Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar and Walnuts

Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar and Walnuts is an easy holiday side dish! Roasted acorn squash filled with a buttery, nutty and sweet filling!

This roasted squash recipe goes just as well with your simple chicken or steak dinner as it does with you holiday meal! Serve this vegetable side dish with your Thanksgiving Turkey or that sweet, glazed Spiral Sliced Ham!

Roasted Acorn Squash Recipe

If you’ve never tried making squash at home or around the holidays, this Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar and Walnuts is the recipe you need to try. Not only s it super easy to make, but even your pickiest eaters are going to love it.

What’s not to love here? It’s pretty sweet, super buttery and has a nutty crunch from the walnuts that almost makes it seem like a dessert. Acorn squash already has a naturally buttery flavor, so the filling here is a perfect match. Acorn squash also has a fairly mild tasting flesh so it’s perfect for dressing up with whatever flavor you like! 

How Do You Roast Squash?

Roasting any type of squash is pretty easy to do, the hard part is actually cutting it open. A trick I’ve learned from somewhere on the internet is to pierce the squash with a fork several times and then microwave it for 5 minutes.

The squash will be much easier to cut through! Check out the full tutorial that we did with our How To Cook Spaghetti Squash post.

Once you have your squash cut in half, place the halves on a baking sheet and season them with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Now it’s time to get them in the oven and let that squash get all sweet and delicious.

Now that the squash has roasted, it’s time to add that sweet, buttery, nutty filling! Add butter, brown sugar and a tablespoon or so of chopped walnuts to each half of acorn squash.

Get the squash back into the oven for another 8-10 minutes and it’s just about ready to serve!

When we do sit down to eat this roasted squash, we like to stir in all the tasty filling to flavor every bit of the acorn squash. You do you, but a quick stir at the table is just about the most perfect bite of squash you’ll ever have!

Can You Make Acorn Squash Ahead Of Time?

Oh yes, you can. This Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar and Walnuts is really so easy that’s it’s perfect for throwing in the oven just about 45 minutes before you’re going to eat and it’s ready to serve. You can cut and prep the squash with the filling ahead of time so all you need to do it stick it in the oven and let it do its thing.

But id you’re tight for oven space, you can cook this roasted squash ahead of time and them warm it up in the microwave right before serving. We’ve done it, it’s fine. Everyone will love it, pinky swear.

What Are Some Other Filling Options For This Acorn Squash?

There’s a few different ways that you can make the filling for this acorn squash to suit your tastes, or if there are ant types of allergies that you’re dealing with at your Thanksgiving table. Here’s a few suggestions!

Instead Of Walnuts:

• Pecans
• Hazelnuts
• Pine nuts
• Almonds
• Pistachios

Instead Of Brown Sugar:

• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Mollasses
• White sugar or a sugar substitute
• Dare we say mini marshmallows???

Also feel free to use fresh herbs like sage, rosemary or parsley instead of chives! You can really customize this vegetable side dish to your liking, it’s just a matter of filling it and roasting it!

Looking For More Thanksgiving Sides?

• The BEST Sausage Stuffing Recipe!
• Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
• Rice Pilaf with Almonds and Cranberries
• Baked Macaroni and Cheese
• Spicy Sausage Cornbread Dressing
• Apple Rum Sweet Potatoes

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