The 40 Best Butternut Squash Recipes to Tackle This Sweater Season
Oh, butternut squash, we adore you. Your sweet, nutty flavor. Your hearty, soft texture. Not to mention the bounty of nutrients you possess. (We're talking nearly 300 percent of our daily vitamin A per cup, plus 48 percent of our daily vitamin C and a hefty dose of potassium to boot.) You're also super versatile, so we can toss you into pasta, purée you into pizza sauce (more on that later), fold you into quesadillas or turn you into soul-warming chili or soup. It's no wonder you don't have any haters. And even if you did, these 40 butternut squash recipes would surely convert them. Behold, an ode to our favorite fall vegetable.
RELATED: 80 Winter Squash Recipes to Make from Now Until Spring
1. Pizza with Butternut Squash Sauce
Tomato sauce? You can do better than that. This sauce only calls for butternut squash, garlic, fresh herbs and broth. Top it with fresh mozzarella, ricotta and sage before you serve it (and change pizza night forever).
2. Hearty Stuffed Butternut Squash
Meet the most filling meatless main around. They're stuffed with quinoa, chickpeas, roasted red peppers and lots of autumn add-ins, like hazelnuts, Gruyère and apple cider vinegar.
3. Butternut Squash Carbonara
The best way to get your veggies? In a big bowl of spaghetti, of course. Pancetta and grated Parmesan take its salty-savory flavor up a notch.
4. Butternut Squash Quesadilla with Caramelized Onion
Taco Tuesday just got fancy. And we're inviting black beans, avocado and all the salsa verde.
5. Vegan Butternut Mac and ‘Cheese’ with Smoky Shiitake ‘Bacon’
We love everything about this. Everything, from the cashew-butternut "cheese" sauce to the shiitake mushroom "meat."
6. Bulgur with Roasted Butternut Squash, Sage and Goat Cheese
Never tried bulgur? This fall dish will make a great first impression for the ancient grain. It's also got honeycrisp apples, dried cranberries, thyme and toasted pecans, in case the name alone wasn't autumnal enough for you.
7. Hasselback Butternut Squash
Take a page from Sweden's book on potatoes and apply it to this aromatic fall veggie. It's drizzled in honey, butter and fresh herbs before being roasted. Your dinner guests will be so impressed.
8. Lentil and Cauliflower Curry with Roasted Butternut Squash Noodles
Our cravings are satisfied, thanks to Coterie member Ali Maffucci. Spiralize your own or check by the zoodles at your local supermarket for pre-spiralized squash.
9. Roasted Butternut Squash and Turkey Chili with White Beans and Sage
A cozy hug on a cool day, thanks to Coterie member Heidi Larsen. Warm your bones with a hearty bowl of chili, finished with white wine and roasted pasilla peppers.
10. Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Pasta Salad
And you thought summer had dibs on pasta salad. This dish screams fall, from the cinnamon and pine nuts to the fresh thyme and goat cheese.
11. Butternut Squash Lasagna
Healthy lasagna? Sign us up. It's loaded with garlicky spinach and butternut squash ribbons in place of pasta.
12. Dairy-Free Butternut Squash ‘Fondue’
The ultimate winter comfort food, made vegan and dairy-free. The secret? Extra-virgin olive oil and canned coconut milk.
13. Sage-Barley Risotto with Butternut Squash
Exhibit A: The definition of yum. Not only does this beauty only take 30 minutes to make, but it also boasts 18 grams of protein per serving, thanks to pearl barley and Asiago cheese.
14. Butternut Squash, Apple and Currant Panzanella Salad
If you're wondering what panzanella is, it's basically bread salad. And this one is so autumnal, it's practically wearing a cardigan and sipping a PSL.
15. Yotam Ottolenghi’s Roasted Butternut Squash with Lentils and Gorgonzola
How gorgeous is this side dish? It stars earthy lentils, sweet roasted squash and tangy Gorgonzola. We can hear your guests' oohs and ahhs already.
16. Butternut Squash Risotto with Crispy Leeks
Forget boiling water. The risotto cooks in a purée of roasted butternut squash and chicken broth instead, which turns it super savory and creamy.
17. Instant Pot Spicy Thai Butternut Squash Soup
Introducing the prettiest bowl of soup you'll ever eat. The swirly coconut yogurt, roasted peanuts and sesame seeds are a gorgeous finishing touch.
18. Dijon-Maple Chicken with Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash
Nope, we'll never get over sheet-pan dinners. Especially the ones coated in maple-mustard glaze. And even more so if they take less than an hour to make.
19. Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash
Maple syrup, fresh rosemary and spices take this vegetable a long, long way.
20. Spinach, Roasted Garlic and Butternut Squash Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
If a recipe calls for a whole head of roasted garlic, odds are we want to eat it. Like, ASAP. The melty pepper jack caught our attention, too.
21. Hearty Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Salad
Our favorite part of a salad is always the crispy bits on top. Here, that means cinnamon-maple pecans.
22. Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup
Want to make lunch for the whole week in 40 minutes? Look no further than this salty, herby stunner.
23. Black Bean Butternut Sliders with Chipotle Ketchup
Since butternut squash is super moist and creamy, you won't have to worry about these veggie burgers turning out dry.
24. Roasted Butternut Squash Tacos
Chile-spiced squash meets cabbage-black bean slaw and homemade guacamole. We'll bring the margaritas.
25. Spicy Roasted Squash with Feta and Herbs
Flexible recipes are the best recipes. This one calls for acorn squash, but it can be made with butternut, delicata, kabocha or whatever gourd you have on hand.
26. Butternut Squash and Apple Pita Bread Pizzas with Cheddar Cheese and Sage
Forget fussing with pizza dough, homemade or store-bought. Mini pitas will work just fine. We'll take extra honey and crushed red pepper flakes on ours, please.
27. Caramelized Butternut, Roasted Garlic and Coconut Butter Grilled Cheese
Sure, it usually takes about five minutes to make a grilled cheese, not 35. But roasting the garlic and sautéing the squash is so, so worth the extra work. Go ahead, treat yourself.
28. Curried Butternut Squash Soup
There's no cure for cold weather like the warm spices of yellow curry powder and a generous dose of chili garlic paste.
29. Roasted Squash, Pecan and Pomegranate Salad
Our crystal ball says you're destined to serve it at Thanksgiving. Feel free to move the decorative pumpkins off the table—this salad is pretty enough to be a centerpiece.
30. Caramelized Butternut Squash Upside-Down Cake
Yup, your all-time favorite fall veggie also does dessert. Think sticky toffee pudding meets brown sugar sheet cake.
31. Winter Squash Galette with Caramelized Onions and Gruyère
This beauty is destined for your Thanksgiving table. While the homemade crust is simple enough, we won't tell if you use store-bought pie dough as a shortcut.
32. Farro Risotto with Butternut Squash and Scallions
Rice who? Pearled farro stands in for the traditional grain, and meets butter, garlic, butternut squash and shredded Parmesan cheese for a decadent spin on old-school risotto.
33. Roasted Veggie and Ricotta Pizza
Bring on the shallots, shrooms and fennel. Not only will you get to savor autumn's bounty in every slice, but the recipe also calls for using easy store-bought pizza dough to save time.
34. Roasted Squash Salad with White Beans, Bread Crumbs and Preserved Lemon
Trade your usual green side salad for this hearty substitute. If you want to do as little work as possible, use canned beans to save you a whopping 12 hours of waiting.
35. Spiralized Winter Vegetable Gratin
Tender parsnips, sweet potatoes and butternut squash are transformed into noodles with a spiralizer to create the most decadent autumn casserole of all time. (It's basically mac and cheese, guys.)
36. Maple-Cinnamon Squash Agrodolce
The recipe calls for using a winter squash on the small side, like delicata, acorn, carnival or sweet dumpling. But butternut squash would taste just as divine doused in apple cider vinegar-maple syrup agrodolce.
37. Julia Turshen’s Radicchio and Roasted Squash Salad
There are countless ways to use this warm fall take on slaw. Serve it as a side for beef or turkey, pair it with mayonnaise for a vegetarian sandwich or turn it into a grilled cheese with a generous dose of cheddar.
38. Alison Roman’s Roasted Squash with Yogurt and Spiced Buttered Pistachios
This dish tastes like all the best parts of chunky sweater season, from the cumin-turmeric nut topping to the buttery winter squash.
39. Cheesy Butternut Squash, Andouille Sausage and Herb Stuffing
Hunks of French baguette. Shredded Gruyère cheese. Fresh sage, thyme and rosemary. Yup, the gang's all here.
40. Cheddar Apple Butternut Squash Soup with Cinnamon Pecan Crumble
Isn't she lovely? Unless you want to keep this one-hour wonder vegetarian, a few strips of crumbled bacon on top certainly wouldn't hurt.
RELATED: 80 Fall Soup Recipes You (Probably) Haven't Tried Before
For even more great recipes, check out our first cookbook, Only the Good Stuff.
