How To Cut Butternut Squash

Learn how to cut a butternut squash with confidence! Roasted butternut squash is the best side vegetable served with a variety of meals, but also using butternut squash in soups, stews, pasta, curries, salads and even desserts is so delicious!

It’s that time of year again! As September rolls around, we head into squash season. Butternut squash is one of my favorite fall and winter foods. I love the sweet flavor and the versatility of this nutritious and delicious fruit. 🤔 Did you know technically butternut squash is a fruit?!

Perhaps my love for this squash sometimes gets overshadowed by the prep work and cutting of this relatively difficult food to tackle in the kitchen. BUT! Today, my hope is to take the intimidation out of chopping a butternut squash at home and showing you step-by-step how to do it so that you can feel more confident with this kitchen skill as we head into the end of summer squash season.

What Is Butternut Squash?

Butternut Squash, also known as butternut pumpkin in parts of the world, is a winter squash that is grown in late summer and harvested in the Fall. Butternut squash grows on a vine and has a sweet, nutty taste, that is similar to pumpkin.

Squashes have all kind of different shapes and sizes. Butternut squash is shaped like a bottle, with a bulbous bottom and long neck. It has a tan-yellowish skin on the outside and is a vibrant, deep orange on the inside. Although technically butternut squash is classified as a fruit, it’s often used in culinary dishes as a vegetable.

What Does Butternut Squash Taste Like?

Butternut squash has a sweet, kind of nutty taste and has a texture that is similar to sweet potatoes. It’s rich and buttery, similar to pumpkin. When roasted, I think it kind of tastes a bit like a mix between roasted carrots and sweet potatoes.

Health Benefits

Butternut squash is boasting with nutrients! It’s filled with beneficial vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, C, and E, and also contains B vitamins- thiamine (B1), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), and folate (B9). You will also find protein, fiber, magnesium, calcium, iron and potassium in butternut squash! Source: Healthline.com

When Is Butternut Squash In Season?

Butternut squash season is September through December. That’s when you’ll most likely start seeing them appear in grocery stores, at least here in the United States. Butternut squash falls into the same family as pumpkins, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, honey nut squash (very similar to butternut squash), yellow squash, and zucchini- just to name a few out of the hundreds of squash.

Where To Buy Butternut Squash

You can find butternut squash at most supermarket stores in the non-refrigerated produce section. They are more widely available in late summer through the Fall months, but some grocery stores carry them all-year-round. You can also find them seasonally at farmer’s markets, or even grow your own! I may try to grow my own one of these days because my family and I love butternut squash so much!

How To Pick Out The Best Butternut Squash

When you’re picking out a butternut squash at the grocery store, you want to find one that looks nice on the outside, with no cuts, brown spots, mold or damages/blemishes. You also want to choose one that is firm and not squishy 😖 and feels heavy for its size. The stem should be about an inch long too.

Reasons To Buy Whole Butternut Squash vs. Pre-Chopped

Listen, I get it. If you’re in a hurry and you can actually find pre-cut butternut squash- go for it 😉 But I have learned over the years to just include one extra step in my meal prep that calls for butternut squash for a few different reasons:

1. A whole butternut squash can last up to 4-6 WEEKS when stored in a cool, dry place! 😮 Pre-cut squash only lasts for a few days.

2. It’s easier to find. In my experience, it’s way easier to find a whole butternut squash than pre-cut squash. So it’s a good skill to know!

3. It tastes so much better! An uncut squash just retains so much more of its flavor and doesn’t dry out.

Tools You Need

Quality knife. First things first- you must have a great knife to be able to cut a butternut squash effectively and safely. My go-to knife to use when chopping a butternut squash is the 8″ chef knife. It’s the perfect size. Make sure your knife is sharp too! You can buy a cheap knife sharpener to keep on hand.

Vegetable peeler. Most vegetable peelers will work, but it is preferred to have a sharp, high quality peeler.

Cutting board. Any cutting board will work but ideally you want to use a large cutting board to allow for extra cutting room.

How To Cut A Whole Butternut Squash

Now, the following steps are how I prep a butternut squash and these steps can be used as a guide. Cut the top of the butternut squash off to get rid of the stem.

You may also choose to cut the bottom off, but I usually just leave it. Next, you’ll slice the squash in half vertically. This is the trickiest part, so you’ll want to be careful and keep those fingers out of the way.

I like to use a method of slicing from the side and from then from the top down to help me stay even.

Now that the squash is cut completely in half, you’ll peel the skin off using a good vegetable peeler.

You can also peel the squash at the beginning, before any cutting, but I find it to be a bit more tedious- not to mention I have smaller hands and handling the half when I’m peeling is much easier than the whole squash.

But you can choose when you’d like to peel it- the important thing is that you peel it! Haha UNLESS you’re stuffing the squash, then you want to keep the peel on.

Once the butternut squash is peeled and cut in half, you spoon out the seeds.

Now it’s time to chop! There’s no real method to this, but I like to start by slicing each squash half into slices like this.

And then chop the butternut squash into whatever size chunks you prefer.

I would suggest not cutting them too small or thin, however, as it’s more likely to burn while roasting that way.

Then it’s onto roasting! See?! As promised, it’s easier than it looks 😉 So now that we confidently know how to chop a butternut squash 🤗.

How To Roast Butternut Squash (My Favorite!)

Roasting butternut squash in the oven with a little olive oil, salt and pepper is my favorite way to cook and enjoy this delicious fruit.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Peel and chop the butternut squash into cubes.
3. Place everything on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the butternut squash can be easily pierced with a fork. 

You can also roast butternut squash unpeeled, cut in half, the flesh drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt & pepper and then roasted on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the flesh side down.

Although there aren’t many seeds that come from a butternut squash, not like the pumpkin seeds you get when carving pumpkins, you could technically roast the seeds as well and enjoy them as a crunchy snack or add them as a garnish to the recipe you’re serving!

Ways To Use Butternut Squash

There are lots of ways to use butternut squash! It’s a very versatile ingredient. Some of my favorite ways to use butternut squash other than as a side dish roasted, sautéed, pureed or mashed is stuffed butternut squash or hasselback butternut squash, in pasta and pasta sauces, tacos, in casseroles, soups, in bread and muffins, stew, curry, winter salads, rice and grain bowls, and even in desserts!

Recipes Using Butternut Squash

How To Store Butternut Squash

You can store a whole butternut squash uncut, and unpeeled for up to 4-6 weeks in a cool dry place.

Store cut butternut squash in an airtight container for a few days.

I hope this tutorial post gives you the confidence you need to cut a butternut squash on your own! It will come in handy, I promise! 🧡

Comment below and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram or Facebook if you make any of my butternut squash recipes! And I’ll be here cheering you on my friends… you can do it!

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