This Roasted Honeynut Squash recipe is an all-time fall favorite. It combines roasted honeynut squash – which is sweet but not too sweet – with a nutty brown butter topping that’s rounded out with walnuts, fresh thyme, and a splash of vinegar, then the dish is finished with some crumbly feta. It’s the perfect bite – sweet, tangy, nutty, salty, creamy. A great side dish in the chillier months.
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Ingredients
- Honeynut squash: a delicious little winter squash that looks like a mini butternut squash but with a more concentrated flavor, deep orange flesh, and tender skin. They are available in most grocery stores now (if you have a Trader Joe's nearby they usually have), but if you're having trouble finding them try checking out your local farmers markets.
- Butter: good salted butter that has a higher butterfat content for more flavor such as Kerrygold, Plugra, etc. These are all around 82% butterfat.
- Walnuts: chopped walnuts to add a nice crunch and enhance the nutiness of the brown butter.
- Thyme: fresh thyme brings a bright herbaceousness and earthy warmth to the recipe. Sage or rosemary would also be great.
- Vinegar: apple cider vinegar. Most light colored vinegars would work here though (e.g., champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar, etc.)
- Feta: creamy, salty feta is a great accompaniment to this recipe. I like to buy it in the block and crumble it myself - keeps a bit more of the creaminess.
- Extra virgin olive oil: to drizzle on the squash before roasting.
- Salt: both kosher salt and flaky salt.
How to make roasted honeynut squash
1. Roast the squash. Place the cut squash on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle it with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Roast at 425°F for 30 minutes.
2. Make the brown butter mixture. Add the butter to a pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until brown bits begin to show at the bottom. Then add the chopped walnuts, fresh thyme, and apple cider vinegar. Remove from the heat.
3. Top & Serve. In your serving dish, drizzle the squash with the brown butter and scatter crumbled feta over top.
Tips for browning butter
Browning butter can be intimidating, but hopefully the visual and smell cues below will help you feel more confident.
- First the butter will melt as it usually does
- Then, it’ll start to simmer, this is the water cooking out
- Finally, the simmer will turn into foaming, at this point you’ll want to stir continuously because all the water has bubbled out and you are now browning the remaining milk solids which happens very quickly
- Remove it from the heat once it’s browned to your liking so it doesn’t continue cooking and burn
Tips and tricks
- If you want to peel the skin off the squash I find using a vegetable peeler is quickest. Alternatively you can slice it off with a knife (very carefully).
- Use a very sharp knife when dealing with squash, they tend to be a little difficult to cut through. Although I do actually find honeynut squash to be one of the easier ones.
- To tell if the squash is cooked through try piercing it with a fork – if the fork goes in easily and smooth, it’s ready (similar to how you tell if a potato is done cooking).
- Other squashes you can use in this recipe include butternut squash, buttercup squash, delicata squash, or acorn squash.
- Goat cheese can be used in place of feta cheese.
- To cut the honeynut squash for this recipe I like to trim off the stem and butt, then cut in half and remove the seeds. Once the seeds are out, I cut each half in half again. So essentially each squash will be quartered.
Storage and reheating
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheat in the microwave for a minute or two – you don’t want it to be THAT hot, rather just so the squash is warmed through and the butter re-melts. Try to avoid melting the feta.
FAQs
Honeynut squash became available 2015. It was developed by Cornell University’s agriculture program in partnership with Chef Dan Barber (known most widely from Blue Hill in NY).
It tastes similar to other more widely known squashes (such as butternut squash) but is a more concentrated flavor – in the true sense that less is more (because it's cute and tiny).
Yes, it is delicate enough to eat once cooked, just make sure you clean it thoroughly.
Did you make this recipe? Leave a rating and review below and tag me on social!
📖 Recipe
Roasted Honeynut Squash
Ingredients
- 3 honeynut squash each quartered
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter (½ cup)
- ½ cup raw walnuts chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme chopped
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon flaky salt
- 6 oz feta cheese
Instructions
- Roast the squash. Place the cut squash on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drizzle it with olive oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Roast at 425°F for 30 minutes.
- Make the brown butter mixture. Add the butter to a pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until brown bits begin to show at the bottom. Then add the chopped walnuts, fresh thyme, and apple cider vinegar. Remove from the heat.
- Top & Serve. In your serving dish, drizzle the squash with the brown butter and scatter crumbled feta over top.
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