Roasting vegetables is my absolute new favorite thing. It's just so easy. Easy AND delicious: such a winning combination. The ingredients of my roasted butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and onion recipe may seem simple or even plain, but they all work together to create something very specific.
Pre-heating the pan along with the oven gives all of the veggies lovely, caramelized sides. A splash of maple syrup, usually on my list of Things I Do Not Like due to its often overpowering flavor, gives a nice, light glaze and further helps along the caramelization process without screaming PANCAKES. A little bit of thyme calms down the natural sugars of the maple syrup and butternut squash, and a little salt balances it all out.
Oh yeah, and another thing I love about this dish. It's so so so easy to cheat. Yeah, I said it: cheat. Listen people, I am busy. You are too, right? Sometimes I just don't feel like breaking down an entire butternut squash. It's not that it's difficult; it's that I just don't feel like it. So yeah, I cheat. I have definitely done this with {gasp} frozen butternut squash cubes, but my favorite is to use the precut ones in the produce department that are fresh. With that one shortcut, this dish can be in the oven within 5 minutes of deciding to make it, then you can sit back and watch some tv while the oven does all the hard work.
Roasted Butternut Squash, Brussels Sprouts, & Onion
Ingredients
- 1 lb brussels sprouts trimmed, halved
- 1 lb butternut squash chopped into ½" cubes
- 1 red onion cut in half, and each half cut into 6 chunks
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoon real maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Place the empty roasting pan in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Once the oven is preheated, remove the pan from the oven, and put the vegetables on the pan. Top them with the other ingredients ( olive oil, maple syrup, thyme, salt, pepper ), and toss to coat. Careful, remember that pan is HOT!
- Roast for 18 minutes. Flip the vegetables over and give them a good stir around the pan.
- Roast for another 18 minutes, or until the butternut squash is tender. You might need an extra 5 minutes here if you started from frozen squash.
This sounds great, but can it be prepared without red onion? If so would using onion salt suffice for flavor without diminishing the rest of the dish? My family has onion issues. Thx for this great idea. Also, I plan to double this- any suggestions?
I do think the red onion adds a nice flavor, but the dish won’t fall completely flat without it.
If i substituted the butternut for yellow squash, so you think it would still come out nice?
The yellow squash will cook significantly faster than the butternut squash. I'd add the yellow squash about halfway through the cooking time instead of all at once.
Oh wow! I was looking for a healthy side dish for dinner to use up some extra butternut squash from a soup I made. I'm so making this one. Thanks so much!
Is the white pan what you cook these in? Or did you use a bi cookie sheet and then transfer? I'm trying to plan the space in my oven. thank you!
I cooked everything on a large baking sheet and then transferred to the white dish for serving. It needs the space of the pan to get all yummy and caramelized on the edges 🙂
thanks for being so quick with the response!
This looks delicious! I have all the ingredients on me except maple syrup. Don't suppose I could use brown rice syrup, agave or honey instead?
I think the hint of maple really gives this dish some great flavor, but I'm sure it would still be delicious using one of those choices too