How To Cook Cubed Butternut Squash

Updated on November 20th, 2023

While butternut squash soup is unquestionably one of the favorite dishes, especially during fall. You may even get to prepare some cubed butternut squash when you are not cooking soup.

This dish has a wonderful sweet and salty taste and buttery texture and is golden brown, caramelized, and seasoned with salt and pepper. If you’ve never tried roasting butternut squash before, this is the season to do so.

You can learn 5 different ways to prepare butternut squash. This tasty gourd can be tenderized by roasting, steaming, boiling, microwaving, or pressure cooking. Choose the approach that best suits your cooking style and enjoy it with a variety of healthful side dishes, soups, and stews.

Butternut Squash Nutrition Facts

Tips to Cook Cubed Butternut Squash

1. Butternut squash is a low-calorie, high-fiber meal that also contains beta-carotene, vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium.
2. Because of the short cooking time and little water contact, steaming and microwaving retain the greatest nutrients. As some pass into the cooking liquid or come into contact with high heat when boiling, the sensitive water-soluble B vitamins and vitamin C are reduced.

Most minerals, like fiber, are quite stable. As a result, none of the cooking methods have a major impact on them.

1. Quick moist-heat methods for softening the flesh include steaming, boiling, microwaving, and pressure cooking. These techniques don’t offer a lot of taste, but they are perfect for purees and soups. Roasting brings the flavor to a new level, and the cubes can be lightly browned and pleasant bits when cooked over high heat.
2. Baked butternut squash is great on its own as a simple side dish, golden brown and caramelized. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley. Your options, however, do not end there. Roasted butternut squash can be used in a variety of ways. You can add it to filled shells, orecchiette, or spaghetti for a fall pasta dish. You can also toss it into your salad or soup. In addition, you can combine it with quinoa, vegetables, your favorite protein, and generous drizzles of tahini sauce in a simple grain bowl.
3. Cooked butternut cubes can be placed on baking sheets and frozen solid in a single layer. You can freeze frozen cubes for up to 3 months in an airtight freezer-safe storage container. Then when you are ready to cook them, allow them to defrost overnight in the refrigerator before reheating. If you freeze the cubes, they will become visibly softer and have a less ideal texture, but it is an option to consider.

How to Cook Cubed Butternut Squash

I will show you to cook cubed butternut squash in an oven. It is quite simple – with just a few ingredients and 10 minutes of active prep time – and it is incredibly tasty.

Moreover, it is tasty enough to eat on its own as a side dish, but it also adds a burst of autumn flavor to bowls, salads, soups, and more.

Let’s get to the cooking:

Step 1: Coat two baking sheets with nonstick spray. Then place the squash cubes in a large mixing dish.

Step 2: In the mixing dish, combine the olive oil, maple syrup, and spices. Mix it well until all flavors are evenly distributed throughout the squash.

Step 3: You should remove any extra liquid from the bottom of the bowl and divide the squash between the baking sheets. Make sure the squash is spread out on the baking sheets in a single layer and not overcrowded. This will allow air to circulate in the oven and ensure that the squash roasts evenly. If you pile the squash on the pan, it will steam instead of the caramelizing process we want.

Step 4: Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and bake the baking sheets for 15 minutes. Remove the pans after 15 minutes, then turn the butternut squash with a spatula, and return it back to the oven.

Step  5: you can now bake the squash until it is soft – this is for about 10 to 15 additional minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with fresh rosemary, and make sure you enjoy it while it is still warm.

Steaming the Cubed Butternut Squash

If you’re looking for a low-fat approach to cooking butternut squash chunks, this is a simple way to soften the flesh without using any additional oil. The vegetable can be cooked in 10 minutes or less using superheated steam generated by boiling water (100°C or 212°F) in a covered saucepan.

Since this approach adds no additional flavor to the squash, make sure to season it properly; otherwise, it will taste bland.

Boiling the Cubed Butternut Squash

Boil 1-inch slices in salted boiling water for 9 to 11 minutes, or until tender. The salt soon dissolves in the water. This seasoning pervades the gourd and brings forth its natural sweetness.

Make sure the squash is completely drained to avoid it becoming mushy and losing its taste.

Microwaving the Cubed Butternut Squash

The electromagnetic waves in the microwave will tenderize the cubes in less than 5 minutes. Cooking is accelerated by the steam generated by the small amount of water supplied to the container.

To keep the heat in, wrap the dish tightly with plastic wrap. For safe cooking of the squash, you can use a glass pyrex measuring cup, but a microwave-proof bowl will suffice.

Cooking the Butternut Squash in an Instant Pot

Cooking the squash in an electric pressure cooker is quick and hands-off to tenderize it. The increased pressure raises the temperature in the chamber, allowing chopped cubes to be cooked in just 3 minutes.

Taking into account the time it takes to develop pressure, the squash is ready in roughly 15 minutes total.

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