Description
Butternut squash was my gateway vegetable. I love most veggies now, but growing up, I hated almost all of them. Butternut squash was the one that was able to unlock my love of vegetables, and this recipe how my mom would prepare them. Butternut is a starchy vegetable, similar to potatoes or plantains, so I tend to eat this more as my carb side than a vegetable side, such as pairing this with Grilled Shrimp Skewers and Spinach and Onion Vegetable Medley for a delicious and well rounded meal.
Time
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
30 minutes
Total Time:
40 minutes
Cost
Total Cost:
Cost per Serving:
$0.90
Ingredients
Serving(s)
- 1 medium Onion
- 1 lb Frozen butternut squash, thawed
- 2 tsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp Minced garlic
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- 1 tsp Onion powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black pepper, ground
Instructions
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- Preheat your oven to 400F, and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper
- Cut your onion into a large dice, and add to the pan. Add the butternut squash, oil, minced garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and black pepper
- Roast at 400F for about 30 minutes, or until soft and browned
Notes
- Today I'm going with frozen butternut squash, but fresh will also work. Just scale the recipe up based on how many pounds your butternut squash is. Typically 1 large butternut squash is about 3 pounds, so triple all the seasonings
- As for the cost between frozen or fresh butternut squash, I got this 1 lb (454 g) bag of frozen butternut squash for $1.99, already peeled and cubed.
In comparison, I can get a fresh butternut for $0.79/lb, but that includes the weight of the skins and seeds, plus the work to cut it up myself. This 2.76 lb (1,257 g) butternut squash cost $2.19, and yielded 2.42 lb (1,100 g) of raw butternut squash meat. If you don't peel the squash (lately I haven't been, the skin is completely edible), then the weight of the raw butternut squash is 2.68 lb (1,215 g).
Therefore, the net cost of fresh butternut squash is $0.90/lb for just the raw squash meat, or $0.82/lb if you include the skins. Most grocery stores also tend to sell fresh butternut squash already peeled and cubed. At my store, that would cost about $2.99/lb.
This makes buying a fresh butternut squash less than half the price of the frozen, and less than a third of the price of the fresh pre-cut squash. It's up for you to decide if that cost difference is work the extra effort. Peeling is the most time intensive part of preparing butternut squash, and you can easily just skip that and eat the skins, which is less work and more nutritious. Win-win!
Nutrition Facts
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Total Fat: 3.6g (5 %)
Saturated Fat: 0.5g (3 %)
Sodium: 381mg (17 %)
Total Carbohydrate: 28.3g (10 %)
Fiber: 3.0g (11 %)
Net Carbs: 25.3g
Total Sugar: 6.0g
Protein: 3.6g (7 %)
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Vitamin B12: 0.0mcg (0 %)
Vitamin D: 0.0mcg (0 %)
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Calcium: 66mg (5 %)
Iron: 1.62mg (9 %)
Magnesium: 29mg (7 %)
Potassium: 418mg (9 %)
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