Savory Roasted Butternut Squash

Hi, my name is Kate (“Hi, Kate!”) and one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to stop losing my curry paste. Because I’ll be all set to make and photograph a delicious soup for y’all and I will not be able to find my curry paste. And it will not be the first time. And the REALLY sad thing is that I have more than one jar of it (I think…) and I can’t find any of them.

But never fear, I still have one of my favorite side dishes! I love it because it comes together in about 2 minutes (well, 2 minutes if you’re using pre-peeled, pre-seeded, pre-cubed butternut squash, which I do out of convenience and also because I have a weird skin allergy to the skins, guts, and seeds of many gourds), it cooks up while you’re making the rest of dinner, and then clean-up is a breeze because you just toss the aluminum foil.

I’ve never been crazy about squash with things like sugar and cinnamon–I like mine savory. So for this recipe, I use 24 ounces of butternut squash, a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt, ground cumin, dried parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, and a couple of pinches of cayenne, which is enough to give it a nice, mild, pleasant heat, but isn’t burny in any way. If you like the burn, feel free to add a little more.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil and the spices.

Place the squash on the prepared baking sheet and then drizzle with the olive oil mixture. Use your hands to toss to combine. Spread the squash evenly on the baking sheet

and bake until desired doneness is reached–if you like it tender and squash-y, 25-30 minutes should do it. If you prefer a deeper flavor and a some pieces with crispier, edges, bake for 35-40 minutes, tossing with a spatula about halfway through. Serve immediately. For 6 servings, this clocks in at…wait for it…65 calories and about 2.5 grams of fat and is 1 Weight Watchers Point. Woo-freaking-hoo! 🙂

Savory Roasted Butternut Squash

5 from 1 vote
A flavorful side dish to go with just about anything!
Servings0

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds peeled seeded, and cubed butternut squash (many grocery stores have 12-ounce packages of fresh, ready-to-cook butternut squash in the produce aisles)
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 pinches cayenne pepper more if you’d like it spicier
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set aside.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil and the spices. Place the squash on the prepared baking sheet and then drizzle with the olive oil mixture. Use your hands to toss to combine. Spread the squash evenly on the baking sheet and bake until desired doneness is reached–if you like it tender and squash-y, 25-30 minutes should do it. If you prefer a deeper flavor and a some pieces with crispier, edges, bake for 35-40 minutes, tossing with a spatula about halfway through. Serve immediately.

Notes

Nutritional Information

  • Calories: 65.2
  • Fat: 2.4
  • Carbs: 11.9
  • Fiber: 3.3
  • Protein: 1
  • Weight Watchers Points Plus: 1

Nutrition

Serving: 6g
Author: Our Best Bites
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Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite Recipes, Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Fine Cooking, The Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. 5 stars
    This is my absolute favorite butternut squash recipe. So savory and so easy! Definitely roast it for the longer length (I do 40 minutes) and because I have a convection oven I only do 400 degrees. I was worried I wasn’t coating them with enough olive oil, but one tablespoon was enough! Thanks for the recipe!

  2. I made this tonight at dinner and it was fabulous!! My only question is – when I put the nutrition info provided at the bottom into my calculator, it came out 2 points+. I didn’t put the whole recipe into the recipe builder, I just plugged in the info you provided at the bottom for fat, protein, carbs and fiber. Anybody else have this issue? Thanks 🙂

  3. My husband and I love this recipe! I will even make it as a main dish, in which case I cube some chicken or turkey sausage and toss it in with the squash. I also add 1-2 (depending on how much squash I end up with) cubed granny smith apples to the recipe. Super delicious!

  4. I have not made your recipe for this (yet!), but I have been making something similar for years. I put rosemary and thyme with mine and then in the last few minutes of cooking I add blue cheese crumbles and chopped pecans. It is AMAZING!!

  5. I just want everyone to know that not only is this the best squash ever, but…… If by chance you prep it and then leave it in the fridge for 3-4 days because your life is hectic…..it is still just as yummy when you finally remember to roast it. 🙂

  6. This is So. So. Good. I’m cooking it today to the just-before-crisp-edges stage and putting it in soup.

  7. This was so good. Was not going to put the cayenne pepper but glad I did. Will definitely do this again.

  8. Wow! Who knew squash could be so good? This is the first time I have roasted squash and I loved it! I will definitely be making this over and over again.

  9. I have been eyeing this recipe for a while and just tried it today with some butternut squash that’s been hiding out in my fridge for several days. It was soooo good. I made half a recipe and ate it all myself for lunch. Thanks for such a great, easy, healthy and yummy squash recipe that does not involve sugar or butter!

  10. I absolutely loved this recipe and even peeled my own butternut squash to make it (not such an easy task). I had been planning on a soup, but wasn’t too excited. So glad I found this. Loved the little browned bits.

  11. I just made this. I used cubed butternut squash from the freezer section. I used the spices I had on hand, and I added a bit of balsamic and some Worcestershire sauce. Yum!

  12. I tried this recipe and WOW -it is sooooo good! I am on a very restricted diet and the only change I made was that I skipped the oil and tossed my squash with a little water so that the spices would stick to the squash. I mixed the spices in a pinch bowl then sprinkled over the squash and tossed -then on the the pan per your instructions! YUMMY! Thank you so much for the easy and DELICIOUS recipe! (p.s. Your mint chocolate chip brownie cake recipe is a favorite with my whole family!) THANK YOU!

  13. I made this for dinner tonight. I kind of forgot about mine and cooked it too long, but it was still yummy. My 5 year old (who hates squash) loved this. It reminded me of roasted red potatoes. Using the bagged squash saves sooo much time. And the size of chunks is perfect for steaming and giving to my self-feeding baby. Thanks for the tip!