I love yellow squash, so on an impulse, I bought a butternut squash to see if it’s similar or deliciously different. Online search says bake it; is there any other way to cook it? I don’t like mushy veggies. How do I cook/bake it so it isn’t mushy? (I don’t like to cook – the easier and simpler, the better. Veggies cooked al dente with butter and pepper work for me.)
Cut in half, seed and roast in the oven until tender. Eat with butter and perhaps a bit of cinnamon or nutmeg. You can also make a great butternut squash soup. Lots of recipes online.
Yellow sumer squash and zucchini are completely different beats from squashes like acorn squash and butternut squash (and pumpkin). If you don’t bake them until they are tender, they are nigh inedible.
Preheat oven to 400F
Peel the butternut squash (a little difficult, but a regular veggie peeler does the trick).
Cut in half
Scoop out seeds
Cut peeled squash into approx 1" cubes.
Put cubes on baking sheet lined with foil
Toss with 2 TBSP melted butter and 2 TBSP brown sugar, and a dash of salt.
Roast 45-55 minutes, turning the cubes 1-2 times for even browning.
This will yield browned, caramelized cubes that are soft inside… that’s about as un-squishy as butternut squash gets.
Most people just scoop out the seeds and bake it in its skin, wherupon it has a texture similar to a baked sweet potato.
Cut it in half. Scoop out the seeds and scrape the strings out.
Salt each half. Smear with olive oil. Set each half cut side down on a foil-lined baking pan.
Bake one hour @ 325F.
After they are finished roasting, let cool for about 10 minutes. Pick up each half with a paper towel and scoop out the insides into a bowl. They’re easily mashed with a spoon by stirring. You can add butter or brown sugar or maple syrup. Maybe even a dash of pumpkin pie spices. Personally, I love the stuff so much I add nothing!
I even made them tonight 
Cook in oven as described by any of the above recipes. (except put a carrot or onion or something under the hole where the seeds and strings were.) Scoop out pulp. Blend up with your choice of cream, yogurt and/or milk until it is the consistency of soup. Add some salt, pepper, cinnamon and cloves. Heat up and eat as soup. Delicious!
I microwave them until they can be cut in half. As described above, scoop out the seeds, fill with butter and brown sugar. Bake or microwave.
Sounds yummy; I’ll try it tomorrow. Thanks.
Butternut pumpkin (as it is known in Australia) forms the basis for my Soup of Shame, aka Embarrassment Soup. It’s called that because it is so embarrassingly un-gourmet. It has the best effort to outcome ratio of any food known to me. I invented it last month while I was sick.
Chop bits off a butternut, enough to fill an ordinary cereal bowl. If you just do the ‘neck’ end, you don’t have to deal with the sticky seeds (yet…) Don’t worry about trying to take the skin off either - it’ll cook down soft and give added fiber to the finished product. Put other veg in too, depending on your energy/enthusiasm levels… carrots, celery, garlic cloves, onion chunks. Cover with chicken stock or water, then microwave til everything is squishy, maybe 10 minutes? Blend away, for a bit longer than you think is necessary, adding whatever herbs and spices take your fancy. Add some butter or cream if you like, and more water/stock if it is too thick. No effort, comforting and delicious. If only my husband would eat it!
If I were attempting to fancify this, I would probably do as mentioned above, oven-roasting beforehand with fat and salt and sugar, caramelizing, blah blah, but honestly, that’s too much bother.
I made thisRoasted Garlic Butternut Squash Bisque last night. I love it, but I am a sucker for roasted garlic.
Oooh, time to put my new wand mixer and duck stock to work this weekend.
Preparation 1:
Use any of the oven-baking options listed above, and toss mixture with goat cheese and a little balsamic vinegar.
Perparation 2: (based on a Jaques Pepin recipe)
Peel and seed a squash, cut into 1/2" cubes. Add cubes along with 2-6 Tbsp of butter (depending on your fat ingestion philosophy) and 1 cup of apple cider to a large skillet. Cook covered on med-high for about 8 minutes and then remove cover allowing liquid to completely evaporate. Leave alone until cubes are browned on one side, then toss in pan, allow to brown again.
I typically adjust things on the fly at this point, adding something acid (balsamic or red wine vinegar) to brighten, and if necessary something sweet (syrup, honey, or brown sugar).
The result are little cubes of squash that are soft in the center, carmelized on the outside, with a reasonably deep and complex flavor. Maybe 30 minutes to prep and cook?
I just made a savory bread pudding with butternut squash and parsnips. The squash was peeled, chopped, sauteed till slightly softened (with the chopped parsnips), then added to the bread pudding and baked. I love butternut squash, love bread pudding, but this combo was a solid meh.
Method 1: Cut up the (peeled) squash into 1/2 cubes or similar size. Stir-fry in a little oil until done - add in some black bean/garlic sauce (in the asian food section) to taste in the last minute. I love this salty, garlicly veg.
Method 2: Cut in half and scoop out the seeds in each half. Fill the hole with sliced apples/pears with some brown sugar or honey and butter. Bake for an hour or so, until the flesh is tender. This works better with acron squash because the hole is bigger.
Method 3. Bake the whole thing for for maybe an hour and a half. Scoop out the flesh and puree for a soup base. I made peanut soup last week with a whole squash and some soft-cooked carrots pureed into the mix.
Dauphinoise. Peel, core and cut into fairly thin slices, layer in an ovenproof dish with garlic, cream, black pepper and cheese (preferably blue). Throw it in the oven. The dish that can tempt even the most jaded appetite.
This is one of my favorite winter dishes:
Peel and cube a butternut squash
Cube an equal amount of ham
Chop up an onion and a clove of garlic
Put it all in a 9x13 baking dish
Add a couple tablespoons of melted butter, a few dashes of liquid smoke, salt and pepper and mix it all together.
Cover with foil and bake at 375º F for 30 minutes.
Uncover, mix in two tablespoons of brown sugar, and cook for another 20-30 minutes, until the squash is tender and the liquid is reduced.
I’ve also made it on the stovetop, with a covered skillet over medium heat. It’s faster that way but requires more attention.