This easy-to-make, classy side dish for fall is roasted acorn squash. It has a pleasantly sweet and savory flavor and is seasoned with comforting herbs and maple syrup. This recipe for roasted acorn squash with maple is meant to be straightforward. It is creamy and supple, with a warm sweet, and savory flavor after being roasted with salt, pepper, herbs, and a trace of maple.
Juicy pomegranate ails and salty pumpkin seeds are sprinkled on this sweet, nutty, and somewhat spicy maple-roasted acorn squash. It’s a filling and tasty side dish appropriate for any holiday supper. You can prepare it whenever you’re in the mood for something straightforward and delectable or serve it as a sophisticated side dish.
What is an Acorn Squash?
Acorn squash, also well known as pepper squash or Dee Monie’s squash, is a winter squash with pronounced longitudinal ridges on its outside and sweet, yellow-orange flesh within. Acorn squash is categorized as winter squash. However, it belongs to the same species as all summer squashes.
Acorn squash features ridges or grooves extending from the squash’s tip to the stem, giving it its name. Like a pumpkin, it has hard skin that is challenging to cut through. Although the outside of acorn squash is often dark green, it can also be orange or yellow. They have pale yellow flesh on the inside.
What does Acorn Squash Taste Like?
A winter squash variety is the acorn squash. It tastes nutty and sweet. An example of a vegetable with tough skin and meat and seeds inside is acorn squash. Acorn squash has a little more fibrous texture and a milder flavor than butternut squash. Additionally, the watery nature of its flesh dulls its sweet, nutty flavor.
However, other squash varieties like Hubbard or butternut can be used in place of acorn squash in the majority of recipes. The flavor of cooked acorn squash is creamy, sweet, and nutty. They are milder and slightly sweeter than most other squashes, which gives them a lot of cooking versatility.
How to Make Maple-Roasted Acorn Squash?
This recipe only calls for a handful of basic kitchen staples to make the preparation process as quick as possible. Choosing an acorn squash with a rich green hue and the impression of weight for its size will yield the greatest results. The squash may have a little acceptable yellow-orange spot on it.
Roasting acorn squash is a simple process. Brush the sliced side of the squash with the liquid retained inside it after it has been roasting for 30 minutes to enhance flavor. You only need to wash, trim and remove the fruit’s seeds and membranes before you get started.
Ingredients:
- Two acorn squash, weighing around one and a half pounds each
- One tablespoon of olive oil
- Two teaspoons Unsalted butter, cubed,
- Two teaspoons of maple syrup.
- Two teaspoons Packed dark brown sugar,
- One teaspoon of coarse salt should be divided into two pinches.
- One-half of a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions:
- Set a quarter-size rimmed baking sheet (9.5 x 13 inches) in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cover it with parchment paper.
- You should carefully chop the squash in half from the stem to the tip. Start by deeply inserting the knife into the squash’s side, then cut to the tip. After cutting through the squash’s tip, raise it on its stem side and proceed to cut through the stem.
- Use a spoon to remove the threads and seeds. Place the squash cut-side up on a baking pan. , should lightly brush olive oil on the cut sides. Add a teaspoon of each of the salt and pepper. Divide the butter, maple syrup, and brown sugar equally between the centers of each cut-in-half.
- Depending on the size of the squash, bake for 45 to 1 hour or until the flesh is readily punctured with a sharp knife.
- From the oven, remove. After adding a salt shaker’s worth of salt, arrange it on a dish. Serve hot.
How to Serve Maple-Roasted Acorn Squash?
You can serve roasted squash in a variety of ways. Using a fork, scoop out the flesh from the shell after scoring it while carefully not cutting through the skin. Place on a dish, cut into wedges, then cut the halves in half or even into thinner pieces. Add a bit more maple syrup after the squash has come out of the oven before serving to bring out its inherent sweetness.
The same way we did in our Roasted Sweet Potato Salad, add roasted acorn squash chunks to a salad. Sage, thyme, bay leaf, tarragon, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and rosemary are herbs and spices. Brown sugar, honey, and maple syrup are all sweet. Savory foods include baked beans, pecans, bacon, rice, chicken, and pasta.
Seafood chowders, stews, and soups can all be served in an acorn squash “bowl,” like Chatelaine’s Acorn Squash Soup with Warm Spices. To make this Sausage and Barley Stuffed Acorn Squash, try stuffing the acorn squash halves with a mixture of ground sausage meat, onions, and hardy herbs like sage.
Squash can be mashed with butter and seasonings after being cooked or boiled. Simply adding salt and pepper will do, but you can also try a light dusting of brown sugar and nutmeg or even a thin drizzle of real maple syrup. For a simple side dish for dinner with crispy, caramelized edges, drizzle some maple syrup on the acorn squash halves before baking.
How to Store an Acorn Squash?
You can keep Acorn squash for up to three months in a cool, dry area of about 50 to 55 degrees F. In the winter, a garage is a wise choice. If you don’t intend to consume it within a week or two, don’t refrigerate it because doing so will cause the quality to deteriorate. You can freeze acorn squash after being roasted. However, it will lose part of its textural quality.
Scoop out the flesh and store it for up to two months in an airtight, freezer-safe zip-top bag. It would be an ideal choice for a later acorn squash soup. Allow the roasted squash to cool to room temperature before covering it and storing it in the fridge for two to three days. Reheat in the microwave or until thoroughly heated in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit while covered with foil.
Which Squash is the Healthiest?
The healthiest squash is Acorn Squash. Compared to spaghetti squash, butternut, Hubbard, and other winter squash, it provides higher folate, calcium, magnesium (about one-third of the suggested daily amount in one cup), and potassium. Compared to eating two medium bananas, one cup of cooked acorn squash provides 896 milligrams more potassium (844 mg). The reduced carb content of acorn squash makes it healthier than butternut.
Compared to butternut squash, it has greater nutritional minerals and insoluble fiber. Compared to butternut squash, acorn squash also provides a superior amount of potassium. The nutritional powerhouse yellow squash is impressive, sometimes called summer squash. Yellow squash is a good source of vitamins A, C, and B 6, folate, magnesium, fiber, riboflavin, phosphorus, potassium, and more.
Winter squashes, including acorn, butternut, buttercup, Hubbard, and pumpkin, are starchy vegetables and, as a result, contain more carbohydrates than vegetables like leafy greens, cauliflower, and bell peppers. The fiber content of acorn squash is especially high. One cup of roasted squash includes one hundred kcal and 10 g of total fiber, or 40% of the daily required amount. The high fiber of acorn squash helps slow digestion, control blood sugar levels, and increase feelings of fullness.
Is Acorn Squash Good for Us?
Acorn squash is a very healthy carbohydrate option. It is abundant in vitamins and minerals that support your health in various ways. Acorn squash has vibrant orange flesh jam-packed with healthy nutrients, including vitamin C, pro-vitamin A, B vitamins, potassium, magnesium, iron, and manganese. Antioxidants, also known as free radical predators, are abundant in acorn squash and can counteract potentially dangerous compounds.
These antioxidants can defend individuals against conditions like arthritis, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and some malignancies. Heart disease prevention Acorn squash has a variety of specialized vitamins and nutrients that maintain your heart healthy and free from disease, particularly vitamin B and folate. It is simple to digest and can effectively treat acidosis and ailments of the stomach, spleen, liver, and blood with acorn squash.
It has a tremendous amount of beta carotene, iron, zinc, calcium, and potassium, as well as the vitamins A, E, C, B-complex, and A, which are necessary for a healthy immune system and nervous system. Both of these have been connected to a decline in men’s heart failure and a decline in women’s risk of stroke and heart disease.
Conclusion
This quick and simple recipe is excellent for fall and features roasted acorn squash with bacon and maple syrup. Every day or on special occasions, it is incredibly excellent. By glazing the slices in pure maple syrup and adding a tiny bit of sea salt, these maple syrup acorn squash rings up the sweetness to a whole new level.
By ridding cells of toxic waste, these nutrients assist in reducing inflammation. Acorn squash contains various micronutrients, including vitamin A, vitamin C, and manganese, all of which have antioxidant characteristics that may aid in this process. , can eat peel from squash whole. Every single thing, It’s loaded with fiber and a good source of vitamin A, making it incredibly nourishing.
