Creamy, super smooth, lightly sweet homemade butternut squash purée is delicious addition to many meals that you can easily prepare yourself.
This recipe requires only 2 ingredients and is almost hands-off, so I really encourage you to prepare a squash purée yourself.
It is a delicious and nutritious addition to many meals including cakes, soups, curries and.. cookies!
Why should we make Butternut Squash Purée?
- it is very useful ingredient in vegan baking
- great for thickening soups, sauces, casseroles, curries
- much cheaper than store bought canned purée
- little work involved
- use it in smoothies!
- butternut squash is so healthy
What do we need to make Butternut Squash Purée?
BUTTERNUT SQUASH
Medium size squash is perfect for making squash purée. Anything that weights between 2-3kg (4.5-6.5 pound) will do. Don’t buy too big squash. First of all you will have to bake it longer, secondly the flesh may be a little overgrown, dry and flaky. Smaller Butternut Squash will most likely have smaller hole with seeds.
I buy my squashes at a farmers market making sure they’re locally grown
OIL
We only need few tablespoons of oil to brush the surface of the squash. Any oil without strong fragrance will do – colza oil, sunflower oil, grape seed oil.
LARGE BAKING TRAY
I just use tray for cookies or lasagna. If you don’t have such tray, it’s fine too. It’s just easier to take the squash out of oven after baking when it is placed in a dish.
SPICES OR NO SPICES ?
Should you sprinkle the squash with salt or other spices before baking? I usually don’t and the reason is simple. I may use it for sweet or savory dishes, so if I don’t use anything on it the purée is universal.
How to make Butternut Squash Purée?
A little sweet, smooth butternut squash purée is super useful ingredient in many dishes and desserts. It adds creaminess to soups and curries, replaces eggs in baking, raises nutritional values of the meal.
Total Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes
1. Clean and cut butternut squash
Since we won’t be peeing the butternut squash we want to clean it well. I clean it in warm water using sponge or brush for cleaning vegetables.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
I usually bake butternut squash (or beetroots) while baking something else like Easy Homemade Bread.
It’s more economical to combine those things together.
3. Bake butternut squash
It’s enough to bake the squash for 50-60 minutes. Wait for it to cool down a little before scooping the pulp out.
4. Remove the seeds
Now it is very easy to remove the seeds together with stringy parts. Use the spoon to scoop all of it out.
5. Scoop the pulp out
After you removed all the seeds and the stringy bits, scoop the flesh of the squash out leaving only skin. Place the pulp in the bowl or food processor.
6. Blend or mash
You can mash your butternut squash purée using fork or potato masher if you do not need it very smooth. You can do this, if you will use the purée in smoothie or the soup that you blend anyway.
Blending
If you want your butternut squash purée nice and smooth treat it with blender or food processor. This is advised if you want to use the purée in baking or in curry.
7. Use or freeze
Whatever you don’t use immediately or within 2 days you can freeze and use later.
I usually divide butternut squash purée into 1 cup portions and freeze it in plastic containers.
HOW TO MAKE BUTTERNUT SQUASH PURÉE – ADDITIONAL TIPS
- Do not overbake the squash. You don’t want a crunchy surface, that you will have to remove before blending your purée.
- It’s easiest to scoop the squash pulp out when it is still a bit warm. The longer you wait the harder it gets.
- Use plastic containers from hummus or other dips to portion and freeze your purée.
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How to use Butternut Squash Purée?
There are so many ways you can use butternut squash purée in your kitchen.
BAKING
Cookies and cakes with butternut squash purée are moist and have a lovely color.
SOUPS
You can add squash purée to thicken vegetable soups. Baked tomatoes and squash puree soup is really delicious creamy soup you can whip up super quickly.
STEWS & CURRIES
You can add pumpkin or squash puree to make your stews and curries thicker and more creamy. You need to try this Super Creamy Cauliflower Potato Curry With Squash and Peanut Butter.
SMOOTHIES
How to store Butternut Squash Purée?
I usually make way more butternut squash purée than I need at the moment. Purée freezes very well and it’s very convenient to store it this way for a longer time.
If you use it within 2 days store your purée in air tight container in the fridge. Frozen purée will last for few weeks easily.
For curries or stews you can put your purée straight from the freezer to your dish. If you want to use it in baking it is necessary to unfreeze it first.
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