The other day, I noticed that I had 2 butternut squash sitting in my kitchen, waiting to be cooked. The first I turned into butternut squash soup.
I wanted to be a bit more creative with the second one, so I figured I’d make fries out of them. The boys must have eaten an entire 3 pound squash worth of oven fries. They chowed on them all afternoon and then asked for more. I ate quite a few myself, to me they were as sweet as candy.
Squash Fries
Ingredients
- 1 medium or large butternut squash
- grapeseed oil and olive oil, to coat
- 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
Instructions
- Peel the squash and remove the seeds
- Cut squash into long thin slices (about ¼ inch thick by 2 inches long)
- Place squash in a large bowl and generously coat with equal parts grapeseed and olive oils
- Sprinkle with salt and toss
- Lay squash fries onto 2 or 3 large baking sheets
- Broil one tray at a time in oven until crispy
- Serve
Hope you enjoy this tasty winter treat as much as we did!
Emily says
Thanks Elana!
The hubby thinks I’m paranoid but aluminum foil heating to such a high temperature directly onto our food doesn’t seem safe in my mind. Plastic does it, why should foil be different? I’ll just tell my hub the charcoaled bits add to the flavor :-D
I just searched for our baking sheets online because the thought hadn’t crossed my mind what they were made of (they were a wedding gift). It looks like they are “aluminized steel”! Oh dear. I think this means there is a layer of aluminum on top! Thank you for pointing that out. Now my husband is really going to think I’m crazy!! Any brand recommendation for what I should replace them with?
elana says
Emily,
Thanks for another great comment.
I use stainless steel baking sheets and do not use tinfoil. The sheets do tend to get some marks on them around the edges which I scrub off every few days as best I can (with limited success). There are no marks in the center. By the way, when I make cookies or baked items I use unbleached parchment paper to line the sheets, which I find keeps them in good condition; I do not do this for the squash fries however.
Elana
Shelley says
What is your opinion of using silpat for baking on?
Emily says
To anyone wondering if they should try these- I must give a definite answer of YES!!
I had been making zucchini fries for some time and thought those were good, it had never occurred to me to try a butternut squash, and holy moly!! They are delicious (much, much, tastier than zucchini)! I totally agree they are as sweet as candy.
Elana- do your baking sheets have burn/charcoaled marks from squash fries and such on them? I used to cover my baking sheets with foil but have recently decided it’s most likely leaching into the food so started baking without. It bothers my husband (he taught me the foil trick in the first place) because there are charcoaled marks all over our baking sheets now even after smothering food in oil. I tried scrubbing them but they won’t go away!
erica says
How about steel wool or SOS pads to clean your cookie sheets?
elana says
Eva,
You are very welcome. Glad to be of help.
Elana
Eva says
I was simply surprised at how delicious this recipe was. Thank you Elena for your website. Its helping me alot with feeding my 2 1/2 year old who was diagnosed with PDD-NOS and is now on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.
elana says
gaga,
Thanks, right now they are all the rage in my house :-)
Elana
gaga says
What a great idea for butternut squash. Sweet potato fries are all the rage right now, maybe these’ll be next!
elana says
carolyn -Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Heather -What a great idea.
Christianne -So nice to hear from you after your holiday and hope you are feeling better very soon xoxo.
Alexa -Thanks, hope you enjoy.
~M -I mix in the grapeseed oil as it has a higher burning point than the olive and makes the flavor a bit milder as well.
VeggieGirl -Thanks, you leave such sweet comments, I really appreciate them.
RachelB -Thanks.
Alchemille -So nice to hear from you and I hope you are well. Yes, there is always a way to do it differently! I used my oven on the “broil” setting for this recipe, there is no temperature on that setting –it just says “broil.” Unfortunately, I didn’t time any of the batches, just kept an eye (and nose) on them to see and smell when they were done. It’s pretty easy and you can cook them to your desired doneness, they get quite sweet and caramelized. If you make them, let me know how they turn out.
Stephanie -I think the squash fries are even sweeter than the sweet potato fries I used to eat long ago.
Hayley -You are welcome!
Harriette -Hope you like them :-)
Harriette says
Yummmmmmm! Delicious. Thanks!h
Hayley says
I have a butternut squash sitting on my countertop now, just waiting to be cooked…this is the recipe. Thanks Elana!