In fall, all roads lead to squash. You can cook this legendary veggie in so many ways and make it a dish on its own or add it to fall recipes. My favourite recipe is baked cubed butternut squash. This dish can be easily prepared with the oven. I like to cook it at the temp of 375 degree Fahrenheit. Timing is important here. So how long to bake butternut squash in oven at 375 degrees? In this post, we like to discuss the best way to cook butternut squash in the oven.
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It takes 35 minutes to bake cubed butternut squash in the oven at 375 degrees. This gives you tender and juicy squash bits with a slight brown crisp. If you prefer extra creamy and melty squash, bake it for 2 more minutes. If you want to hear a crunchy sound when chewing a squash cube, reduce its cooking time by a couple of minutes. You can check the squash for desired doneness by piercing it with a fork. If you like, you can just try out a cube.
Crispy, wrinkly and brown top and amazingly tender flesh. This is what you will get if you roast the butternut squash at 400 degrees. The bake process will take about 30 minutes. But again, you can shorten the cook time to obtain firmer and crunchier cubes. You can also go for 350 degrees F and get your squash bits ready in 40-45 minutes. They will come out extremely juicy inside and moist and golden outside. At this temperature, you will receive little to no crisp.
The best temperature for baking butternut squash really depends on the individual. Some prefer crispy and smoky squash cubes roasted at 400 degrees F. Others sacrifice 10 more minutes to get creamy, moist and uniformly cooked pieces baked at 350 degrees. It all depends on your taste which temperature fits you best. One thing we can say for sure is that as far as time is concerned, the best option is 400 degrees. So if you are in a rush, this temperature is your savior.
Here’s the recipe to cook butternut squash in the oven.
To get butternut squash cook faster, cut it to smaller pieces than the recipe recommends. Don’t make them too small, though, as you will not be able to feel their taste. Don’t walk away from oven during baking as you would want to keep a close watch to prevent the cubes from drying out and burning. You have to turn them at least once to avoid them getting too brown and smoky. To avoid this, cut the cubes bigger and bake them under the convection fan. Note that the convection fan doesn’t broil the food. It just improves the distribution of heat which speeds up the cooking process. Try to stay away from the broiler as the temperature is too high and our experiments turn out badly with the butternut burned.
You can improve the taste of savory butternut squash with herbs and garlic. Add thyme, rosemary and minced garlic before baking.
While baked butternut squash can easily be an independent dish, you can also blend it in other recipes like salads, soups, hummus, pasta, tacos, risotto. The squash will add a hint of fall to the dish, making it more creamy, filling and healthy. Butternut squash is a great side dish as well. You can serve the squash cubes on the side of baked potatoes, beef stew, roasted chicken, brussel sprouts with bacon and many more.