Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash is a simple yet delicious dish to serve with any meal. Plus, they’re a powerhouse of nutrition in every golden bite.
Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash recipe
Want to add nutritious butternut squash to the fall dinner table, while hoping the kids will embrace a side of squash? Fear not, as you’re about to show even the finickiest of eaters just how delicious roasted butternut squash can be.
The merging of cinnamon and brown sugar works magic on everything from Baked French Toast Casserole to candied pecans. This roasted butternut squash is no exception, as its naturally nutty flavor profile tastes remarkable when roasted in cinnamon-brown sugar bliss.
How to Buy and Store Butternut Squash
Butternut squash gets plenty of love in the autumn months, but they’re often available all year round in the produce section of major grocery stores. Look for smooth, firm skin without soft spots or discoloration that could be indicative of mold. Large bulbed squash with elongated necks tend to have bigger seed cavities inside. Go for the butternut with a short, wide neck and compact bulb for smallest cavities and easier cutting.
Once your fresh butternut squash comes home with you, store it in a cool and dry place for up to several weeks. There’s no need to refrigerate it unless your house is quite warm or you need to keep your squash fresh for a longer period of time.
Because many recipes like Butternut Squash Chili and Butternut Squash Risotto call for peeled/cubed squash, we’re happy to report that you can peel, seed, and cube your fresh squash several days early. Simply place freshly cut butternut squash in an airtight container and keep chilled.
Make-Ahead Tips
There are only 5 ingredients aside from the butternut squash itself in this recipe, so it’s already on the extremely easy side. However, we don’t stop there in our quest to ensure no stone is left unturned when it comes to cooking efficiency. Thus, here are a few bonus tips to help you prep ahead:
- Because fresh, whole butternut squash keeps extremely well, you can go ahead and buy it while you’re already shopping at the store; there’s no need to make a special grocery trip for it.
- Feel free to peel, seed, and cube your fresh butternut squash 2-3 days prior to cooking. Just be sure to place cubes in an airtight container in fridge (note that cut squash must keep free of moisture or water.)
- You can also freeze freshly cut butternut squash, sealed airtight, for up to a few weeks.
- Combine seasoning ingredients (everything but the squash) a day or two ahead of time; store it covered at moderate room temperature.
Watch us make this easy roasted butternut squash:
Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: side
Description
This Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash is the perfect side dish for your fall/winter meals. It’s fantastic as is, or tossed together in salads, soups, or rice bowls.
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash, peeled/seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 3 TB olive oil
- 2 TB packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F with rack on upper middle position. Line baking sheet with heavy duty foil.
- In a large bowl, toss the squash with remaining ingredients until thoroughly coated. Transfer to foil-lined baking sheet, in a single layer, without overcrowding the pieces.
- Roast about 40 minutes, rotating pan midway during baking. When edges are browned and cubes are fork-tender, remove from oven immediately. You may want to start checking squash around 35 minutes, just to ensure that they don’t become overcooked.
favorite side dishes for the season:
1. Curried Butternut Squash Soup — Creamy, smooth, and with a little kick of curry. Scrumptious.
2. Pomegranate Pear Salad with Candied Walnuts — oh, and don’t forget the blue. This is the best holiday salad we’ve ever put on the table.
3. Apple & Sausage Stuffing — stuffings and preferences abound. But after years of stuffing testing, this one took the blue ribbon at our most recent big festive gathering. Everyone loves this so much, it’s here to stay.
4. I’d be remiss not to bring back this ever-popular Sweet Potato Casserole with Brown Sugar Crumble. It’s like dessert. On the dinner table. People load their plates full of this because it is that good.
I agree that this a wonderful side dish. The oil must cause the brown sugar to coat nicely and enhance the natural sweetness of the sweet potatoes. It’s weird but I can almost see myself eating this with eggs or an omelet in place of hash browns.
YUM, what a great idea…this really would be a healthier and delish option with eggs/omelet too! 🙂
My husband and I had a good laugh at your description of the icy cold…heartless sods that we are. We live in Sydney in far off Australia and we are starting to face the opposite scenario…feeling like that roast pumpkin roasting in the heat. Like yourselves, we’re thinking it’s only November and we’ve already had some scorchingly hot days of 40 degrees although we’ve had a bit of a reprieve too. It’s been blissfully cool for a few days. Feel free to have a laugh at our Australian Santa getting around in that fur suit in this weather. If I were in his boots, I’d definitely be heading back to the North Pole.
The grass is greener, right? Though I bet you don’t want to trade 😉
I guess we’d both like a happy medium.
That’s the best 🙂
Could you make this in the crockpot?
I think you can definitely do that, but you just might not get the “roasted” flavor and look. Your squash should cook nicely and taste great, though, as long as you cook it to your desired tenderness. Enjoy, and thanks for being here today! 🙂
Obviously, EVOO is the healthier option, but if one wanted to indulge, would butter work well with this dish?
Yes, Abigail, I suspect butter would work very well 🙂 Enjoy and thanks for being here today! 🙂
I just tried this cinnamon buttenut squash recipe. Goodness my house smells so darn good and we are sitting enjoying the aroma until I begin to smell something that doesn’t smell so good. Sure glad I got up and looked as I approached my stove smoke bellowing out the vents and I open the oven door to a almost fire. The squash was in the oven less than 20 mins and burned black sugar all around the squash. I checked and double checked the recipe before setting my oven at the 425 listed on the recipe. Certainly the 425 is a huge mistake and almost caused a fire in my oven. I will try this recipe again but will drop the oven to 325 which is what I believe it should have been. Please let me know the correct temp!
Gale, I’m sorry that happened to you! There certainly shouldn’t be any burning in that short amt of time; I’m glad you caught it! So the recipe is correct, but if your oven does better with a lower temp, then definitely go with that. I’m also wondering if your cubes of squash were freshly cut into 1-inch cubes, with enough oil covering them?
Does this freeze well?
Hi, Lisa! Most of our baked recipes here freeze nicely, but I wouldn’t anticipate this squash to freeze well. If you want to prep it ahead, you can get everything ready and just roast it right before serving. It’s best right after it’s roasted 🙂 Enjoy!
This recipe was GREAT for Thanksgiving this year! Thank you! We added bacon bits, and everyone went for seconds 😉 Thanks again!
Yay! So happy to hear it! Bacon sounds yum; Happy holidays 🙂
This side dish is absolutely delicious. I added halves black grapes with it and it was the perfect combination. Yum!!!
Yipee, Joann! So glad you enjoyed this 🙂
we are invited to a friends for Thanksgiving. I would like to bring this to Thanksgiving dinner. Can I make this at home and just reheat when I get there or will it become mushy
You can definitely make it again of time. As long as it’s not too overcooked, it will hold up fine, though you may want to reheat it before serving
I have made this numerous times and my family loves it. Tonight I am using this recipe with sweet potatoes.
Yay, Janie! So happy your family loves it 🙂 Thanks so much for coming over and letting us know!
This looks so good! What a healthy and simple fall recipe!
This is a really yummy recipe! I know you’re not supposed to test new recipes on thanksgiving, especially when we took it to a friend’s dinner, but I did and we loved it. I’m making it again this year! Thanks for a perfect fall side dish!
Very good I just added some chopped walnuts , next time I might try some cranberries or raisins too ! Thank you
This sounds delicious – I don’t ever eat squash but it looks and sounds tasty!
Oooooooh.. I love squash anything!!! I’ve never considered using cinnamon with squash, I’m so intrigued by the taste. Will try this!!!
I so love butternut squash (or mishti kumro in my language- Bengali) ❤ I have never tried this with cinnamon so am definitely going to try this recipe soon ☺☺
I think you’ll adore the cinnamon addition!
Oh this squash recipe looks delicious! We love butternut squash in our home, I’ll try this recipe for sure.
★★★★★
It’s my favorite way to eat them 🙂
I’d like to try this, but I’m nervous I’d mess it up. Maybe this is a good opportunity to get my mom to make something pretty good lol
Yes! Have her make it for you 😉
i always save recipes with cinnamon because my husband loves cinnamon very much. this is something i see myself as doing in our kitchen.
It looks so delicious..! Yum..! I will definitely try this. I bet my family and friends will enjoy this.
★★★★★
I think they will 🙂
I do like roasted butternut squash, is such a great vegetable to have in autumn. I never tried it with cinnamon though. I can imagine it’s delicious and sweet.
★★★★★
The cinnamon adds a touch of jazz to it 🙂
This looks very good! My family will surely love this. I couldn’t wait to try this.
I could honestly go for some of that right about now. I have never eaten squash this way before. Looking forward to trying it.
★★★★★
i think you’ll really love it!
Did i just read roasted-butternut… OMG…
This is so tempting…
would this mash well to make a mashed squash dish?
You can definitely do that, Hallie…I think it would taste wonderful 🙂
Such a great recipe! Exactly what butternut squash needed to get my girls to eat it. They loved it- which means this is a winner in our house!
★★★★★
A lovely side dish at the Dinner Table. Pumpkin and the Cinnamon flavor makes it perfect.
★★★★★
I’m on a butternut squash kick over here and loved this recipe! I love cinnamon and this was such a perfect combo! Making this again in the next few weeks!
★★★★★
Love squash and this sounds like a great side for dinner. Thanks for sharing. Trying your recipe soon.
★★★★★
We loved this recipe! Such a great twist with adding the cinnamon, plus, the house smelled soooo good while it was cooking! Perfect side dish that our whole family loved!
★★★★★
Made this roasted butternut squash as side with grilled chicken and masala quinoa for dinner last night, it turned so tender and delicious. Plus, so easy to put together. definitely going to make it again next week, thanks for sharing. 🙂
★★★★★
Sounds so great, I love anything butternut squash, especially this time of year! Thank you for this great recipe 🙂
Ah, I didn’t know that about the long / short necks! I need to pay more attention when picking out butternut squash now. And I love that you added cinnamon! Sounds heavenly.