15 Squash Recipes Featuring Creamy Risotto, Crispy Zucchini Fritters, and More

Photographs: Vicky Wasik. Video: Serious Eats Video

As summer fades into fall, squash takes center stage in all its many forms. This is the rare moment of the year when both tender summer varieties and hearty winter squashes overlap at the market: Zucchini, yellow squash, and pattypan still hanging on in baskets next to piles of butternut squash, delicata, spaghetti, and even the occasional red kuri or kabocha. That means you can keep grilling, shredding, and sautéing squash for light, quick meals while also leaning into the cozy casseroles, soups, and pies that mark the colder season. The recipes here reflect that breadth, moving seamlessly between crisp salads and golden fritters to rich risottos and silky purées, offering a little something for whatever the season (or your mood) calls for.

Yellow Squash Casserole

Serious Eats / Maureen Celestine

Packed full of sweet yellow squash and topped with buttery crackers, this Southern staple is worth turning on the oven, even during the hottest summer days.

Yellow Squash Casserole
Pressure Cooker Butternut Squash Risotto With Frizzled Sage and Brown Butter

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

A rich butternut squash risotto is a cinch with the help of a pressure cooker. Roasted apple, maple syrup, sage, brown butter, and a touch of miso add complexity, sweetness, and savory depth. For a slightly heartier alternative that's higher in protein and fiber, check out Daniel's butternut squash and kale farrotto.

Pressure Cooker Butternut Squash Risotto With Frizzled Sage
Pumpkin Spice Latte (With Real Squash)

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

Butternut or red kuri squash adds real earthy-sweet pumpkin flavor to this take on the classic espresso beverage. Flavor aside, the squash's fiber thickens the milk, helping it trap more tiny air bubbles once blended. The result is a foamy latte made with no espresso gear.

Pumpkin Spice Latte
Zucchini Tart With Cream Cheese, Mozzarella, and Thyme

[Photograph: Debbie Wee].
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

Here, puff pastry is topped with thin slices of zucchini and melty cheese. Salting, draining, pressing, and blotting the zucchini concentrates its flavor and keeps the tart from turning watery.

Zucchini Tart With Cream Cheese, Mozzarella, and Thyme

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Roast Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts With Spiced Honey-Herb Dressing

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

This winter salad combines squash with Brussels sprouts in a sweet, tangy dressing of fresh herbs, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, and mustard seeds. Tossing the vegetables with a little baking soda before roasting increases the tenderness of the squash and makes the Brussels sprouts extra crispy.

Roasted Lemony Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts
Zucchini-and-Corn Fritters With Herb Sour Cream

Serious Eats / Emily and Matt Clifton

For these fritters, zucchini is shredded with a box grater, squeezed dry in a kitchen towel, and combined with grated onion, grated cheese, and a light batter of flour, egg, and seasoning. The cheese combines with the vegetables to enhance the melty, gooey interior of the fritter, and helps the outside get delightfully crispy and caramelized like a frico.

Zucchini-and-Corn Fritters With Herb Sour Cream
Zucchini Bread

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

We gave this classic quick bread a makeover by adding whole-wheat flour, butter, and a touch of ground coriander for a richer, nuttier, and more nuanced flavor. (For those of you avoiding wheat, check out our gluten-free version.)

Zucchini Bread
Classic Butternut Squash Soup

Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

For his take on this cold-weather staple, Daniel roasts the squash at high heat until deeply browned, which enhances its sweetness significantly and brings out its best possible flavor. For a quicker route, see Kenji's recipe for easy stovetop butternut squash soup. For a puréed soup with a completely different flavor profile, give our recipe for miso-squash soup with sesame-ginger apples a try, or this Mexican pantry-inspired butternut squash soup.

Classic Butternut Squash Soup

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Summer Squash Salad With Goat Cheese, Fennel, and Dill

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

This simple salad features raw young yellow squash and sweet, crisp fennel. The goat cheese's creamy, lactic tang resonates with the simple, citrusy dressing.

Summer Squash Salad With Goat Cheese, Fennel, and Dill
Pizza With Zucchini, Feta, Lemon, and Garlic

Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt

The secret to great zucchini pizza is to remove as much liquid from the zucchini as possible before topping the pizza. Our technique gives you a nice crunch along with fresh, sweet, caramelized zucchini flavor. For an autumn-themed pizza topped with winter squash, Gruyère, apples, and sage, see Kenji's recipe for pumpkin pizza.

Pizza With Zucchini, Feta, Lemon, and Garlic
Pasta With Butternut Squash and Sage Brown Butter

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

This recipe is simple: boil some pasta while you brown butter in a skillet. Add a touch of pasta water, throw in some sautéed squash and some sage and you've got yourself a great 30-minute meal. It's a classic fall and winter dish that can be made right on the stovetop. For another quick pasta dish that features winter squash, check out our recipe for pumpkin orzo. For a weekend project, try your hand at making homemade butternut squash and blue cheese ravioli, or amp up the comfort factor with a big squash lasagna.

Pasta With Butternut Squash and Sage Brown Butter
Leaf-Wrapped Winter Squash With Pork and Shiitakes

Serious Eats / Tim Chin

Each of these lotus-leaf packages (or parchment packages, if that's what you have) is filled with a fragrant and delicious mix of winter squash, ground pork, shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce, garlic, and more.

Leaf-Wrapped Winter Squash With Pork and Shiitakes

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Grilled Summer Squash With Chimichurri

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Halved and grilled summer squash is cut into chunks and dressed with chimichurri while still warm, allowing it to soak up all the delicious commingled flavors. The squash can be eaten warm right away, but the longer you let it marinate, the more intensely the flavor comes through. You might also try dressing grilled zucchini with chile oil and parmesan. For a more autumnal vibe, try grilling chunks of butternut squash and topping them with dollops of ricotta and a smattering of toasted pine nuts and minced sage.

Grilled Summer Squash With Chimichurri
Roasted Delicata Squash and Kale Salad With Hazelnut-Parmesan Crumble

Serious Eats / Jillian Atkinson

This sheet pan salad is perfect for fall. Arranging slices of delicata squash around the perimeter of the baking sheet helps ensure even browning and provides space for roasting kale in the middle.

Roasted Delicata Squash and Kale Salad With Hazelnut-Parmesan Crumble
Butternut Pumpkin Pie

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

The very best pumpkin pie is made from squash (which is what is actually inside those cans of "pure pumpkin purée"). Butternut squash may not evoke the romance of a jack o' lantern or Cinderella's carriage, but it has all the earthy flavor of a pumpkin at a fraction of the hassle (less pesky rind, fewer slimy seeds, no stringy fibers). By the time it's roasted, puréed, and showered with spice, the only thing anyone will notice is how vibrant it tastes.

Butternut Pumpkin Pie

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15 Squash Recipes Featuring Creamy Risotto, Crispy Zucchini Fritters, and More

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