Simple Roasted Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar

As a continuation of the belated Thanksgiving posts, I wanted to share a pretty simple recipe for acorn squash that isn’t smothered in butter.

Squashes were on sale for pennies at Sprouts a couple months ago and I had read that acorn squash tastes a lot like the butternut variety.  As much as I love butternut squash, they are an absolute nightmare to cut, so I thought I’d give acorn a try.  Most roast recipes call for butter, but I didn’t like that idea, so I came up with a simple but tasty recipe of my own.  Since then, I’ve bought several to experiment with and tweaked the recipe to something I’m really happy with!  It was a hit at this year’s Thanksgiving.  Enjoy the relatively vague but easy recipe below!

INGREDIENTS:

• Acorn squash
• Grapeseed oil, melted coconut oil, or any other oil with a high flash point (about 2 TBSP should do it)
• Brown sugar
• Salt
• Fresh ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut your acorn squash in half from top to bottom and scoop out the seeds.  Then cut each half into 1/4″ thick slices.  I lay the flat slide down and then cut from top to bottom to create the pretty shape you see below.
3. Toss the acorn squash slices lightly in the oil of your choice, and lay flat on a baking sheet.  I recommend lining your baking sheet with parchment or nonstick heavy duty foil to make clean-up easier.
4. Sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar on each slice, and follow with a lighter sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Don’t go too heavy on the seasoning, as you’ll be doing this twice. Roast for 5-7 minutes, until the sugar has melted.
5. Flip each slice over, and sprinkle that side with sugar, salt, and pepper.  Roast for another 8-12 minutes, or until the squash starts to brown and look caramelized.

   

It’s an easy recipe – no measurements, and all to your taste!  You can also cut your squash slices thicker if you like – you’ll just have to keep an eye on it and roast it for longer.

Enjoy!