roasted kabocha squash recipe – use real butter (2024)

Recipe: roasted kabocha squash

The past few days have involved a lot of cleaning and precious little outside time, but we tell ourselves it is all worth it because we finally updated our refrigerator of 16 years and the crappy stove that came with the house (guessing 21 years old). I consider this a major accomplishment because we’ve had these upgrades on our list for about 10 years… we just hate shopping.

The old refrigerator went into the basem*nt to increase our cold storage capacity. The old stove was hauled away. Good riddance. But these things never go as smoothly as planned. We planed off 5 millimeters of cabinet siding to get the refrigerator to fit in its cubby and then replaced 20 feet of old copper water line which had been left unused for 13 years. And now that we have a slide-in range rather than a free-standing range, we need a backsplash. I’m going with stainless steel and it will be easily removable so I can scrub the hell out of it. It’s nice to have the kitchen back in place and working better than before! After all of that, we finally got out with the pups for some exercise and fresh air.

Thanksgiving is this week and I’ll have a lovely little story to share with you later, but for now I must tell you about kabocha squash. It sounds like kombucha, but it is kabocha, and it is my favorite squash. Kabocha is a Japanese winter squash, also called Japanese Pumpkin, and it has a beautiful sweetness. I love it stewed, in soup, tempura fried, and roasted. You can find it at Asian grocery stores with decent produce sections or at places like Whole Foods or farmers markets. Like many squashes, these are quite hard and a little scary to cut when raw, so do be careful as you would with any similar squash.

The skin on the kabocha squash is edible, which is great! Simply wash the squash before cutting. I like to remove the stem because it’s nearly impossible to cut through when splitting the kabocha in half. A careful shallow cut around the base of the stem with the tip of a paring knife (don’t twist, keep it flat) makes popping the stem off by hand a cinch. Once that’s done, carefully cut the kabocha squash in half and scoop out the guts. I then cut the halves in half to get four quarters and trim the hard corners off. From there, I like to slice my squash into 1-inch thick pieces.

Slicing the squash is the hard part. Once that is done, toss the slices with olive oil and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Make sure the seasonings and oil are well-distributed among the squash. Arrange the slices on a baking sheet or baking pan in a single layer. This maximizes the crisp, slightly caramelized surface area of the roasted kabocha squash. Roast the first side, then after about 20 minutes, flip the pieces until the bottoms are nice and golden – about another 15 minutes.

I’m a big fan of butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potato, delicata squash… But kabocha squash is probably my favorite when you consider flavor, ease of preparation, edible skin, and a creamy texture that I just can’t get enough of. And it’s good for you! So if you are looking for something a little different for your table or simply want to try yet another most excellent squash, I highly recommend kabocha squash. It’s like candy without the added sugar or marshmallows.

Roasted Kabocha Squash
[print recipe]

3 lbs. kabocha squash (1 large squash)
1-2 tbsps olive oil
sea salt (about 1 tsp)
black pepper, freshly ground (about 1 tsp)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash the outside of the squash. Carefully remove the stem. I use a paring knife to cut at a shallow angle around the base of the stem then pop the stem off with my fingers. Using a sharp knife, carefully slice the squash in half longitudinally (through the stem base). The kabocha squash is hard, like its cousins, so please use caution when taking to it with a knife. Scoop the seeds out with a spoon. Cut the halves in half (to get quarters) and trim the stem/ends from the corners. Slice the quarters into 1-inch thick pieces. Place the slices in a large bowl and toss with the olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Arrange the slices in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. I line my baking sheet with foil for ease of clean up. Roast for 20 minutes, then flip the pieces over and continue to roast until lightly browned and fork tender (about 15 minutes for me). Serves 4-6 as a side dish.

more goodness from the use real butter archives

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roasted broccoli

roasted cauliflower salad

roasted delicata squash

November 18th, 2018: 11:59 pm
filed under gluten-free, recipes, roasting, savory, vegetables