Date Butter Roasted Butternut Squash

This roasted butternut squash, caramelized with sweet, rich date butter that glazes every bite, is an ideal Thanksgiving side dish that will enhance all of your fall meals.

This delicious roasted butternut squash with dates is a quintessential fall side dish, and it's always a crowd-pleaser.

It's full of sweet, earthy, and rich flavors, and the bites of squash are soft with slightly crisp edges.

You can make the homemade date butter days ahead, and finish the recipe the day of, or day before, you want to serve it.

It's excellent with turkey, chicken, meats, over rice, in salads . . . there are endless possibilities!

The Ingredients

• butternut squash - The squash should be very firm, and for this recipe, the less bulbous, the better. When they're particularly rounded towards the bottom, there's less flesh and more seeds, and not quite as easy to cut into cubes. Substitutes for butternut squash: Acorn, delicata, kabocha, pumpkin or red kuri.
• date butter (or date paste) - This is a rich and creamy, subtly spiced butter made of dates, cinnamon, butter and vanilla. It's super easy to make, and there's a vegan option included in its recipe. If you'd like to purchase it, you'll likely have to warm it with butter or hot water, to thin it. (Alternately, you can use date syrup, only enough to lightly coat the squash.)
• fresh thyme and rosemary - Rosemary and thyme add an earthy, fresh flavor to the recipe. You can use one or the other, or both.

How to Make Date Roasted Butternut Squash

- Preheat the oven to 400℉ and adjust a rack to the center. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set it aside.

- Peel the squash with a vegetable peeler. If you use a peeler, you'll have to go over it a couple of times to be sure that you've gotten to the usable flesh. (Alternately, you can use a knife to peel it. Cut about ½-inch off the bottom and top, stand it up, and use a chef's knife to slice downwards from the top, between the flesh and skin.)

- Then cut it in half lengthwise, and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Lay both halves with the flat side down.

Recipe Tip: If it feels too precarious to cut the whole, raw squash because of how firm it is, microwave it for about 4 minutes. It will be easier to manage. Either way, please be careful and take your time with the knife.

- Cut the squash into bite-sized cubes.

- Combine the date butter with the fresh herbs. If it's been in the fridge, or is just especially thick, warm it on the stove or in the microwave, just to soften.

- Add the butternut squash cubes to a large bowl, and use your hands to mix them with the date butter and herbs, until all of the squash is well coated.

- Pour the date-coated squash onto the parchment-lined sheet and bake in the preheated 400℉ oven until it's golden and soft, about 35 to 40 minutes. About halfway through the cooking time, use a flat-bottomed spatula to flip the pieces over.

Serve!

Variations

• Vegan version. Make the date butter with water instead of butter. (Instructions are detailed in the date butter recipe.)
• Spicy version. The roasted squash is both sweet and savory and therefore lends itself to a little bit of heat. Sprinkle a few pinches (or the desired amount) of cayenne pepper over the squash before it goes in the oven.
• Try other fresh herbs. Much like pumpkin pairs well with sage, so do most orange squash. You can use sage on its own, or with the rosemary and thyme, or any combination thereof.
• You can follow the same recipe using sweet potatoes. The cooking time will likely be less, so keep a close watch.

Serving Suggestions

• The date roasted butternut squash can become a main course. Mix it with chicken and serve it over rice. It's lovely with shredded and spiced chicken. Or for a vegetarian main course, mix it with Mexican black beans.
• Of course it's a fabulous fall side dish! It's amazing alongside a Thanksgiving turkey and all sorts of chicken dishes.
• It's also great in a salad or mixed into grains. For a salad, let it cool to room temperature, and toss it with the greens. You'll have a hearty, vegetarian entrée salad in minutes. And it's wonderful in this lemon quinoa recipe, too!

Other Must-Try Butternut Squash Recipes

Making it Ahead

• This squash recipe can be made a day ahead -- you might lose some of the crispness around the edges of the cubes, but it'll still be incredibly delicious.
• Whether you make it a day ahead, or have leftovers, store the squash in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. Reheat in a 400℉ oven just until it's hot.

I hope you love this as much as my family and I do!