Roasted Honeynut Squash with Burrata, Pomegranate + Pepitas

This roasted honeynut squash + burrata recipe is easy enough for a weeknight and elegant enough for your holiday table. A perfect, colorful side dish!

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Have you cooked with honeynut squash? They look like mini butternut squash and they’re absolutely delicious!

Fun fact: I seriously dislike working with butternut squash. They’re so large and unwieldy and I’m always convinced that I’m going to cut myself trying to break them down. They’re one of the few things that I almost always buy already peeled and halved or even cubed from the grocery store.

But honeynut squash? Now, these little cuties are totally manageable!

What does honeynut squash taste like?

Honeynut squash has a more pronounced flavor than butternut squash. It’s sweeter and a bit nutty.

The color of the flesh is vibrant and stays that way even after cooking.

And my favorite part is that the skin of a honeynut squash is tender, almost like delicata squash, which means you can eat it!

According to this article on honeynut squash, it packs more nutrients in its small package, too.

Since the honeynut is smaller than butternut squash, halves cook up more quickly as well.

How to cook honeynut squash

Due to their small size, I find that one honeynut squash is perfect for two people.

My favorite way to cook honeynuts is to cut each squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, drizzle the flesh with olive oil and season simply with salt and pepper.

Roasting takes about 20-25 minutes at 400°F, depending on the size of your squash. They’re all pretty small, but sometimes you need an extra few minutes to make sure that the flesh gets nice and tender.

I like using a grapefruit spoon to take the seeds out of any type of squash, as the little teeth help grip onto the seeds and membranes and really pull everything out easily. You could definitely use a regular spoon instead, or even just get in there with your hands and scoop them out.

You can save the seeds from your honeynut squash to roast later if you like. I have the directions in this post about roasted pumpkin seeds.

The roasted honeynut squash could be served so many different ways, but I wanted to do something festive for the holidays.

I absolutely love the contrast of adding cool, luscious burrata cheese on top of hot dishes (remember this Burrata Pizza with Prosciutto and Pickled Grapes?) and it works SO well here.

If you aren’t able to find burrata cheese, you could use ricotta here instead. That gooey texture is what you’re looking for.

Many supermarkets carry burrata in the specialty cheese case these days. It’s sold in a plastic tub since the cheese is submerged in liquid. If you only use part of the burrata from your container, make sure to leave the liquid in the container for the remaining cheese.

Another place to look for burrata is an Italian market/deli. Oftentimes if they don’t carry burrata cheese, they’ll order it for you!

Of course, if you wanted to keep this vegan, you could omit the cheese altogether and it would still be very tasty.

Another thing that really brings creamy dishes like this is a bit of texture. I really like adding roasted, salted pepitas for a bit of crunch and pomegranate arils for color.

Pomegranates and pepitas are such a tasty combination, and they look so elegant together, especially on top of the creamy white burrata.

You can buy a whole pomegranate and remove the little jewels yourself, or buy a container of just the arils. Totally up to you.

If you aren’t a fan of pomegranate arils (some people are turned off by the texture of the seeds), you could totally use dried cranberries or cherries for a similar sweet/tart flavor and color.

This recipe turned out so well that I ended up making it several times within the span of a few weeks.

It would be a perfect addition to any Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table. It’s also a fun dish to add to a fall or winter dinner party menu.

One of my favorite things about this honeynut squash recipe is that it looks so elegant but it really is easy enough to put together for a weeknight meal with your family.

This recipe also scales incredibly well! Just figure 1 squash for every 2 people, and you can always add more to your baking sheet or roasting pan. Just be sure to keep them in a single layer while they roast.

If you plan to save some of the squash for leftovers (and you should!) just hold off on putting the toppings on until you’re ready to eat them. The hot/cold contrast is really nice with this recipe, and reheating it with the burrata, pepitas, and pomegranates on top doesn’t taste quite as nice.

Looking for more simple side dishes? Check out some of our favorite recipes:

• Cucumber & Cannellini Bean Salad with Dill
• Honey Balsamic Roasted Carrots
• Patatas Bravas with Chipotle Aioli
• Skillet Garlic Parmesan Bread
• Bourbon-Orange Cranberry Sauce
• Asian Broccoli Slaw
• Garlicky Sun-dried Tomato Studded Couscous
• Rosemary Roasted Asparagus + Tomatoes with Toasted Sunflower Seeds
• Roasted Butternut Squash & Broccolini with Truffle Salt
• Falafel-Spiced Chickpea Salad with Tahini-Lemon Vinaigrette
• Roma Salad with Caper-Dill Vinaigrette
• Quick Chickpea Salad with Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette
• Creamy Cucumber, Avocado, Chickpea, & Sun-Dried Tomato Salad
• Bourbon-Orange Cranberry Sauce
• Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
• Garlicky Broccoli Rabe

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Recipe for Roasted Honeynut Squash with Burrata, Pomegranate + Pepitas

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