This Oven-Roasted Butternut Squash makes the perfect simple side dish, or seasonal ingredient to be added to soups, salads, pastas, and more. It’s easy to prepare, totally delicious, and incredibly healthy.
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Oven-Roasted Butternut Squash
This Oven-Roasted Butternut Squash recipe is something you are going to find yourself making over and over. Learning how to roast butternut squash will give new life to your fall menu prep. It’s a perfect substitute for pumpkin or other roasted veggies, and can be either served as a simple side dish or used in tons of different recipes.
I love tossing into veggie soup, pasta dishes, casseroles, green salads, or burrito bowls. Roasted Butternut Squash even tastes incredible on pizza! As a side dish, you can serve warm as is, or sprinkled with a touch of brown sugar, brown butter, and fresh thyme or chopped sage. If you’re looking for even more butternut squash recipes, check out our post on How to Roast Butternut Squash whole.
Ingredients in Roasted Butternut Squash
- Butternut Squash - choose firm, similarly sized butternut squash. If you can find it, you can also use pre-peeled and pre-cut butternut squash from the grocery store. Just make sure than all of the squash pieces are roughly the same size, or about 1”. Acorn squash or spaghetti squash would make great substitutes.
- Olive Oil - extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil work great.
- Salt and Pepper
How to Roast Butternut Squash in the Oven
Here are a couple of ways to make Oven-Roasted Butternut Squash:
How to Cook Squash Chunks
- Prepare the squash. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Peel the squash using a vegetable peeler. Using a sharp knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a large metal spoon. Cut the squash into 1-inch cubes., then line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay your squash in a single layer. Season with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Roast. Place in your preheated oven and roast the squash for 30-45 minutes, or until a fork or long toothpick can be inserted into the flesh easily.
- Use now or store for later. Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving immediately, or cool completely and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Enjoy!
How to Cook Whole Roasted Butternut Squash
- Prepare the squash. Using a sharp knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a large metal spoon. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay your squash on the baking sheet cut side up. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Roast. Place in a preheated 425 degree oven and roast the squash for 40-60 minutes, or until a fork or long toothpick can be inserted into the flesh easily.
- Use now or store for later. Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving immediately, or cool completely and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
The time it takes to cook butternut squash in the oven depends on how hot your oven is and how large your squash are. In this recipe, we suggest cutting the peeled butternut squash into 1-inch cubes before roasting in a 400 degree oven which should take anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour. The larger the squash, the longer it will take.
If you don’t mind the texture of the skin, it’s not completely necessary to peel it. The skin of butternut squash is edible and does contain nutrients. However, when cooking butternut squash in cubes, I find it roasts more evenly when the skin has been removed first.
The quickest way to peel butternut squash is with a vegetable peeler. Because the skin is pretty thick, you may want to go around the squash a couple of times.
Absolutely - if you plan on using the baked butternut squash for something like butternut squash soup, or anything to where it will be blended up, you may as well save yourself some prep time. All you need to do is cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, place cut side up on a baking sheet, and roast in a preheated 420 degree oven for about one hour.
Storing
- Refrigerator: store Oven-Roasted Butternut Squash in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: roasted squash can be transferred to an airtight container and stored frozen for up to 2 months. To thaw, transfer to the fridge overnight.
Oven-Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Squash peeled and cut into 1" chunks
- 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Peel the squash using a vegetable peeler. Using a sharp knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a large metal spoon. Cut the squash into 1-inch cubes.
- In a small bowl, combine the cubed butternut squash, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Lightly toss until evenly coated then transfer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and adjust so it is in a single layer.
- Pour the squash onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the insides are tender, turning the squash over with a spatula every 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving warm. Enjoy!
Nutrition
More Roasted Veggie Side Dishes
- Chili Spiced Sweet Potato Chunks
- Zucchini Fries
- Cinnamon Roasted Squash
- Roasted Acorn Squash Soup
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes
- Easy Oven-Roasted Asparagus
- Oven-Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Lemon
- More Fall Recipes
- More Easy Side Dishes
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This easy Oven-Roasted Butternut Squash is the perfect simple fall side dish. It also tastes great added to soups, stews, casseroles, pastas, and more.
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