut Squash

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Sweet squash is the perfect counterpoint to spicy sausage in this warming winter pasta.

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Roasted Butternut Squash with Cilantro Cream

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Cooling, cilantro-flecked sour cream brings tang to this sweet roasted squash.

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Baked Butternut Squash–and–Cheese Polenta

Quentin Bacon
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This crusty baked polenta is swirled with mashed butternut squash and smoked Gouda cheese.

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Butternut Squash Bread Pudding

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This savory bread pudding, loaded with sweet squash, is based on a recipe meat master Bruce Aidells's wife, Nancy Oakes. For a more elegant presentation, Aidells bakes the bread pudding in individual ramekins.

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Butternut Squash Risotto with Crispy Pancetta

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Feel free to swap any type of winter squash for the butternut used in this simple and satisfying risotto.

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Butternut Squash Salad with Hazelnuts

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This lovely winter salad gets a double hit of hazelnuts: hazelnut oil in the rich dressing and toasted hazelnuts in the salad.

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Prosciutto-Cheese Piadina and Butternut Squash–Pecorino Piadina

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Chef Nate Appleman loves piadina, the excellent flatbread sandwiches that he describes as "Italian quesadillas." Appleman cooks the flaky dough until it's just crisp outside, then stuffs it with sumptuous combinations like tender roasted squash with pancetta, or prosciutto with stracchino cheese and peppery arugula.

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Butternut Squash–Polenta Gratin

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Sweet puréed squash comes together with nutty polenta in this warming gratin.

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Butternut Squash Soup with Crisp Pancetta

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This creamy soup gets a jolt of texture from supercrispy pancetta.

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Roasted Winter Squash and Onion Turnovers

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The filling for these turnovers also makes a terrific side dish on its own.

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Curry-Roasted Butternut Squash and Chickpeas

John Kernick
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This Indian twist on the traditional Thanksgiving dish of roasted butternut squash is supereasy: After tossing the squash and chickpeas with curry and cayenne, Melissa Rubel Jacobson roasts them, then drizzles the dish with a cooling cilantro-spiked yogurt sauce.

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Butternut Squash and Tangelo Dip with Sage

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Butternut squash is fantastic in all sorts of dips. Here, it’s roasted with citrus and sweet spices to concentrate the flavor, then pureed and seasoned with minced fresh sage.

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Vinegar-Glazed Butternut Squash Pasta Salad

Abby Hocking / Food & Wine
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Laura Rege combines some of fall’s best flavors in this rustic whole-wheat pasta dish. For the best results, seek out a great-quality unrefined hazelnut oil, which imbues the whole dish with a lovely nuttiness.

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Lentils with Butternut Squash and Merguez Sausage

© Fredrika Stjärne
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This dish from chef Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco is a fantastic way to solve the dilemma of feeding vegetarians and carnivores at the same table: People can choose to have the Moroccan-spiced lentils and butternut squash with or without merguez sausage, which is cooked separately.

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Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

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This recipe cuts out a lot of fat by pureeing butternut squash.

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Butternut Squash, Sun-Dried Tomato, and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

© Sarah Bolla
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Roasted butternut squash and sun-dried tomatoes make their way into these tangy goat cheese and melted mozzarella quesadillas.

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Black Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Poached Eggs, and Crispy Pancetta

Sarah Bolla
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Black quinoa has a bit of an earthier flavor and crunchier texture than white quinoa and it suits different variations of roasted vegetables quite well. This recipe can be adapted to use vegetables of other seasons. In the spring, replace the squash with blanched peas, fava beans, or sliced leeks.

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