It’s good to be home.
Sketchie agrees, after a fun (but tiring) visit with his two furry cat friends. Luckily, grandpa put up with his antics yet again. I won’t go into the multiple accidents he had, but I’ll just tell you that I have an amazing, patient, and kind father-in-law. He deserves many of his favourite baked goods when we visit over Thanksgiving in a couple weeks. And possibly a 6-week spa getaway.
After a few rants and raves once home, Sketchie finally settled into his old digs, but unfortunately didn’t get the memo that we’re still on Pacific time. I have no idea how much coffee I consumed this weekend, but let’s just say my old friend, Bodum, is back to stay!
Back in Ontario, it’s clear that summer has come to an end. Trees are starting to change colour and my robe and slippers have appeared for the first time in months. I was so acclimatized to the amazing heat we had in B.C., I temporarily forgot all about this fall stuff. With bronzed skin for the first time all summer, I came home only to cover it up with sweaters and pants. The summer clothes are in a rejected, useless heap in front of the washing machine.
Since the weather was fitting, I consoled myself with grocery shopping and a healthy dose of fall produce. It’s good to be back in the kitchen, if anything!
This weekend was all about squash…and cookies…and coffee beans. Actually, cookies were the first thing I made, not that that should come as a surprise to anyone. You’d think I’d be aiming for healthier fare after vacation, but I had one thing on my mind: recreating the amazing cookie as big as my head. That recipe will be coming soon, but since it’s Monday and we’re probably trying to eat a bit healthier, I have a vegetable recipe for you today. Don’t worry though, I don’t do boring vegetables.
This recipe is inspired by the roasted butternut squash recipe I made back in 2009. It’s incredibly simple to make using only about 15-20 minutes of prep while the oven does the rest. This time, I made an almond pecan parmesan “cheese” and added Lacinato kale for green power. The result is a comforting fall side dish that will warm you to the bone.
Roasted Butternut Squash with Almond-Pecan Parmesan
Yield
4 side servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This comforting and nutritious side dish will warm you to the bone! The Almond-Pecan Parmesan lends a crunchy contrast to the buttery and lightly sweet squash. Finely chopped kale provides a boost of green power. Trust me when I say that it's so good you'll want to enjoy this dish as a main course.
Ingredients
For the roasted squash:
- 1 medium/large butternut squash (2 to 2 1/2 lbs.)
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup (37 g) stemmed and roughly chopped kale
For the Almond-Pecan Parmesan:
- 1/4 cup (40 g) whole almonds
- 1/4 cup (27 g) pecan halves
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) nutritional yeast
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C) and lightly grease a large casserole dish with oil.
- Peel the squash. Thinly slice off the bottom and top and then slice through the middle lengthwise to make two halves. Remove seeds with a spoon. Chop the two halves into 1-inch chunks and place into the casserole dish.
- Add the minced garlic, parsley, oil, and salt into casserole dish and toss until combined with the squash. Do not add the kale yet.
- Cover the casserole dish with tinfoil (with a few holes poked) and bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 45 minutes, until tender and lightly browned.
- Meanwhile, in a mini food processor, pulse the Almond-Pecan Parmesan ingredients together until coarsely chopped.
- After cooking, remove the squash from the oven and reduce the heat to 350°F (180°C). Remove the tinfoil. Stir in the chopped kale and sprinkle the Parmesan all over the squash. Bake for another 5 to 8 minutes, uncovered, until the nuts are lightly toasted. Watch closely so you don’t burn the nuts. Serve warm.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Status: Warm with a happy belly.
Angela!!! This is the Best.Recipe.Ever!!! I can’t stop eating it!! Thank you so much!!
I made this dish last night and absolutly loved it! Even my husband who swore he didn’t like butternut squash (all he had ever had was soup) loved it and said “you can make this anytime you want!”. I love the flavor that the kale adds, and I honestly do love recipes where the hardest part was trying to cut through the squash!
I made this, but I processed the squash into thin slices, and processed the kale so it looked like parsley, then added a citrus fennel sage herbal blend instead of parsley. It was awesome!
I made this over the weekend and WOW! I really like the different textures, plus the sweetness of the squash contrasting the nut topping. You’ve done it again :)
Oh my this recipe looks awesome. I love the mini cast iron pots & really like the twig forks! I’m gonna have to look for those when I’m ready to swap out mine.
I’m making your “Roasted Butternut Squash with Kale and Almond Pecan Parmesan” recipe tonight. I found it on Pinterest, which I find very addicting. It looks so yummy. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I will let you know. :)
Hi!
I just made this recipe (with sesame seed replacement due to nut allergy) and omg it is delicious! I also used Swiss chard instead of kale.
Great recipe and thanks!!!
Hi Angela,
I just discovered your blog today. Can you please tell me what would you pair this dish with? What about the sides?
Keep up the great work!
I kinda cheated when I made this and I served it with a Field Roast vegan sausage…so good (the italian flavour)
Ha! I just made this for the first time and added the Field Roast vegan sausage to it to make it a meal! Then while i was having the last bite i read your comment! Great minds and all. Once again a flawless recipe. Leftovers may or may not make it to tomorrow’s lunch, or boyfriend’s dinner :)
We had a guest this evening who is a Vegan. I searched the web and found this recipe. Wow!!! We were ALL amazed at how delicious it was…even our two year old ate it up! I am looking forward to trying other recipes on your site! Thanks!!
Im so happy to hear that Jan!
I didn’t have butternut squash and kale but I did have acorn squash and broccoli and this recipe worked great with those components as well! Even my 2 year old and meat-loving husband loved it! Thank you!
Last month, I had a vegan friend over for dinner, and had stumbled upon this wonderful recipe! IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! I am making it again tonight and can’t wait! Thankfully we can get butternut squash in July!! LOL Thanks!
Angela,
I’m kind of new to butternut squash. I’m not sure how to peel it before it’s cooked. That seems really hard. Do you have any tips? Thanks!
Robyn
This is probably a weird comment, but I love your fork. Wherever did you get it?
Hey Aimee, It’s from West Elm. Hope this helps!
I made this last night and it was divine. I’m going to try very hard not to over make it, which is often what I do when I find a great recipe, and this website is FULL of recipes that I over-make because they’re all so great! I just happened to stumble onto this recipe from a picture off to the side of your site that filters through with a series of others. To find it again without scanning the entire recipe index, I googled the key words that I remembered from reading the recipe. I was wondering where it lives on your website so that I can easily pull it up on my iPad since I don’t have a printer. Same question with your broccoli cheese soup.
Angela, everything I’ve tried on your website is amazing. I really appreciate the effort you put into this. We all benefit greatly from your healthy, delicious foods, and incredible play by play photos. Beautiful! Thanks a million.
Can you sub spinach for kale? What do you think?
I can’t see why not :)
Think I could substitute baby spinach for that kale? I’m really not a kale fan.
I’ve made this recipe twice, and my whole family loves it! The second time (today) is Thanksgiving, a time to indulge- so I drizzled some pure maple syrup over the top for an extra treat. Superb!
I’m not a fan of pecans. Is it okay if I don’t use them?
You can probably use whatever nuts you prefer :) enjoy!
What is the purpose of nutritional yeast, never heard of it. Can I skip it?
It provides a cheesy flavour :) Skip it if you like, but do try it sometime as it’s great in this recipe!
Why the yeast? Can you do without
It adds a lovely “cheesy” flavour :)
I made this last night… Very easy and delicious! It was perfect. Thanks for posting this!
I also used all pecans, but substituted almond oil for the olive. Worked great.
I made this tonight. My roommate generally hates greens and was highly skeptical but ended up really loving it. That nut/cheese topping is amazing. I didn’t have any nutritional yeast so I used vegan parm. It’s definitely a keeper and so easy to make.
I made this for Thanksgiving today and it was AMAZING!! So much flavor, thank goodness I have double the ingredients because I need to make it again :)
OMG! Just made this last night and it is Amazing! It will become a regular at my house. My son stopped by and made himself a small bowl and liked it so much he took the serving spoon and started eating right out of the casserole dish! I doubled the garlic, cause we love garlic, but other than that didn’t change a thing. Delicious! Thanks so much for sharing.
will it taste the same without the yeast?
This recipe is amazingly delicious! Perfect winter dish with great texture, a little crunch, just enough sweetness….I had to stop myself from going back to have 3rds! Thank you so much!
Love ts dish…it’s a favourite of both myself and my husband.
This looks awesome – thanks for posting :)
Is there something I can substitute for the yeast? This sounds delish but I don’t want to have to make a trip to a special store.
This looks delicious and your photos are lovely.
Thanks for sharing,
Kelly
i made this last night…. the kale dried out and was delicously crispy… i didnt use the nutritional yeast and i used coconut oil instead of olive oil which gave it a sweet flavour… very tasty i will make this again
Pinned it, made it, loved it! I took the suggestion of another reviewer and drizzled a little maple syrup on top. Yummy!
I just made this dish probably for the 5th time. WE love it every single time. This time, I used really good quality olive oil in the ‘nut cheese’ and OMG! This has quickly become a family favourite.
This recipe is amazing! I replaced the oil in the topping with a Tbs. of tahini. It’s going to be a new staple at our house! Thank you!!
This dish was delicious ! Next time I’ll make a little bit more of the parmesan, it gives a really nice taste and adds a bit of crisp :):) Thank you for your delicious and healthy recipes !!
Oh so good. I’m going to make this as a side for thanksgiving!
I used crushed walnuts instead. I just threw them on top with some olive oil. Just as delicious.
I also used cilantro instead of parsley because that’s what I had. I think parsley would be better though :)
Thanks for the recipe!!
I don’t like squash as a rule, but I wanted to diversify my diet, so I decided to give it another go. This is awesome! I left out the nutritional yeast and I used blanched almond flour instead of grinding whole almonds. I’ll definitely be making this again! Thank you for sharing!!
I’m allergic to sesame!! I am also not a big fan of pecans… Would pine nuts or another nut/seed work in place of the pecans or sesame?
Hi Sarah, I would recommend almonds or cashews – hope this helps!
Hemp seeds might be a good substitute.
Lately I’ve been using a combo of roasted pepitas and hemp hearts…SO good!
I subbed swiss chard for the kale and did not have almonds so just used pecans. So tasty. Angela Liddon – you never let me down!
I just made this recipe out of your cookbook, but found it online so I can easily share with my friends. It was soooo delicious! Amazing how much the nutritional yeast and roasted nuts can add such a complex flavor. I never knew I could enjoy squash and kale so much.
Do you think I could use real parmesan cheese instead of the nutritional yeast? (Not talking about that powdered stuff. Real cheese)
This looks delicious! Are there any substitutions for nutritional yeast? Or can it be left out? Thanks!
This looks delish! On the menu for this week at our house! And so nutritious…
Having loads of squash in the fall made this a frequent favorite recipe. But…..it’s worth going out and buying the squash in the store so that we can repeat all winter. Great Recipe!
This was a nice dish! I served it on quinoa… yum. Thank you!
Can I use curly kale instead? I already have some in my fridge
This was an absolutely delicious recipe, thank you! It also makes a tasty complement to pasta with pesto. I’ll definitely make it again.
Hello,
Is it possible to eliminate the oil in this recipe? I know that sounds odd, but for dietary reasons, I need to eliminate oils. Just curious if you have any ideas/suggestions. Many thanks for the great recipes you share on the site!
I have to say this is astoundingly good – like all your recipes! Made it tonight and was really impressed with it. Strangely, my husband said it reminded him of crab or sea food of some kind.
I’m so happy it was a hit, Suzanne!