Fall is here, and what better way to honor the season than with a baked butternut squash bowl? Sweet and toasty butternut squash, fresh out of the oven, sits alongside a bed of meaty puy lentils and crunchy peppers, dressed in a lightly zippy mandarin orange juice. And drizzled elegantly over all of that is a beautifully simple but profoundly creamy cinnamon tahini dressing, which ties all the elements together and invites you to dig into this bowl fork first.
Baked Butternut Squash 101
Honestly, this is my favorite way to prepare squash. Once baked, it not only becomes tender and succulent texturally, but also toasty and more pleasantly sweet. Plus, it’s pretty easy to do.
1. I like to halve the butternut squash, scrape out the seeds, and then cut each half into four quarters. Not only will this allow the roasted squash to be more geometrically plate-able, but it will also allow the squash to cook faster in the oven and be more tender all around. Make sure that when you’re making your cuts in the squash, all the pieces are relatively the same size.
2. Rub each section of squash with decent amount of olive oil until well-coated (including the skin on the back), and then season with salt and pepper.
3. Bake the squash at 375°F (190°C) for about 1 hour, or until the squash is completely tender when poked with a fork. The time may vary depending on the size of your squash.
After that, the baked butternut squash are ready to be served alongside everything else. Typically, I serve them with the skin on and just eat the squash meat off as I go, but you can peel them beforehand if you’d prefer (it’s just not quite as pretty).
Creamy Tahini Dressing
I friggin’ love tahini, especially raw tahini, as is used in this recipe.
This creamy sesame seed paste is my go-to for when I need a creamy, bitter and unctuous dressing to drizzle over bowls or salads or anything really.
For this baked butternut squash bowl, the tahini dressing is about as simple as you can get. Here’s what you’ll need.
- Some good raw tahini (here’s a list of the best raw tahini brands)
- Red wine vinegar, or another kind of vinegar that you like
- Warm water
- Ground cinnamon
- Some salt & ground black pepper
Whisk all these ingredients together in a medium bowl, and voilà – you have your delicious creamy element for your bowl. The red wine vinegar helps to give it a little kick, while the cinnamon nicely compliments the flavors of the butternut squash. It’s a bit of an unusual pairing, but it somehow works.
If you’re curious about the pairing of cinnamon and butternut squash, check out this butternut squash bisque with cinnamon cashew cream!
Puy Lentils
Puy lentils – A.K.A. french black lentils – are probably one of the best legumes to boil up when you need that super protein-packed meaty bite in a dish.
In contrast to the baked butternut squash, which is sweet and succulent, puy lentils are earthy and hearty, and serve as a great leguminous bed upon which to lean your squash sections.
Puy lentils are a harder lentil, so they’ll take longer to cook than a delicate one like a red lentil. I’d say for most puy lentils they probably need anywhere from 12 – 14 minutes in boiling water to be edible.
The texture that’s best for a puy lentil is one where the bite is easy and soft, but still a little firmness (al dente) remains (not to the point of crunchiness or anything). You just don’t want mush or mash, basically.
If you’re curious about more vegan puy lentil recipes, check out this mandarin orange and puy lentil salad (it inspired this baked butternut squash bowl, actually).
More vegan bowls
Turmeric Quinoa & Roasted Beet Bowl
If you enjoyed this baked butternut squash bowl, consider leaving me a comment and recipe rating before you go!
Butternut Squash & Lentil Bowl with Cinnamon Tahini Dressing
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 1 medium or large butternut squash, halved and then quartered
- 2 – 3 teaspoons olive oil, or until the squash is well-coated
- Dash salt & ground black pepper
- ¾ cup dry puy lentils, picked over and rinsed
- ½ red bell pepper, finely diced
- ½ cup parsley, de-stemmed and roughly chopped
- 3 mandarin oranges, sectioned and cut into ⅓'s
- 2 tablespoons mandarin orange juice
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ¾ teaspoon chili powder
For the Cinnamon Tahini Dressing
- 3 tablespoons raw tahini
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 3 – 5 tablespoons warm water, more or less for desired thin/thickness
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or more to taste
- Some salt & ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Begin by cutting a medium to large butternut squash in half. Deseed the squash, and then quarter each half so that you have eight even sections. Rub the sections with some olive oil, salt and pepper until well seasoned, and then roast them in the oven skin side down on a baking sheet for about an hour at 375°F (190°C), or until tender when poked with a fork.
- Meanwhile, prepare the puy lentils (french black lentils) by scattering them across a paper towel and picking through them to ensure there are no rocks or detritus among the legumes. After that, rinse them and then drop in boiling water at a steady simmer in a medium pot for about 12 – 14 minutes, until tender but still a little firm.
- Once the lentils are done, add them to a medium bowl along with the red bell pepper, parsley, mandarin orange sections, mandarin orange juice, red wine vinegar and chili powder. Mix well.
- In a small bowl, combine all the tahini dressing ingredient together, and adjust consistency by adding more warm water to it for increased thinness.
- Once the butternut squash are tender, remove them from the oven, and begin assembling the bowl. Lay down a base of the puy lentil salad, followed by some butternut squash sections (with skin on or off – up to you), and then a drizzle of cinnamon tahini dressing.
Nutrition
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
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