Butternut squash meal ideas
Butternut squash has a beautiful sunset orange color when it’s cooked. This low calorie vegetable is rich in all sorts of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and is versatile to use. Today, we are sharing ideas on how you can incorporate butternut squash into your meals.
Here’s an easy crock pot butternut squash soup this winter. You will need about 8 cups of chopped butternut squash, a large chopped onion, a large carrot peeled and chopped, minced garlic, fresh thyme and sage, heavy cream, freshly grated parmesan, 3 cups of chicken broth, and salt and pepper. Combine the butternut squash, fresh thyme and sage, onion, carrot, and garlic at the bottom of your crock pot. Pour in the broth and season with salt and pepper. Low-sodium chicken broth is a good option. Cover and cook your soup on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Use an immersion blender to blend it all together and serve it with a bit of heavy cream and parmesan on top.
Here are some tips for this recipe:
To bring a depth of flavor to the soup, saute the onion and garlic before adding it to the crock pot. If you want to keep it strictly vegetarian then substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth instead. You can use a crock pot liner to transfer the soup to a big bowl before using the immersion blender.
A cheesy butternut squash skillet is a delicious side dish. For this recipe, you will need 2 pounds of cut butternut squash, ½ pound of chopped bacon, 1 ½ cups of shredded mozzarella, ½ cup of shredded parmesan, olive oil, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and parsley (for garnish). Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F then get out your best ovenproof skillet or large baking dish. Toss your squash with olive oil, garlic, and thyme. Add it to your skillet and season with salt and pepper then scatter your cut bacon on top. Bake for about 20 minutes until the squash is tender and the bacon is cooked all the way through. Top it off with your cheeses and bake it for about 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese is nice and melty. This is best served warm and is a flavorful side that you and your guests will certainly enjoy.
This last recipe takes a lot of stirring, but butternut squash risotto is a stunning dish that is worth all the effort you put into it. Use a medium saucepan over medium heat on your stove and add 7 cups of low sodium chicken broth. Bring the broth to a simmer and reduce the heat to low. Next, bring out a large pot or Dutch oven and heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil before adding a chopped small onion. Stir the onion frequently and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 Tbsp of butter, some minced garlic, and 4 cups of cut butternut squash to your pot. Let the squash cook for about 6 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Add in another Tbsp of butter and 2 cups of arborio rice and stir it quickly for about 2 minutes. Pour ½ cup of white wine and continue cooking until it has been mostly absorbed. Here’s where the constant stirring will take place. Use a ladle and add 1 cup of the hot broth at a time until all the broth is in the risotto. You have to allow the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more broth so be vigilant during this process. Cook the risotto until the squash is tender (about 25 minutes) then stir in 1 cup of fresh parmesan, 2 Tbsp of fresh sage, and a pinch of salt and pepper before serving.
Buying fresh butternut squash compared to getting precut butternut squash won’t really affect the overall flavor in any of these dishes. It can take a bit of time to prepare butternut squash so if you prefer the quicker method, look for precut butternut squash in your grocery store. We hope you enjoy using this versatile vegetable in these and many other dishes you want to create.