Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash is not only a fabulous side dish for the holidays, but it’s delicious with any meal throughout the season. Plus, they’re a powerhouse of nutrition in every tasty bite!
Cinnamon Roasted Butternut Squash recipe
Right now the wild, wild wind and icy roads are feeling more like January than November. In this ‘hood, nobody really wants more January.
Thankfully in real life, we have the holidays to look forward to. It fully softens the blow of the blustering freeze that’s hitting hard and early.
Now is when I do my annual longing for good old winter (?!) back in CA. Please, Mom, don’t call me and tell me how chilly it’s getting in So. Cal. today.
This is the time I consciously make every effort to embrace the season…indoors. We’ve strung up some Christmas decor not because I’m all crazy, which I am, but because it simply makes us happy. So now our home is a silly mix of harvest and tinsel. It’s glacial weather therapy.
Of course, there’s pleeennnty of baking and roasting going on in here. The oven helps warm up our space. The aroma is invigorating. Hello, roasted butternut squash recipe that we love…
Butternut squash is a fall must-have
I’ve been loving butternut squash this fall. From Curried Butternut Soup to mixing gorgeous chunks of roasted squash into salads…we are devouring ’em every chance we get.
The color of butternut squash is simply brilliant. Wish they (whoever they is) could use the likes of butternut squash and beets for natural food coloring instead of the icky chems they freely toss into… all the food. Much of that has been banned in other parts of the world like Europe because yeah, it’s bad. Crossing my fingers for that to happen here one day.
Moving on.
Get a beautiful butternut squash. Peel and cut. Admittedly a bit of elbow grease required, but well worth it.
Cinnamon & brown sugar make this butternut squash irresistible
Toss those fiery orange cubes with cinnamon, brown sugar, and spices. Clearly, we’re going to a good place with this.
Spread the squash cubes evenly in a single layer of a greased pan. Try not to overcrowd.
Bake until you get your desired level of brownness. I’d advise not to bake too long unless you like the squishy squash.
Golden, gorgeous, and delicious roasted perfection is here.
Use as a side dish as is, toss into rice bowls, or mix into your fall salads.
Happy squashing 🙂
Watch us make this easy roasted butternut squash:
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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.
Adapted from Inspired Taste
Here are some of our 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 🙂