This Roasted Butternut Squash Cauliflower Rice is a simple and flavourful side dish that is packed with colour, texture and natural sweetness. The butternut squash is roasted until tender and lightly caramelized, while the cauliflower rice is roasted separately until slightly browned at the edges, adding extra flavour and helping it keep a better texture without becoming soggy.
It is a great alternative to regular rice when you want something a little lighter but still hearty and satisfying. Easy to make and full of flavour, this veggie-packed side works well with so many mains, from grilled meats and chicken to curries, stews or roasted vegetables.
Calories in Roasted Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Rice
This recipe serves 4 and is 87 calories per serving.
If you're looking for more recipes by calories, you'll find plenty of options grouped by calorie range here: Slimming Eats Low Calorie Recipes
If you're following a calorie-controlled diet or a healthy eating plan, it's important to calculate your daily calorie needs using a reliable calorie calculator. The calorie counts provided are estimates and can vary depending on the exact ingredients and portion sizes you use. Using your own calculations helps ensure you're meeting your individual needs. A calorie calculator can help you make informed choices and stay on track with your goals.
See the recipe card for full nutritional estimation.
Ingredients Notes
To make this recipe you will need the following ingredients:
- Cauliflower: Use a medium head of cauliflower and blitz it into rice-sized pieces. Roasting the cauliflower rice on a separate baking tray helps remove excess moisture, gives it slightly charred edges and keeps it from becoming soggy.
- Butternut Squash: Dice the butternut squash fairly small so it roasts quickly and evenly. As it roasts, it becomes tender, lightly caramelized and adds natural sweetness to the cauliflower rice.
- Paprika: Adds a mild warmth, colour and extra flavour to the roasted vegetables. You can use smoked paprika if you want a slightly smoky flavour.
- Salt and Black Pepper: Simple seasoning is all you need to bring out the natural sweetness of the squash and the roasted flavour of the cauliflower.
- Olive Oil Spray: Helps the vegetables roast and lightly caramelize without needing lots of oil. Make sure the cauliflower and squash are evenly coated before roasting.
- Fresh Parsley: Stirred through at the end for freshness, colour and a little herby flavour. You can swap it for coriander/cilantro or fresh chives if preferred.
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.
Variations and Substitutes
There are plenty of ways to adapt this Roasted Butternut Squash Cauliflower Rice depending on what you have on hand, whether you want to change the vegetables, add extra flavour or make it more filling.
- Cauliflower Rice: Fresh cauliflower works best for texture, but you can use ready-prepared cauliflower rice if preferred. If using frozen cauliflower rice, make sure to spread it out well on the tray and roast until any excess moisture has evaporated, otherwise it can become soggy.
- Veggie Swaps: Butternut squash adds lovely sweetness, but you can swap it for sweet potato, pumpkin or another winter squash. Just make sure it is diced small so it roasts evenly.
- Seasoning: Paprika keeps the flavour simple and works really well with the sweetness of the squash. You can use smoked paprika for a smoky flavour, or add a little garlic powder, cumin, curry powder or chilli flakes for something different.
- Herbs: Fresh parsley adds a lovely fresh finish, but coriander/cilantro, chives or basil would also work well depending on what you are serving it with.
- Oil: Olive oil spray keeps this side dish light, but you can drizzle with a small amount of olive oil if preferred. Toss everything well so the cauliflower and squash roast evenly.
- Extra Vegetables: You can add other quick-roasting vegetables such as red onion, bell peppers, courgette/zucchini or mushrooms. Just keep everything in a single layer on the tray so the vegetables roast rather than steam.
- Add Some Crunch: For extra texture, sprinkle over toasted pine nuts, flaked almonds, cashews or pumpkin seeds before serving.
- Make It More Filling: To turn this into more of a light meal, serve it with grilled chicken, salmon, prawns/shrimp, chickpeas or a fried egg on top.
More Side Dishes
Looking for some more side dish ideas? Check out these:
See more Side Recipes →
or if you would like more recipe ideas - 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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Recipe Card
Roasted Butternut Squash Cauli Rice
This Roasted Butternut Squash Cauliflower Rice is a colourful and flavourful side dish with tender caramelized squash and roasted cauliflower rice that gets lightly charred at the edges for extra flavour and a better texture.
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of cauliflower
- 500g (17.5oz) butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced small
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- salt and black pepper
- olive oil spray
- fresh parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180c fan, 200c, 400f or gas mark 6
- Add butternut squash to an oven proof dish, toss with paprika and season with salt, spray over the top with spray oil and bake in oven till golden. (approx 30 mins)
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place it next to your food processor (will help to prevent making a mess, as that cauliflower rice can go everywhere)
- Start breaking the cauliflower up into florets and in batches add it to the food processor, pulsing just a couple of times until it is chopped like grains of rice. Dump on the tray and do the next lot, until the entire cauliflower is done.
- Spread it all out over the parchment lined tray, season with salt and black pepper and bake for approx 30 minutes, until it starts to go brown on the edges (stir half way through)
- When both the cauliflower and squash are cooked, carefully toss all together with some fresh parsley added in.
- Serve with your choice of main dish
Notes
Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:
- Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
- WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs - due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values.
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Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1 SERVINGAmount Per Serving Calories 87Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gSodium 27mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 8gSugar 6gProtein 4g
Nutritional information and valuesetc are an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information. It is always advised that you calculate by the ingredients you use.
Eloise says
Would you freeze this dish? Could i double it for 9 people?
Siobhan (Slimming Eats) says
yes it's fine to double and should be okay to freeze.