9 Butternut Squash Recipes to Cozy Up Your Fall Beyond Just Soup

Butternut squash goes way beyond soup in these recipes, including a hearty breakfast porridge, sage-infused pasta, and impressive vegetarian sides.

By
Mimi Young
Mimi Young
Mimi Young
Editor
Mimi Young is an editor and pastry chef. She has also curated and written numerous recipe roundups for Serious Eats.
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Published October 14, 2025
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Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

I go a little butternut squash wild when fall hits, digging through displays of gourds to find the heaviest ones (which means the ripest and sweetest), rapping my knuckles against the tough exterior for that tell-tale hollow sound. As much as I love a creamy butternut squash soup (I make mine with a dash of curry powder), more often than not, I put butternut squash front and center in my favorite fall dishes—in stews and braises, in pasta paired with brown butter and sage, and roasted alongside Brussels sprouts.

Butternut squash is so versatile, it’s a shame to simply consign it to soup, which is why we’ve gathered a few of our favorite butternut squash–centric recipes to inspire you to give the sweet, earthy, orange-fleshed vegetable a starring role in your fall menus. With a wide range of dishes, including warming and hearty Korean breakfast porridge, creamy butternut squash mac and cheese, and spectacular Hasselback roasted butternut squash, these recipes will make butternut squash a staple on your grocery shopping list all season and beyond.

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  • Hobak Beombeok (Korean Squash, Sweet Potato, and Bean Porridge)

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    Vicky Wasik

    On a chilly morning, a steaming bowl of this rustic Korean squash, sweet potato, and bean porridge offers a warming, nutritious, and filling alternative to the usual oatmeal. Mashed cooked squash forms the base, thickened with chewy doughy bits, and studded with cooked red adzuki and kidney beans, chunks of sweet potato, pieces of chestnut, and slivers of jujubes for even more texture and sweetness.

  • Pasta with Butternut Squash and Sage Brown Butter

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    Vicky Wasik

    Peeling and dicing the butternut squash into half-inch cubes, which takes all of maybe 10 minutes while the pasta cooks, is about the most time-consuming hands-on prep you’ll have to do to make this ridiculously delicious and aromatic vegetarian fall pasta. Sauté the squash in olive oil until nicely caramelized first before adding the butter to brown so you don’t end up with bitter, burnt milk solids. Reserve some pasta water to help emulsify the pan sauce for a glossy finish, then shower everything in a blanket of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

  • Hasselback Roasted Butternut Squash

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    Morgan Eisenberg

    Giving butternut squash the Hasselback treatment is a remarkably simple way to transform the humble gourd into a spectacular vegetarian dish, glistening with a roasted garlic, honey, and cider vinegar glaze and topped with crunchy Parmesan breadcrumbs, tart cranberries, and pistachios. Pre-roasting the peeled and seeded squash halves, cut-side down, until just barely soft makes it easier to cut uniformly thin slices. Tuck fresh sage leaves in between a few slices to infuse the roasted squash with a woodsy aroma throughout.

  • Roasted Butternut Squash

    Overhead view of roasted butternut squash in a bowl

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    What is the secret to perfectly roasted butternut squash—you know, chunks with lightly crisp, caramelized edges and a tender, creamy interior? Well, start with the hot oven for one, between 400ºF (204ºC) to 425ºF (218ºC), which will quickly drive off any excess moisture that can impede the all-important Maillard reaction. The other is to toss the squash with a pinch of baking soda before roasting, which helps soften and break down the fibrous pectin in the squash, and also speeds up caramelization.

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  • Roasted Lemony Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts

    Brussel sprouts and butternut squash salad

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Butternut squash and Brussels sprouts come together perfectly for a satisfying fall side dish, tossed in a sweet, tangy dressing loaded with bright herbs, lemon, and toasted spices. Here, baking soda also works its magic to enhance the caramelization in the Brussels sprouts, yielding extra crispy edges. Using a large sheet pan also allows for better hot air circulation to prevent liquids from pooling and steaming the vegetables.

  • Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

    Overhead view of butternut squash mac and cheese

    Serious Eats / Robby Lozano

    Instead of simply layering chunks of cooked butternut squash into a creamy pasta casserole, we went for a more luxurious texture throughout by incorporating garlic-infused roasted butternut squash purée into a three-cheese Mornay sauce. Fontina, extra-sharp cheddar, and Gruyère provide just the right silkiness, tanginess, and nuttiness to complement the sweet, earthy flavor of the roasted squash. Topped off with a generous layer of buttery sage panko breadcrumbs, it’s the quintessential autumn comfort food.

  • Butternut Squash and Kale Farrotto

    Overhead view of butternut squash farrotto

    Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

    Think of farrotto as risotto’s heartier cousin that’s just as easy to make. Toasting the farro in the pan first amplifies its nutty flavor and helps it absorb the liquid. While farro doesn’t release as much starch as rice, all the stirring, along with the soft, partially puréed butternut squash and cheese, will give you the requisite creamy risotto-like texture.

  • Winter Squash Carbonara

    Roasted squash with cheese and eggs.

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Take the building blocks of pasta carbonara—pancetta, eggs, cheese, and lots of black pepper—swap out the pasta for roasted butternut squash, and you’ve got yourself and fantastic fall side dish (or main if you're going gluten-free) that’s an inspired twist on the Italian classic. Turning the cooked pancetta into a warm vinaigrette cuts through some richness from fatty pork and crumbled hard-boiled egg. (Note that while the recipe calls for kabocha, as Daniel notes in the headnote, butternut squash works just as well.)

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  • Butternut Squash Purée

    Butternut squash purée in a white bowl next to a large spoon.

    Jillian Atkinson

    Roasted butternut squash is the ideal starting point for making a burnt orange, velvety smooth butternut squash purée. It has a concentrated squash flavor, fully developed caramel sweetness, and earthy richness. Finish it off with a little butter and cream and serve it as a stand-alone side dish, turn it into a creamy soup or sauce, or bake it into a fall pie.

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