Baked Butternut Squash with Bacon, Onion, Maple, and Rosemary

Out of everything we grew in the garden this year, I think I’m most proud of the butternut squash. It was the first time we’d ever tried growing our own and somehow, they turned out 100 times better than anything I could buy in the store.

Even compared to the best I’ve had in the past, these were sweeter and an almost annoyingly-neon orange inside. There’s still 1-2 on the porch, waiting to be used, plus a few in the freezer that I roasted and put away for quick weeknight meals, like this one.

A few weeks ago, Crown Maple offered up a challenge to take a sweet recipe and give it a savory twist using their maple syrup. First of all – sweet and savory in one dish? Sign me up. And having an excuse to do all this with some amazing maple syrup? It was a no brainer.

Most butternut squash casserole-type dishes I’ve had err on the sweet side with nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, etc. And with the sweetness from the maple syrup, I knew I needed everything else smoky, savory, and salty to really make this dish shine.

So I put some of my favorite things together for the topping on this: smoked paprika. bacon. onions. fresh rosemary.

And, of course, some Crown Maple Grade A Dark Amber maple syrup to bring in some richness.

Thanks to the butternut squash I had squirreled away in the freezer this summer, this dish came together in about 30 minutes! Perfect for an easy weeknight meal (especially if you have frozen squash) and for holiday dinners.

We had this with some green beans and bone-in pork chops the other night….and it may be one of my favorite fall meals that I’ve made so far. But you can never go wrong with bacon + maple syrup.

This recipe is entered in the Crown Maple #TaptoTable contest – I can’t wait to see the other dishes! Make sure to check out Crown Maple on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, too. I love their syrup (and the cute packaging!).

Print

Baked Butternut Squash with Bacon, Onion, Maple, and Rosemary

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 - 60 minutes, depending on how you cook your squash

Total Time: 35-65 minutes

This has almost all of my favorite things: creamy butternut squash, salty bacon, sweet maple syrup and onions, and fresh rosemary. I microwaved my butternut squash to cut down on the prep time, making this dish easy to whip up on busy weeknight.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 8 slices thick-cut bacon
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 scallions, sliced
• 2 Tbsp Crown Maple Dark Amber syrup
• 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped

Directions:

1. Slice the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and either bake the squash (at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes) or microwave the squash (in dish with 1” of water) until it is cooked through and tender.
2. Mix the cooked squash with the salt, smoked paprika, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Spoon the mixture into a greased baking dish and smooth out into an even layer.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
4. Cook the bacon until crisp, the remove from the pan. Add the onion and scallions to the pan with the bacon fat and cook over medium until tender. Crumble the bacon and add back to the  onion mixture. Stir in the maple syrup and rosemary.
5. Spoon the bacon mixture over the top of the squash. Bake the dish at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until warmed through.