Roasted Butternut Squash with Paprika

Roasted Butternut Squash with Paprika – savoury cubes of butternut squash and onion, delicately caramelized to perfection, making it the ideal side dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

I love butternut squash. I buy one every week because they are the best vegetable ever, so versatile in a variety of recipes.

Actually, I have sometimes been known to buy two or even three if they are on offer, like when they occasionally have a bag of two for less than $5 at Costco - bargain!!!

If you struggle with adding speed foods to your plate, then this recipe is the one to make. Great for cooking in advance and then just quickly reheating to add to your plate. 

No complicated ingredients either, just simple items that we all have in our pantry or cupboard. 

Calories in Roasted Butternut Squash with Paprika

This delicious side dish serves 4 at 135 calories per serving.

If you're looking for more recipes within the same calorie range, you'll find an abundance of options in my dedicated collection of 200+ calorie recipes.

If you're following a calorie-controlled diet or a healthy eating plan, it's important to calculate your daily calorie intake using a reliable calorie calculator. Please note that the calorie counts provided are estimates and can vary based on specific ingredients and serving sizes. Personalizing your calculations is essential to meet your individual needs. By using a calorie calculator, you can make informed choices and stay on track with your dietary goals.

Ingredients Needed

To make this dish, you will need the following ingredients:

• Butternut Squash: For optimal caramelized cubes of butternut squash, fresh is the preferred choice. Frozen squash tends to release excess moisture during cooking, which can affect the caramelization process
• Onion: just a regular onion
• Paprika: I use just the sweet origina paprika (not smoked)
• Olive Oil: Drizzling olive oil over the butternut squash when roasting adds a rich depth of flavor and helps to enhance its natural sweetness during the cooking process.
• Fresh Parsley: it's the perfect finishing touch for the dish. You can skip it if you'd like, but it adds a delightful and healthy touch of green to the overall presentation
• Salt and Pepper: These basic yet essential flavour enhancers are key for elevating the taste of your dishes. No food will ever be bland when these are used to season to taste.
• Low Calorie Spray : Use your preferred choice of low calorie spray, I prefer olive oil or avocado sprays without any added emulsifiers.

Once you've gathered all the ingredients and prepared them accordingly, you're all set to create this easy and delightful recipe.

See the recipe card for specific quantities and instructions.

How to peel and slice a butternut squash?

It might seem like a silly question, but let's be honest here. It is actually a pretty valid one. Butternut squash has quite a firm skin and it can mean that tackling how to slice up this vegetable is a bit daunting for some.

Yes, I know you can buy already peeled and chopped butternut squash, but personally, it doesn't taste as fresh or as good. 

There are a few key things to chopping up this unique shaped vegetable. Some like to peel with a vegetable peeler first, but I never bother with that.

Instead, a good sharp knife is really important. Never ever use blunt knives, it's an accident waiting to happen. Once you have a newly sharpened knife, chopping up this vegetable is a breeze.

• The first part is the nose, which is the long cylinder shape part. I always try and choose a butternut squash that has a long chunky nose, it's the easiest part to chop and so means you get more butternut squash for less effort.
• Slice off the nose part first, then stand it upright on your chopping board, you can then carefully slice off the skin (peel) with your knife. Once that part is done, it is then easy to chop into chunks, cubes, fries (whatever you are planning to make).
• Next part is the tougher part to chop and that's the bulb part with all the seeds in it. I tend to chop this part in half, scoop out all the seeds and discard and then chop into pieces that are easier to manage and again slice off the skin with a sharp knife.

It's so much easier to tackle it this way and easier to peel and chop if you slice it into shapes that are not going to slip and move around on your chopping board. 

How to Roast the Perfect Butternut Squash?

There are various different ways you can cook butternut squash, it's great cooked just as it is as cubed in soups or chilli's etc, steamed as a mash or puree or even just sliced in half and baked in the oven.

My favourite way to cook Butternut Squash is to roast it. Roasting gives it a nice exterior and really takes on any flavours you add to it with your choice of seasoning.

• Seasoning: The key to perfect roasted squash is making sure you get a good covering of seasoning with whatever seasoning you use, as the coating is what helps it get that beautifully caramelized exterior. My favourite combination for this Roasted Butternut Squash is just simple - salt and paprika (the sweet variety not smoked).
• Using oil: Oil is also important, you want enough that it perfectly roasts on the pan, but not too much that it makes them soggy and greasy. My favourite oils to use are either olive oil or avocado oil and you really don't need much. 
• Large enough baking tray: Finally is the size of the tray you use. The biggest mistake when roasting anything where you want a nice exterior is cramming it all too closely together on a small tray. What this does is just steams the veg and it doesn't caramelize at all. Okay, butternut squash isn't a vegetable that is going to go super crispy, but it will get a nice caramelization if you spread it out well on a large tray. You want to make sure no cubes are touching each other, each cube should have enough space around it for the heat to circulate and cook. 

You will see I like to line my trays with parchment, purely because it prevents any sticking, making it easy to toss and is easier to clean up afterwards - which is always a bonus!!

Serve this Roasted butternut squash with:

Now you have made this Roasted Butternut Squash, you may be wondering what are you going to serve it with. The simple answer? Absolutely anything. I am serious!! It really does go well with some many different things.

and below are a few ideas of how I like to enjoy it:

• added into an omelette or frittata
• with eggs for breakfast
• with these delicious homemade pork sausage breakfast patties
• sprinkled on top of some soup
• sprinkled into a salad
• as a side for all kinds of dishes from chicken, fish, steak etc
• added into chillis, curry etc for some sweetness

More Butternut Squash Recipes:

I always say you can never have enough butternut squash recipes and here are some of my favourites:

• Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto
• Easy Butternut Squash Curry with Spinach
• Creamy Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
• Crustless Roasted Butternut Squash and Red Pepper Quiche
• Roasted Butternut Squash and Tomato Risotto
• Roasted Butternut Squash Ricotta Lasagne

or if you would like more recipe ideas or sides to make with this recipe - head on over to the FULL RECIPE INDEX where you will find over 900 delicious recipes with calories and you can search by meal type, ingredients, course, diet and more.

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