Winter Squash Guide

Fall is here and so are the seasonal produce! Are you a little intimidated by cooking with those big beautiful squashes? You shouldn’t be. Once you know what they are and how yummy these guys can be, you’ll be making your weekly meal plan all season with them!

Most squash are delicious if you have time to roast them and let the natural sugars caramelize. Depending on size of the pieces you cook, most are good to roast around 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

Splitting them open and scooping the seeds out is the hardest part, so if you want to skip that part just cook them in a pressure cooker! Simply pierce the squash with knife holes and set it and forget it. A good start time would be 15 minutes for a 3 pound squash, then add a few minutes for every pound after that. You’ll be able to cut and scrape out the insides with ease.

In this article we break down some of the different winter squashes you can cook with, along with CK Recipes to get you started. And great news—most winter squash are interchangeable, so feel free to substitute them out in the different recipes. Experiment with a new one you’ve never tried before!

Got some other ideas for us? Post them in the comments below! We’d love to hear how you use your winter squashes!

Butternut Noodles

Naturally sweet butternut goes perfectly with sweet caramelized onions. This super simple side dish would pair well with any protein, even for breakfast with a fried egg. We flavored this dish using J. Olive Co. Tuscan Herb Olive Oil and J. Olive Co. Gravenstein Apple Balsamic, garlic and feta to give a savory but hint of sweet taste. The onions do take some time to cook but this is well worth the wait!

Tuscan Herb Butternut Noodles

servings: 3-4

Fresh

1 pack of frozen Green Giant Spiralized butternut squash
2 yellow onions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
fat free feta cheese
fresh basil

Pantry

1 tbs brown butter ghee
1/2 tbs + J. Olive Co. Tuscan Herb Olive Oil
2 tbs + J. Olive Co. Gravenstein Apple Balsamic
kosher salt

Butternut Kale Bake

Prep time: 10 minutes

cook time: 10 minutes

servings: 4-5

Ingredients:

Fresh

2 bags of cubed butternut squash
5 C kale, chopped (or half bag pre-chopped)
½ C fresh Parmesan, grated

Pantry

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped (or garlic powder)
½ tbs dried sage (optional)
Kosher Salt
1/2 C -1 C low sodium chicken broth

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat and sauté butternut squash until edges begin to turn brown. Add garlic, sage and salt. Let squash cook for two- three minutes. Add chicken broth and kale then cover and simmer for about seven minutes.

Once the kale is wilted, mix in a ¼ cup of the Parmesan cheese. Keep in oven safe sauté pan or transfer to a baking dish.

Top with remaining 1/4 C Parmesan. Broil on high until a crust forms on top, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from oven and serve hot!