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Butternut Squash Apple Bake is a the perfect side dish for your holiday table. It is sweet, warm and full of fall flavors. The butternut squash, apple, raisins and pecans pair perfectly together in this side dish. Serve this alongside your Thanksgiving turkey!
Thanksgiving traditions in my family always involve food, holiday family recipes and gathering in the kitchen. We love sharing the classic dishes at our table but also like adding new additions each year.
This Butternut Squash Apple Bake was on our table a few years ago and I am updating the recipe and photos.
It is a winner and one that you should consider adding to your holiday table alongside this Herb Butter Turkey, Lemon Arugula Salad with Pine Nuts and these Gouda Smashed Potatoes.
If you love warm butternut squash and cooked apples this is the dish for you.
I am a big apple girl during the fall and love making all kinds of dishes using apples. Some of our favorite are these Easy Skillet Apples, Apple Pancakes, Apple Bars with Pumpkin Pie Spice Icing or this Zucchini Applesauce Bread.
Recipe Ingredients
These simple pantry staples are all you need. See the recipe card below for exact amounts and printable instructions.
- Apples: This recipe uses gala apples but you can feel free to use any apple you like. If you want a more tart flavor try using granny smith apples. I peel my apples first before adding them in.
- Butternut Squash: The butternut squash is also peeled and cubed before being added. One tip to save time is to buy pre-peeled and cubed butternut squash. I have seen it at Trader Joes and Aldi before.
- Cinnamon and Brown Sugar: The cinnamon and brown sugar add that warm, fall spice we all love so much. If you are trying to avoid sugar you could use honey or maple syrup to help sweeten the dish. I would recommend stirring in 2 to 3 Tablespoons after cooking and tasting it and then adjusting with more as you see fit.
- Dried Cranberries & Raisins: I love the warm, plump dried raisins and cranberries that are paired with the apples and squash. You could also use other dried fruit like prunes or apricots.
- Pecans: The pecans are one of my favorite parts of this dish. Other nuts that would work well are walnuts or almonds. I personally prefer silvered almonds to whole almonds.
How to Make this Butternut Squash Apple Bake
Step 1: Combine ingredients: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl combine butternut squash, apples, cinnamon, vanilla and brown sugar. Mix well. Add the salt and pepper and mix well.
Step 2: Spread into Baking Dish: In a baking dish that has a lid pour the butternut squash mixture and spread evenly.
Step 3: Bake until the Squash is Soft: Place chopped butter throughout the butternut squash mixture. Cover and bake for 15 minutes. Add the raisins, cranberries and pecans and use tongs or a spoon to toss everything together, cover and place the dish back in the oven for 15 more minutes, until the butternut squash is tender and lightly browned. Remove from oven and stir. Serve warm.
How to Make in the Crockpot
Add all of the ingredients into a crockpot and cook on high for approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours or low for about 3 hours {check occasionally for the squash to become tender}.
More Apple Recipes
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Butternut Squash Apple Bake
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds peeled, seeded, and small cubed butternut squash {about 2 cups, cubed evenly}
- 2 gala apples, peeled, cored and diced {or a sweet apple of your choice}
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar {or use honey}
- 2 tablespoon butter, chopped into sections
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup pecans {or walnuts}
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl combine butternut squash, apples, cinnamon, vanilla and brown sugar. Mix well.
- Add the salt and pepper and mix well.
- In a baking dish that has a lid pour the butternut squash mixture and spread evenly.
- Place chopped butter throughout the butternut squash mixture. Cover and bake for 15 minutes.
- Add the raisins, cranberries and pecans and use tongs or a spoon to toss everything together, cover and place the dish back in the oven for 15 more minutes, until the butternut squash is tender and lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and stir. Serve warm.
Notes
- All ovens vary on cooking time so please check to see if the butternut squash is cooked through as you near the end of cooking time. If the squash isn’t tender to your liking cook for a few more minutes.
- You can use honey in place of the brown sugar.
- You can substitute acorn squash in this recipe for the butternut squash if you want.
- You can use Macintosh or any other baking apples instead of gala.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How many cups is 1.5 lbs of squash?
About 2 cups of cubed squash
This was something different for me but w/growing acorn squash this yr, this was very good ….and different.. I had a garden this yr …wonderful…..I had forgotten how good fresh-out-of-the-garden could be. This recipe was a nice twist.
I am glad you enjoyed it!
Yummy! This squash dish was a huge hit with our family at Thanksgiving! My oven was only at 325F (turkey roasting at same time), so my baking time was just a little longer. Definitely will be making it again. Thank you for sharing.
So glad you liked it! We also had this on our table this year. My mom actually made it in the crockpot and slow cooked it all day. It was great! <3
I made this as a side with roasted chicken and it was a smash success. It was quick and easy to make. We loved it and it is definitely in my rotation going forward.
Try this roasted butternut squash dish with apples. It’s really good!
Wow, I’ve never tried anything like it, but I’m very excited to do so. Thanks a lot for sharing it with us 🙂
I hope you guys like it! It is a nice side dish in the fall.
this sounds so amazing! I have a bag of fresh cranberries and I was looking for a recipe yours came up, and sounds by far like the best! Do you think I could use the fresh instead of the dried? If so how?
I bet you could…I wonder if you would want to pre boil them like you would if you were making cranberry sauce and them add them to the bake and then bake them. I really am not 100% sure though. Let me know if you try it and it works out.
This sounds delicious. I am cutting out sugar and fat so have you tried it without the butter and brown sugar?
I haven’t tried that but if you spray the pan before baking so it doesn’t stick. I think you could do this dish without the sugar or butter and it would be fine. Could you try honey or brown sugar splenda?
What an amazing recipe! I’m obsessed! And I LOVE West Elm… I own those same bowls!! xoxo
Thanks Crista!! I love the bowls too–West Elm has some great things!
I love that sweet squash-plus-apple combo, it’s good in soup and I’m sure it’s good in this vegetable dish too, especially with so many extras in there like raisins, cranberries, and walnuts.