This easy oven Roasted Butternut Squash and Apples recipe is a sweet and sometimes savory addition to the holiday table, with just 6 ingredients and a couple of nutritious fall fruits.
For more simple holiday side dishes, check out my purple sweet potato mash and air fryer delicata fries.
Once it hit September and the temperature began dropping, I was reminded that both apples and squash are low histamine and antihistamine foods. I immediately knew I had the perfect low histamine Thanksgiving recipe recipe to quench my sweet tooth, though it's fabulous around Christmas, as well.
I've made these butternut squash and apples roasted in the oven, on the stovetop, and even in the air fryer, and while the stovetop is my favorite, the oven is by far the easiest. I've listed tips for ingredient switches and substitutions in the recipe notes, but please comment below if you have any questions!
Jump to:
- 😋 What makes this recipe great
- 🍎 Ingredients
- ❓ How to Cut and Peel Butternut Squash
- 📖 How to make squash and apples: step-by-step instructions
- 📝 Substitutions & Variations
- ✔️ Freezing & Reheating
- 👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
- ⭐ What to serve with squash and apples
- 🙋🏻♂️ Frequently Asked Questions
- 🍴 Other Butternut Squash Recipes
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
😋 What makes this recipe great
Family Recipe Alert! Until last month, it had been several years since I'd made squash & apples. It was a staple in my house growing up. Every fall, once the apples began dropping in price, my mom picked up a few pounds and a butternut squash, and she made a huge batch of it for the freezer.
Great for Beginners: Luckily this recipe needs very few substitutions and even less babysitting, since both apples & squash are quite forgiving of potential burning.
Low Histamine Holiday Dish: Whether you celebrate any holidays or not, this is a very fall-spiced dish, low histamine and perfect for the whole family.
🍎 Ingredients
Butternut Squash: what's roasted apples and squash without the star of the show? This bright orange vegetable is a rich source of vitamins and minerals, and sweetens up beautifully in the oven. Much like my squash soup, this recipe takes advantage of that delicious oven-baked caramelization.
Green Apples: these are the other core of your dish (pardon the pun!). Since the skins of the apples contain an abundance of histamine-fighting nutrients, I like to leave those on, but you can peel them off. I like granny smith apples plus either pink lady or fuji apples, because I like the balance of crisp and sweet, but you can use any sturdy varieties. Here I'm only using granny smith.
Butter: a great fat source for roasting, you can also use coconut oil or another low histamine oil for these roasted apples and butternut squash. If not using salted butter, add ¼ teaspoon sea salt to the spiced butter.
Coconut Sugar: this helps with the caramelization, though you can leave it out completely or substitute it for a more savory dish.
Cinnamon: not everyone enjoys or tolerates cinnamon, so it's completely optional here.
Vanilla Powder: this was switched out for the more common vanilla extract, to make it truly histamine-friendly, and voila! The perfect recipe. It adds a beautiful complexity to the overall flavor of the sweet version of this dish.
❓ How to Cut and Peel Butternut Squash
Butternut winter squash have a papery inedible skin and a relatively long harvest season, as in my area I start seeing them in the farmer's market in August. However they can be hard to cut, so it's helpful to microwave them for a couple of minutes before starting to peel them.
- The best way to prep a butternut squash for any cooking method is to start by washing and lightly scrubbing off any dirt. Since the skin is inedible, we need to peel it and we don't want the peeler pushing any dirt into the flesh.
- Then cut off the top and bottom, and cut the squash in half. Use a large spoon to scoop out the seeds and innards in the bottom portion. See directly below for images and more detailed step-by-step instructions.
- Next peel all the skin off the outsidecut each half in half, and then you can either cook the squash from there or slice the squash as desired, like the cubes needed in this apple butternut squash recipe.
📖 How to make squash and apples: step-by-step instructions
Step 1. Peel, core, and slice up a whole butternut squash into ⅓" to ¼" cubes. Make sure you remove all the seeds and the stringy parts. If you can handle microwaved foods, popping the whole squash in the microwave oven for 1-2 minutes will loosen the skin and make it easier to peel.
Step 2. Then carefully wash and remove the core of each apple, and cut them into ½" pieces, with the skin on if desired (to take advantage of the natural quercetin in the peel). I like to peel them for textural purposes if bringing this to an event, like pictured in the post. The apples need to be a bit larger than the squash since they cook faster.
Step 3. Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C), then measure out the butter or oil into a bowl, then add the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla (if using) and melt everything (on the stovetop, if needed). This isn't always necessary if using coconut oil or avocado oil.
Step 4. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat, then pour the squash and apples on in a single layer and drizzle on the butter mixture and move everything around so that each piece is evenly coated. Alternately, toss the apples and butternut squash in a bowl with the butter, until well-coated.
Step 5. Put your tray of seasoned apple and butternut squash into the preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes on the middle rack before shaking the tray to move everything around and cooking for 10-5 more minutes. Oven temperatures vary a bit, so cook the mixture until the squash is fork tender and the apples are soft but not falling apart.
Step 6. Once the squash is browned and softened, smelling a bit sweet and caramelized, your squash and apples are done. Serve with whipped cream for dessert or alongside savory dishes as a sweeter holiday side.
📝 Substitutions & Variations
Other Squash - other than butternut, you could also make this dish with any hardier winter squash, including kabocha and even honeynut squashes (the latter of which doesn't even need to be peeled).
Types of Apples - granny smith, pink lady, golden delicious, cosmic crisp, or almost any ancestral varietal would be best. You want ones on the more sour or tart side to avoid needing lemon juice. Or maybe even try some crisp asian pear in place of the apple.
Alternate Oils - since you need to roast butternut squash with apples, you do need a high-heat friendly fat source, like butter or ghee. If you can't tolerate or don't want to use dairy, some good alternatives would be coconut oil, avocado oil, or even olive oil for a savory verison!
Add Nuts - when you stir the squash and apples, consider sprinkling chopped unroasted nuts or seeds on top, like pecans or pumpkin seeds.
Seasonings - If you know you don’t tolerate cinnamon or vanilla, you can swap it for a blend of other low histamine herbs and spices you think would go well. You can use anything, but other flavors and seasonings good on squash and apples include:
- fresh thyme with garlic
- use a little extra butter and chopped sage
- cardamom and ginger for an Indian twist
Make it Sweet: For a sweeter dish, add 2 extra Tablespoons of coconut sugar when you add the apples, and serve with a dollop of coconut cream or ice cream.
Make it Savory: For a less-sweet dish, omit the sugar & vanilla, and add in a ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper and ½ teaspoon dried thyme. The savory version goes great with almost any pork dish, maybe with some brussels sprouts or broccoli on the side.
✔️ Freezing & Reheating
This dish freezes beautifully no matter what spices you use, so you can make a large batch, freeze it in single servings, and easily reheat on the stovetop on low (or microwave). Alternately, freeze everything in a big batch and reheat immediately before serving to a crowd.
Just note that if you do plan to freeze this roasted butternut squash and apple recipe, cook everything beforehand. Then let it cool to room temp and place it into a larger container for long-term storage.
To reheat roasted squash and apples, heat them in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10-12 minutes, then serve as desired.
👨🏻🍳 Expert notes & tips
Prepping the Apples: Clean the apples super well, even if they're organic, because it's important to leave the skin on if you're hoping for the health benefits (namely natural quercetin).
Ratios: The general rule for apple-to-squash ratio is one small apple per cup of cut butternut squash, but the more apple you use, the sweeter the dish will be. I usually go for 3 medium-sized apples or 6 small ones for one medium butternut squash.
Batching: to make this caramelized butternut squash and green apples side dish with just one pound of squash, simply use half the butter and vanilla, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon coconut sugar.
⭐ What to serve with squash and apples
🙋🏻♂️ Frequently Asked Questions
No, like with most other winter squashes, butternut squash should be peeled before roasting, especially when making a more delicate dish, like this apple and butternut squash recipe.
Apples that can hold up to the heat are best for roasting in the oven or air fryer, with pink lady, granny smith, and other such tart varieties bringing the best flavor and texture.
In this recipe you can try honeynut, kabocha, or acorn squash, but each of them will bring their own unique flavor profiles to the final squash and apples recipe.
To get the best flavor out of roast squash, it's generally best to peel it, cut it in half and remove the seeds, then cut it into uniformly small pieces, though you can also roast squash halves in their entirety.
Roasted squash can get mushy either from overcooking or if the squash itself was overripe before being roasted.
Yes, you can overcook squash and it can lose its firmness or even burn, so always keep an eye on it in the oven or air fryer.
🍴 Other Butternut Squash Recipes
As always, if you like the recipe, I really appreciate a review or a 5-star comment!
📖 Recipe
Easy Roasted Butternut Squash and Apples
Ingredients
- 1 medium butternut squash (~2 lbs.) also called winter squash
- 4-6 small tart apples (1.5lbs) like granny smith or pink lady
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter alt. coconut oil
- 1 ½ Tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon optional
- ½ teaspoon vanilla powder optional
Instructions
- Peel, core, and slice up a whole butternut squash into ⅓" to ¼" cubes. Make sure you remove all the seeds and the stringy parts. If you can handle microwaved foods, popping the whole squash in the microwave oven for 1-2 minutes will loosen the skin and make it easier to peel.
- Then carefully wash and remove the core of each apple, and cut them into ½" pieces, with the skin on if desired (to take advantage of the natural quercetin in the peel). I like to peel them for textural purposes if bringing this to an event, like pictured in the post. The apples need to be a bit larger than the squash since they cook faster.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C), then measure out the butter or oil into a bowl, then add the sugar, cinnamon and vanilla (if using) and melt everything (on the stovetop, if needed). This isn't always necessary if using coconut oil or avocado oil.
- Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat, then pour the squash and apples on in a single layer and drizzle on the butter mixture and move everything around so that each piece is evenly coated. Alternately, toss the apples and butternut squash in a bowl with the butter, until well-coated.
- Put your tray of seasoned apple and butternut squash into the preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes on the middle rack before shaking the tray to move everything around and cooking for 10-5 more minutes. Oven temperatures vary a bit, so cook the mixture until the squash is fork tender and the apples are soft but not falling apart.
- Once the squash is browned and softened, smelling a bit sweet and caramelized, your squash and apples are done. Serve with whipped cream for dessert or alongside savory dishes as a sweeter holiday side.
Notes
Nutrition
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Bahis says
I made this last week with my son and he loved it. We didn't even add the monkfruit and it tasted great. thanks
lowhistamineeats says
You're very welcome, Bahis! I'm glad he enjoyed it. 🙂