This Maple Roasted Butternut Squash recipe is the perfect autumn side dish! Simply toss butternut squash cubes with maple syrup, cinnamon, and sea salt. Then roast the squash to create a delicious and aromatic dish. This irresistible and easy baked squash recipe is caramelized on the outside, tender and sweet inside. What a treat!
One of my favorite things about autumn is the appearance of winter squash on market shelves. Roasted butternut squash is a particular favorite vegetable in our family. It’s naturally sweet, low in calories, and full of vitamins A and C.
In this very simple baked squash recipe, I toss butternut squash cubes with extra virgin olive oil, maple syrup, and seasonings. Overall this creates a sweet, salty medley of flavors. The cinnamon and cayenne give this side dish a little spicy kick– just enough to make it interesting.
At first glance, this may seem like a lot of squash. But when you roast butternut squash, the pieces tend to shrink up quite a bit. In addition, this maple roasted butternut squash is so delicious, you’ll be glad you made a little extra. If you’re only making dinner for two, you can easily halve the recipe if you wish. But I could honestly eat half the recipe by myself in one sitting. It’s that tasty and quite possibly the best butternut squash recipe!
As I have noted in the recipe below, you don’t need to pay a premium for pre-peeled and seeded butternut squash. While pre-cubed squash is convenient, it’s not that hard to prepare a butternut squash yourself. In fact, my How to Cook Butternut Squash tutorial offers a detailed introduction to the process, as well as more butternut squash recipe ideas.
This baked squash recipe is vegan, dairy free, gluten free, healthy and nutritious. Roasted butternut squash is perfect for fall holidays like Thanksgiving, Rosh Hashanah, and Sukkot. Best of all, it’s easy. Enjoy!
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Maple Roasted Butternut Squash
Ingredients
- 8 cups butternut squash (peeled and seeded) cut into 1-inch cubes, about 3 lbs of peeled cubes
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 pinches cayenne pepper (optional – adds a touch of heat)
NOTES
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you are breaking down a whole butternut squash for this recipe rather than buying the prepared, peeled cubes, you will need a large squash (or two smaller squashes) totaling about 3 lbs. 3 oz. in weight to produce the correct amount of peeled cubes. For details on how to peel and prepare squash for roasting, see this post.
- Line each rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. This lining step is optional, but recommended– it will protect the baking sheet as the sugars caramelize, so it will be easier to clean. It will also make it easier to release the roasted butternut squash from the pan. Spread out the cubes on the baking sheets.Spread out the cubes in a single layer. Drizzle the squash on each baking sheet of squash with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup (2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup total).
- Sprinkle each baking sheet evenly with 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne pepper (1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 2 pinches of cayenne pepper total).
- Toss the squash on the sheets with clean hands to coat evenly. Roast the sheets of squash for about 30 minutes, switching the baking sheets on their racks halfway through cooking, until the largest piece of squash is fork-tender all the way through. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and turn on the broiler. If you used parchment paper, slide the squash cubes off of the paper onto the baking sheet for this final step – parchment should not be placed under the broiler.
- Take turns placing each baking sheet under the broiler for 1-2 minutes longer to caramelize. The squash should be golden brown– careful, it will brown very fast. Don't let it burn! Serve warm.
Nutrition
Would this work equally as well with sweet potato?
Yes! But it may take a bit longer to roast.
My family didn’t know that we liked squash until we tried this recipe! I have since shared it with all my friends. Thank you! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Was looking to spruce up my usual boring weeknight veggies. This recipe was delicious! My family has requested it for Thanksgiving too. Highly recommend!
This is my favourite way to roast butternut squash! I do roast at a slightly lower temperature to avoid burning and found that at the lower temperature it was suitable for a soft minced dysphagia diet. Will this recipe work with frozen butternut squash and what adjustments should be made? Thank you.
I made this yesterday and it was delicious!
I sliced the squash to 1 ” pieces instead of cubing it and flipped it halfway through to caramelize both sides.
It was a hit at the party.
Thanks
Glad to hear it!
Delicious!! I am making Tori’s roasted eggplant and the roasted root vegetables tomorrow!
Hi Tori, I am not a vegan yet I am a vegetarian….my husband is neither. This is an awesome recipe. I added roasted walnuts for fun. Thanks and YUM!
Alison from Canada
This recipe sounds amazing, I’m trying it out tonight! I do have a question that I hope you can help me with. Recently, my family(myself included) made a lifestyle change; we’ve gone “all natural/organic”, as well as started a diet based on calorie intake. So far, every cooking/recipe site I have visited has failed to tell me how much a “serving” is. Some sites(yours included) tell me how many total servings are in the dish (ie: 6 servings at 144 calories per), so with this information I can guesstimate. But I have yet to see one recipe that tells me “90 calories per serving, 1 serving = 1/2 cup”. Is there a general rule of thumb as to how much a “typical” serving is?
No there is not a rule. Calorie calculation is a newer feature for sites like mine, and I am working through my recipes to determine what an exact serving size is for all of my recipes. Understand that this requires me cooking the recipe again and measuring out an actual serving. With close to 1,000 recipes on my site, it takes some time. Those that have been updated will show serving size in the recipe notes.
WOW that was Devine.
This is sooooo good. Easy to make and simply delicious. I’ll be making this again very soon!!