20 Quick and Easy Butternut Squash Recipes
These butternut squash recipes are sure to satisfy your fall cravings—from butternut squash soup to decadent carbonara, there's something for everyone. Best part? They all require 35 minutes or less of active prep, so you can get these lunches and dinners on the table in no time! Recipes like our Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Burrata and Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Grilled Cheese Sandwiches are just the kind of fall recipe you'll want to revisit again and again.
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Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Burrata
This beautiful butternut squash salad with creamy burrata cheese and peppery arugula is perfect for fall entertaining. For the best flavor and texture, remove the burrata from the refrigerator about an hour before use and assemble the salad while the squash is still warm from roasting so the cheese will melt slightly. Feel free to use precut butternut squash to make this recipe easier. If you can find pomegranates, the arils add a bright pop of color and flavor to this healthy salad, but it's just as good—and almost as impressive-looking—without them.
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Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Layering apple slices into grilled cheese sandwiches adds a little crunch to a favorite soup dipper. And creamy butternut squash soup with ginger, cumin and turmeric is a nice change of pace from grilled cheese's usual tomato soup partner. Serve the duo for a comforting and easy weeknight dinner for the family. The soup keeps well in the fridge, so save leftovers for lunch or dinner later in the week.
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Chicken, Arugula & Butternut Squash Salad with Brussels Sprouts
Hot roasted vegetables lightly wilt the arugula in this healthy dinner salad recipe. Keep prep time minimal with leftover chicken, precut butternut squash and trimmed Brussels sprouts.
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Butternut Squash Carbonara with Broccoli
You've never had carbonara quite like this! Loaded with veggies, this spiralized veggie noodle recipe is a healthy copycat of a traditional carbonara recipe. Butternut squash gets spiralized into long, tender noodles for a lower-carb version of this creamy, cheesy pasta dish. Look for a squash with a large, straight neck to make the longest veggie noodles.
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Instant Pot Butternut Squash Risotto
Making risotto has never been easier, thanks to an electric pressure cooker, like the Instant Pot. In this easy recipe, you don't have to stand over the stove constantly stirring. Just add everything into the multicooker and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes and this delicious dinner side dish is ready.
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Butternut Squash Ravioli with Chicken Sausage & Kale
What's the secret to making store-bought butternut squash ravioli even more delicious? Add apple-chicken sausage, tender greens and lots of caramelized onions. We add a bit of sugar to help the onions caramelize faster, but feel free to omit it (just cook the onions a bit longer if you do). Buy prewashed chopped kale to cut down on prep time. It all adds up to an easy dinner that's ready in just 20 minutes.
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Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Halloumi
Take advantage of healthy convenience foods, such as pureed vegetable soups, to make a healthy meal in minutes. We enhance the flavor of boxed butternut squash soup with curry powder, then top it with irresistible halloumi cheese. Serve with warm whole-grain pita bread.
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Roasted Butternut Squash & Root Vegetables
This easy roasted butternut squash and root vegetables recipe is incredibly versatile. Pile the squash and veggies onto grain bowls, add to sandwiches, toss in soup, serve as a side dish—you name it. Roasting vegetables in the oven gives you 20 minutes of hands-off cooking time to assemble the rest of your meal.
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Vegetarian White Bean & Butternut Squash Chili
For a quick-cooking soup, this one-pot, high-fiber vegetarian chili is deeply flavorful—so much so that tasters couldn't believe it was meat-free! We add a little flour and cook the stew with the lid off to thicken the chili and give it a hearty texture.
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Butternut Squash Alfredo with Chicken & Spinach
If you're not feeling like regular pasta tonight, turn to butternut squash noodles. These delicate veggie strands are a great base for any number of sauces and toppings, like this creamy and decadent Alfredo sauce with chicken, garlic and silky spinach.
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Butternut Squash Bisque with Almonds & Cilantro
Roasting the squash first deepens the bisque's flavor and is a step you don't want to skip. Look for pre-chopped butternut squash in the refrigerated area of the produce section, or in the freezer aisle. It will significantly simplify this recipe. If you're short on time, plan to prep the other ingredients while the squash roasts. We add almonds at the end for a toasty, textural contrast, while cilantro and cayenne give this butternut squash bisque a slightly exotic flair. This easy bisque recipe is naturally dairy-free and vegan (if you opt for vegetable stock), but you could certainly add a drizzle of heavy cream at the end if you wish.
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Whole-Wheat Spaghetti Carbonara with Butternut Squash
We give classic carbonara a healthy spin using nutty whole-grain pasta and infusing a more traditional carbonara sauce with sweet butternut squash. Use pre-chopped squash to streamline the prep for this recipe—and be sure to brown the squash to deepen the entire dish's flavor. Don't forget to reserve some pasta water—it adds silkiness to the sauce.
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Maple-Chili Roasted Butternut Squash
To give this healthy vegetable side dish recipe a different kind of heat, try a single-chile powder, such as ancho or chipotle. Serve with simple roasted salmon or chicken, or toss into a green salad with sunflower seeds.
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Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
Use your Instant Pot—or any other pressure cooker—to whip up this healthy butternut squash soup. Anjou pears add sweetness, while the soup gets creaminess and a wonderful flavor from light coconut milk, and a bright, fresh kick from ginger, cilantro and lime. Finishing the soup with whole-milk yogurt adds a nice richness, but you can skip it to keep the soup vegan. (Allow the soup to cool slightly before stirring in the yogurt so it doesn't curdle.) This soup would be equally delicious chilled.
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Coconut Curry Cup of Noodles with Spiralized Butternut Squash Noodles
This untraditional spin on Thai red curry features spiralized butternut squash noodles in a cup-of-noodles-style mason jar soup, but you could also use spiralized sweet potatoes or fresh egg noodles.
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Roasted Turnips & Butternut Squash with Five-Spice Glaze
In this delicious side dish recipe, turnips and butternut squash are glazed with a mixture of molasses and flavorful five-spice powder. Try the dish with garlic-rubbed roasted chicken or pork.
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Quick Stovetop Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
Precut butternut squash in your grocery store's produce section makes this healthy mac and cheese recipe come together in a flash. For extra flavor, try smoked Gouda cheese.
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Butternut Squash & Cauliflower Enchiladas
The butternut squash and cauliflower in these easy layered enchiladas are frozen and don't need to be thawed, making this a healthy and quick dinner. Look for canned tomatillos, sometimes labeled green tomatoes, in the international aisle of your grocery store.
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Penne Pasta with Sausage, Butternut Squash & Chard
Get dinner on the table even faster by using precubed butternut squash in this creamy pasta recipe. Found in the produce section of large grocery stores, the cut butternut is a little bigger than you need here, so you will have to do some chopping—but the peeling and gutting has been done for you. That means this easy healthy dinner takes just 35 minutes to prep. Score!
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Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Roasting butternut squash with herbs and garlic gives this healthy soup a more complex flavor. A bit of maple syrup adds sweetness, while a splash of apple-cider vinegar brightens up the flavors. This easy recipe requires just 15 minutes of active prep time, but you can cut down on that even more by buying precut squash. Serve with bread and a salad for a light supper, or as a starter for a holiday meal.