How to Cook Butternut Squash

Butternut squash is one of my all time favourite staple pantry ingredients. I usually have it whole or peeled, chopped and stored in the freezer. It is such a versatile vegetable that I find myself using it again and again. I use it in soups, chilli, pasta, stews, curries, roasted vegetable, salads, muffins and more.

How to peel and cook butternut squash

Butternut squash is easier to peel it if you cut it in half first (crossways).
Cut the butternut squash in the middle between the narrow neck and rounder bottom.
Then put the flat cut surface down, so that it is stable and peel downwards with a sharp and slightly heavy knife.
After peeling, scoop out the seeds but do not discard them as these can be roasted with spices and salt and eaten.
Slice or cube the butternut squash before steaming, boiling, roasting or frying it.
If you don’t want to peel it then just cut it in half (longitudinally), scoop out the seeds and bake it. During baking the skin will soften so much that at the end the skin is edible too.
During roasting, stir butternut squash pieces a couple of time so that they cook evenly on all sides. This vegetable’s naturally sweet flavour deepens when roasted.
I find that if you cook butternut squash in stews or curries etc for a long time it sometimes disintegrates. It is better to roast it in the oven and then add it to the final dish just before the end of cooking.

Other tips for butternut squash.

It is easy to use butternut squash in place of pumpkin and sweet potatoes in recipes.
I easily store cubed butternut squash in a freezer for up to three months. I just remove it from freezer a few hours before I need it.

This post starts a pantry staple spotlight on butternut squash. Please come back for three more butternut squash recipes.

Ps if you are looking for more tips then checkout cooking a turnip in microwave from Foodie Quine.

This is an update of a previous post.