Sweet and Sticky Hasselback Butternut Squash recipe

Butternut squash is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated vegetables out there. As you might know, it’s an orange gourd which is very similar to a pumpkin. In this sticky Hasselback butternut squash recipe, we’re going to do one of my favourite things to do with a vegetable: roast it!

Preparing your Hasselback butternut squash

Begin by preparing your butternut squash. If you were cooking this for a family full of hungry bellies, then you’d be wise to use the whole squash. In my case, however, I’m only cooking for my partner and me, so I’m only going to use half.

Before we get into it, let’s quickly talk about what ‘Hasselback’ means. It sounds like a really fancy word, but in reality, it really isn’t. All it means is that you create cuts down one side of an ingredient so that any sauce or marinade that you pour on top can be well absorbed.

Crucially, you mustn’t cut all the way through the butternut squash, instead, try to cut roughly two-thirds of the way through.

Begin by preparing your butternut squash. If you were cooking this for a family full of hungry bellies, then you’d be wise to use the whole squash. In my case, however, I’m only cooking for my partner and me, so I’m only going to use half.

Start by halving the squash, and then peeling it. You don’t need to peel it if you’re in a hurry, but I prefer to as it can lead to softer flesh after cooking. Once you’ve peeled the squash, slice it Hasselback!

How to Hasselback a butternut squash

Taking a long blade and starting at the tip of the knife, slowly slice down, through the flesh until you’re roughly two-thirds deep. Then, take the blade out.

A great way to do this is to place a knife or similar next to the butternut squash on the chopping board and then cut down until you can cut no further as the knife hits the flat knife!

Marinating the Hasselback butternut squash

Once you’ve sliced the length of the squash, put it onto a baking sheet. Then top with my sweet and sticky marinade!

This sticky Hasselback butternut squash marinade is made up of lime juice, brown sugar, garlic, honey, soy sauce, and a little oil to help with the roasting process.

Be generous to ensure that the marinade will drip down into the flesh of the vegetable.

Cooking the butternut squash with marinade

Once you’ve covered the flesh of the vegetable completely, put it into a 180˚C oven for forty minutes. Take it out every ten minutes to add more marinade, and brush any caramelized marinade from the baking tray onto the squash gently.

When is the Hasselback butternut squash cooked?

Once the flesh has roasted for forty minutes, it should be tender enough that you can easily insert the blade of a knife into one of the ridges.

Over the course of the cooking process, the cuts should have opened a little, allowing you to ensure some of the marinades can get into those cracks.

When you’re happy with the softness of the vegetable, serve!

How to serve

The flesh of the squash will be really soft and delicate, such that you won’t even need to slice it free from the rest of the vegetable to serve. Instead, simply use a spatula or fish slice to gently separate a chunk from the rest of the squash, and then plate up.

Thanks to the sharp acidity and sweetness of the lime in this dish, an ideal accompaniment could be very rich and creamy mashed potatoes. The gentle richness of the mashed potato would go particularly well with the inherent sweetness of the butternut squash, while also having a curveball thrown in the form of the lime.

Other recipes you may enjoy

Roasted red pepper and butternut squash soup

Butternut squash soup

Sticky chicken salad

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