What Is Butternut Squash
Butternut squash is a winter squash with a mild naturally sweet flavor that’s in between a sweet potato and pumpkin. In fact, you can substitute it for either one in most recipes. I’ll often serve butternut squash instead of sweet potatoes because it’s lower in carbs.
Like other winter squash—from spaghetti squash to acorn squash—it has a thick hard skin that is difficult to peel. And the squash itself is hard to cut when it’s raw. It’s much easier to cook butternut squash whole and cut it after it’s cooked.
Whole butternut squash it will keep for a few weeks so you can store it in the pantry until you need it. Look for one that’s heavy and firm with smooth unblemished skin.
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Can You Cook A Whole Butternut Squash In The Instant Pot
Technically, yes, you can cook a whole butternut squash in the Instant Pot , but it will take a LOT longer than you might expect.
Because this variety of squash has a thick neck , it can be very difficult to cook that area evenly, all the way through.
I tried several times to cook a whole butternut squash, without cutting it in half first, and even after 50 minutes of pressure cooking, the dense neck of the squash still wasnt cooked all the way through.
My guess is that it will take over an hour to get that part of the squash totally tender. Especially considering the fact that a whole butternut squash takes up to 90 minutes to cook in the oven. By comparison, you can cook a whole pumpkin in only half that time, due to the difference in density.
Since you can cook a squash thats cut in half in only 25 minutes of pressure cooking time, I think its worth the effort to cut the squash first.
Tip: If you find it challenging to cut the squash in half lengthwise, try cutting it in half cross-wise first. Then, you can cut the stem off the top, and set neck of the squash down flat on a cutting board.
It will be much easier to slice through the middle of the squash this way, and then you can cook the squash in 4 pieces for the 25 minute cooking time.
Pressure Cook Acorn Squash
First, add 1 cup of cold water and a trivet in Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.
Then, place the halved & seeded acorn squash in Instant Pot on the trivet.
Lightly season acorn squash with a bit of coarse salt.
Close the Instant Pot lid, then turn Venting Knob to Sealing position.
Pressure Cooking Method:
- For Smaller Acorn Squash Pressure Cook at High Pressure for 4 minutes, then 10 minutes Natural Release.
- For Larger Acorn Squash Pressure Cook at High Pressure for 6 7 minutes, then 10 minutes Natural Release.
*Note Cooking Time: Be sure to adjust the pressure cooking time according to how soft you like your acorn squash & depending on the size of your acorn squash.
After 10 minutes, release the remaining pressure by turning Venting Knob to Venting Position.
Once the Floating Valve drops, open the lid carefully.
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How To Cook A Whole Butternut Squash In The Instant Pot
Cooking butternut squash in the Instant Pot is an almost identical process as cooking spaghetti squash. This is such an easy way to cook butternut squash to be made into a puree great to use in soups, baked goods, or homemade baby food! Cut the butternut squash into four pieces.
Instant Pot Butternut Squash is an easy, healthy side dish to add to your week. Cook the whole thing without having to peel and dice it. Making butternut squash in the Instant Pot is a super-easy way to make one of my favorite vegetables. I love to have a starchy vegetable on hand for meal prepping.
How To Peel And Cut A Whole Butternut Squash
This is how your squash will look once it has cooked and cooled a bit: So soft and tender you could cut it with a butter knife
SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR DETAILED COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
This whole process is a breeze because the squash is already;cooked and tender.; If you’ve suffered through;this process many times with uncooked butternut, prepare to be dazzled.
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More Squash Recipes To Try
Squash can last a long time after its been picked. So after you get your hands on some, here are a few more recipes that you can try!! I absolutely love adding squash as an appetizer or a side but you can even use it as your main dish! Squash is SO versatile and you can make so many different things with it and I think that they are all worth a try! Enjoy!
Soup Recipes
How To Cook Butternut Squash Whole
This post may contain affiliate links.
Butternut squash is super-easy to cook if you know this simple technique.
Back in December I bought a butternut squash and then never cooked it. It sat there on my counter staring at me for months. I couldnt bring myself to cook it though because it seemed like such a time-consuming and annoying task.
You see, Ive cooked butternut squash many times before. Each time, I followed the idea in recipes like this. Look at that ingredient list where it says 1 large butternut squash , peeled and seeded and cut in 1-inch chunks. Its stated as though this is a simple task that will take a minute or two. In actuality, it can be a huge pain in the butt. The squash is large and round making it hard to hold in place. The skin is tough and can be tricky to get rid of using a vegetable peeler . Then, as you peel and handle the flesh, your skin gets this weird coating that dries quickly and feels really weird and is hard to wash off .
So you can totally see why I didnt want to cook that squash!
Then I remembered my other vegetable nemesis, the beet. That one Id go to cook and end up looking like Id been in a slaughterhouse. The solution was to roast the beets whole, like described here. Life-changing! I love these roasted beets and make them for myself weekly now.
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How Do You Steam Butternut Squash In The Instant Pot
The Instant Pot cooks with steam pressure, so youll need to start by pouring a cup of water into the bottom of the stainless steel pot. The water will heat up during the cooking cycle, to create the steam pressure that seals the pot.
Place a trivet or steamer basket in the bottom of the pot, to help keep the squash lifted out of the water. Then add the squash on top of that! It really couldnt be easier.
Tools For Instant Pot Acorn Squash
First, rinse and pat dry the acorn squash.
Then, with a very sharp knife cut the acorn squash in half.
*Pro Tip: Acorn squashs skin is a bit hard to cut in at first, so be careful! If necessary, you can stabilize the acorn squash by forming a ring with a kitchen towel at the bottom.
Finally, with a spoon, scrape out seeds and stringy bits in the acorn squash.
*Pro Tip: You can save the acorn squash seeds for later if you want to roast them in the oven.
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What Is Acorn Squash
Acorn Squash is a winter squash that is shaped like an acorn! Compared to other winter squashes, its relatively smaller in size.
The most common type of acorn squash has distinctive exterior ridges on its thick, tough, & dark green skin, sometimes with bright orange patches.
The sweet yellow-orange flesh tastes somewhat similar to butternut squash, but its slightly more fibrous and stringy.
Due to its tough skin, its very common to bake or roast acorn squash for pasta, rice, risotto, or served as a side dish. But acorn squash can also be sauteed or steamed. Plus, you can toast the squash seeds to eat!
You can make savory or sweet dishes with acorn squash such as stuffed acorn squash, mashed acorn squash, acorn squash curry, acorn squash risottoetc.
Acorn squash is very nutritious, low in calories yet packed with vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber.
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How To Make Butternut Squash In An Instant Pot
Wash the squash on the outside.
Place the squash on the counter or a cutting board and slice across the middle.
Place the metal rack into the bottom of the pot. (for cubes, place a stainless steel steamer basket inside instead.
Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom.
Place the butternut squash halves into pot.
Secure the lid and turn the pressure valve to seal.
Set the timer using the manual mode of the Instant Pot and use the + or sign to set to cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.
Allow pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes.
Carefully release any remaining pressure with a towel over top and remove the lid.
Place cooked squash on a cutting board and let cool for a few minutes.
Slice each half down the middle and scoop out the seeds.
Gently pull the skin off each piece by scraping with the blade of a knife.
Cut into pieces or mash with a fork.
ENJOY!!
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Why You Need This Recipe
- Butternut squash is such a delicious fall and winter vegetable, but it is a huge pain to peel and chop. In fact, because its so dense, it can also be very dangerous to try and chop it when it is uncooked. I am always so scared of cutting myself.
- But, with this recipe for Instant Pot Butternut Squash cooked whole, you dont have to worry anymore about the potential danger of cutting into it raw. You can cook a whole butternut squash right in the electric pressure cooker for the absolutely easiest way to do it.
- Then, when you take it out of the pressure cooker, the squash is absolutely tender and so easy to cut. In fact, you could literally slice through a cooked Instant Pot Butternut Squash with a butter knife.
Butternut Squash In The Instant Pot Great For Purees
Cooking butternut squash in the Instant Pot is an almost identical process as cooking spaghetti squash.
This is such an easy;way to cook butternut squash to be made into a puree great to use in soups, baked goods, or homemade baby food!
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Instant Pot Butternut Squash
Two things I love: butternut squash and my Instant Pot.
You will too after you learn just how fast and easy it is to cook this formidable winter squash in less than 25 minutes without any added oils, fats, or seasoning unless you want them, of course!
Unlike roasting, grilling, or sauteing, the Instant Pot cooks butternut squash using steam and high pressure. This removes the need for anything extra like butter or olive oil. So, if youre looking for simple, perfect, buttery butternut squash to mash and puree, then this is the method for you!
Prefer roasting your squash? Check out my post on;How to Roast Butternut Squash!
How To Cook Instant Pot Butternut Squash Step
Prepare Ingredients for cooking Butternut Squash in Pressure Cooker:
Wash the butternut squash under cold tap water.
We tested cooking butternut squash in Instant Pot using few different methods and cooking times. We tried cooking whole butternut squash, halved butternut squash, quartered butternut squashetc.;
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Shaved Brussels Sprouts How
For this recipe, you dont want chunks of the fall classic, Brussels sprouts. You want them shaved. Think of it almost like a slaw that you cook down.
I have the Breville sous chef food processor, and it has a blade attachment to do this. If you dont have a food processor, have no fear, you can cut them thin with a very sharp knife .
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Cubed Or Halved
Whats even better is that we are going to offer you three different ways to make this super easy recipe. With option one, all you need is the squash and water. This option only takes three minutes too!;
Option two is just as quick but you need the oil to brown the squash first. And option three is even easier because all you have to do is halve the squash instead of cutting it into cubes. But it does take a few more minutes.
Whether you make this delicious dish using options one, two, or three, it only takes a few minutes and a couple of ingredients. As long as you have butternut squash and oil along with your instant pot, you can have this healthy and decadent dish as a side or an entrée in less than 10 minutes. This will end up being one of your favorite side dishes.;
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Need More Instant Pot Tutorials
Browse my collection of Instant Pot recipes, or check out my best-selling book, The Fresh & Healthy Instant Pot Cookbook, for step-by-step directions and photos for every single recipe.
If you try this Instant Pot Butternut Squash tutorial, please leave a comment below letting me know how it works out for you. And if you make any modifications, Id love to hear about those, too! We can all benefit from your experience.
Reader Feedback: Whats your favorite way to use butternut squash?
Easy Instant Pot Butternut Squash
So you have a butternut squash you were thinking about cooking;in your instant pot. Great! This post covers the different ways one could approach cooking a butternut squash in their instant pot. I wanted to see which method worked out best for me going forward, which led to me;I cooking about 8 pounds of butternut squash in one weekend. It made for a nice freezer stash, and I learned a lot about how a butternut squash takes to an Instant Pot. Some potatoes or squashes peel easier than others. Sweet potatoes cook quite easily and allow their skins to peel right off, magically! Spaghetti squash cooks in halves and lets you scoop the spaghetti strands out super easily, and even acorn squash cleans out of its shell easily when cooked in the Instant Pot, yet the butternut squash is different. The butternut skin isnt ever going to come off that easy. I always end up having to finish cleaning the skin off with a paring knife, and you can lose some of the meat that way.
Whole This is by far the slowest and messiest option. Cooking it whole takes too long, and if you factor in the time spent removing the shell, you dont save much, if any time vs peeling the squash before you cooked it. It simply does not save you the time it takes to cut a squash in half and clean it out.
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Cooking Squash In The Instant Pot
June 24, 2020) by
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Cooking squash in the Instant Pot saves time, keeps the kitchen cool during the hot summer months, and is a quick and easy way to meal prep! Plus, its one of the best ways to cook squash to prepare for freezing.
Its right about the beginning of summer, where I start to run out of my homemade squash in the freezer that I have stored away from the previous fall. That means making our favorite grain-free keto vegetable pancakes or low carb spaghetti squash lasagna for dinner isnt so simple anymore.
I dont know about you, but summertime is when I gravitate towards simple, low-prep meals.;
Besides, squash has so many uses and nutritional benefits that I hate to go the whole summer without having them available. Even though I can still buy squash in the store and sometimes fairly economically no one wants to turn on the oven to be roasting something for an hour during the heat of summer.
And, of course, there are times even in the fall where I realize Ive forgotten to plan ahead far enough, and dinner will be late because that doggone squash will take a full hour to cook in the oven.
Instant Pot to the rescue!
As long as you only need one squash, you can easily use your Instant Pot to cook it. If you have an 8-quart Instant Pot, you may be able to fit two.
RELATED: Your complete guide to using your Instant Pot!
Fall Recipes You Might Enjoy
- Crock Pot Pumpkin Spice Latte Warm & Creamy!
- Crock Pot Tuscan Chicken Bean Soup
- Crock Pot Pumpkin Spice RumChata Latte
- Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
- Crock Pot Butternut Squash Sauce Recipe
- Butternut Squash Sausage Casserole with Brown Sugar Bacon
- Pumpkin Butter Crescent Roll Bars
- Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins
I recently shared a delicious Savory Stuffed Shells recipe that was made with a store-bought Butternut Squash sauce.
I have to admit that I have only seen the store bought butternut squash sauce recipe in one retail store, making it very difficult for some of my readers to find.
Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce is pretty easy to make so I made a batch in my slow cooker. I’ll share the Butternut Squash Sauce recipe soon.
Cooked butternut squash
Instant Pot Squash recipes are easy to make. Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash is another favorite Instant Squash recipe I make all the time.
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