How To: How to: Roast Butternut Squash

Roasting squash is the easy part. The hard part is deciding which recipe you are going to use it in. There are hundreds of choices from desserts and sweet casseroles to curried soups and savory sides.

Makes: 1 roasted butternut squash

Preparation time: 5m
Cooking time: 5m
Total time: 35m

Ingredients:

Equipment: vegetable peeler, baking dish or baking sheet lined with parchment paper

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven 450ºF and spray a large baking dish with non-stick spray, or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Peel the butternut squash with a regular vegetable peeler, then cut it in half lengthwise. If the squash is too hard to get your knife through then you will need to use a large knife and a rubber mallet. Place the squash on a large cutting board. Wedge the knife into the squash, then with the sharp end of the knife facing down gently tap it with the rubber mallet repeatedly until it goes all the way through the squash. You will want to hit the spine of the blade at either the tip (see first photo below) or near the bolster (see second photo below).
  3. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard (see third photo below).
  4. Cut the squash into 1" cubes and place in the dish or on the paper lined baking sheet, spreading them out so they form a single layer.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes, flip over then bake for another 15 minutes until they are soft enough to put a fork into.
  6. Try this tasty gourd in my INLINE-LINK-START title="Curried Butternut Squash Soup" href="http://www.wafflehearts.com/recipes/curried-butternut-squash-soup" target="_blank">Curried Butternut Squash Soup INLINE-LINK-END, or a concoction of your own!

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