The autumn season is upon us: the time for cozy sweaters, fuzzy socks, and comforting meals. Butternut squash accents the fall season perfectly with its vibrant orange coloration, warm fragrance, and creamy texture. 

But what on Earth do you do with such a large, hard, seemingly inedible squash? It may seem that buying prepackaged butternut squash soup is the fastest and easiest way to get a butternut squash-fix, but there is an even better way.

It so happens that making butternut squash from scratch is a nearly effortless endeavor. All you need is your slow cooker, a sharp knife, and butternut squash, of course.

You simply pop the squash in the slow cooker, forget about it, and come home to a kitchen filled with heavenly fall aromas and a delicious meal. 

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash

  • Prep Time:2 mins
  • Cook Time:10 hrs
  • Total Time:10 hrs 2 mins
  • Servings:2
  • Easy

    Ingredients

  • Butternut Squash
  • Knife
  • Slow Cooker
mango, sweet, vegetable, pumpkin, squash
Lauren Arendt
  • Step 1

    Wash your butternut squash and remove any stickers from the squash.

    vegetable
    Lauren Arendt
  • Step 2

    Place the washed butternut squash in your slow cooker completely whole, with all the skin on.

    vegetable, pasture, squash
    Lauren Arendt
  • Step 3

    Either set the slow cooker to low and leave the squash for six hours, or set it to high and leave it for four hours, with the lid on.

    vegetable, squash, pasture, pumpkin, summer squash
    Lauren Arendt
  • Step 4

    Once the squash is done, the skin will be tender enough to effortlessly puncture.

    vegetable, pasture
    Lauren Arendt
  • Step 5

    Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds.

    sweet, vegetable, pumpkin, squash, pattypan squash
    Lauren Arendt
  • Step 6

    Scoop out the squash and add it to your favorite fall recipe, make it into a soup, or save some for another meal.

    chicken
    Lauren Arendt

How I Used The Squash

Lauren Arendt

Since I am only cooking for one (#college), I decided to use half of the squash and save the rest as leftovers.

vegetable, saute, salad, bok choy
Lauren Arendt

I sauteed another fall favorite, Brussels sprouts, with garlic and onion while I baked salmon in an olive oil, honey, lemon, tamari, and garlic mixture. 

meat, vegetable, fish, seafood, salmon, fillet
Lauren Arendt

This meal was delicious: the buttery salmon accented the natural creaminess of the butternut squash perfectly and the Brussels sprouts added the perfect accent of color and crunch. 

The end product of this recipe can be used in an endless number of ways, but is extremely easy and hands off. Ten out of ten, would recommend.