Easy Savory Acorn Squash

I can’t get enough of this squash! It’s so incredibly easy and amazingly good. Read through the pictures and notes, or feel free to scroll to the bottom to skip straight to the recipe. Happy cooking!

Preheat the oven to 350. Make sure your knife is sharp!! I use an 8″ chef knife so it’s thick enough to be able to push through with your hand. Cut both ends of the squash off first. Then, cut the entire squash in half. This should allow both pieces to sit flat on your cutting board.

Once your squash is cut, scoop out all the guts. You can either keep them if you want to bake the seeds or just throw them away. Get rid of all the stringy stuff, too.

At this point, your squash should look like the pictures above. I didn’t take a picture of me turning them upside down in a baking dish because I figured you can visualize that. At this point, that’s what you do. Your oven should be warm at 350, so once upside down bake them for 30 minutes.

Here’s the savory part! Once you take them out of the oven, flip them right side up and drizzle both halves with olive oil. I put 1 tbsp for each part in the actual recipe, but this whole block can be adjusted to your taste. Add the sea salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin. Again, it’s to your taste so slather it on or sprinkle to your desire. At last, put about a tbsp of butter in the center of each. Pop those suckers back in the oven for 20 minutes – right side up. I figured that was obvious, but just in case.

When you remove the pan, be careful because they’re hot and will release steam! Hold the squash with tongs to keep them from slipping around. Mine caved in a bit as you can see in the picture. That’s ok. You’re not eating that part anyway. Gently loosen the squash insides with a fork or spoon. You might want to mix it up a little, too, so you can mix in the seasonings and butter.

Here is the fun part! Using the tongs, flip that baby upside down on your plate. It should look like the picture above. Yes, that’s now the bottom of the squash. Remember that end I had you whack off at the beginning? This is why. Once it’s flipped over, the soft squash should fall out onto the plate. Then you can use the same spoon/fork from before and just push the remaining squash out. Use the tongs to pick up the rind and throw that part away.

Voila! Look how pretty it turns out in its perfect circle. Just wait until you taste it! Impressive for the visual and the palette.

It tastes even better if you make the whole plate look like a happy face. There’s no neat fact I have for you here. It’s just to make you smile.

Even though it says 55 total minutes, it’s really only the baking time that takes forever. Your job is super easy!

Leave a comment on how much you love this or any other tips you picked up along the way!