How to Make Sweet Butternut Squash with Marshmallows (2024)

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Shared by Amy Desrosiers | 24 Comments
Updated on January 9, 2022

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If you love sweet potato casserole baked with marshmallows, you will love this buttery, baked butternut squash with marshmallows. It is so delicious and dessert-like. Perfect for a fall comfort meal or a Thanksgiving side dish.

Some of my favorite foods of the fall season are roasted pumpkin and butternut squash. I love them candied, roasted with some salt and pepper, or mashed.

Some people might look at their odd gourd shapes and wonder how to prepare them, but making dishes like sweet butternut squash with marshmallows is actually not that hard.

Candied sweet butternut squash is as easy to make as slicing your butternut squash in half, and then scooping out the small amount of seeds in the rounded portion of it.

I find that using a melon baller, or metal teaspoon works well to get around the meaty flesh. You could even toast the seeds too so there is very little waste in making this side dish.

For this dish, your oven really does do most of the work!

After carefully slicing the squash in half, and scooping out the seeds, place the butternut squash skin skin down in a roasting dish and roast at 400 degrees for about an hour.

The timing depends on the size of your squash too so this could be slightly more time or slightly less time. I sliced slits in mine with a knife to help it steam in the oven.

A good test to see if your squash is done, is to gently insert a fork or knife in it. If the fork glides through fairly easy it is close to be done. After your squash is just about tender (you don’t want it like total mush), heat 4 tablespoons of butter with 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, and mix together until combined. Brush your squash with this mixture, and then top it with about 1 cup of marshmallows. Reduce the heat to 350 and toast for 5-10 minutes or until the marshmallows are slightly browned.

Since your squash still had the skin, you can serve it by gently sectioning it off, and mashing it just a bit like the picture. The skin is edible, but I still wouldn’t advise eating it. The meat will slide off of it easily anyhow just like a baked sweet potato.

ThisSweet Butternut Squash with Marshmallows is such a delicious side dish for Thanksgiving too! Even my sorta picky little ones eat it, and enjoy it’s caramelized flavor which is dessert-like.

Sweet Butternut Squash with Marshmallows ingredients

1 3-4 lb butternut squash, halved, and de-seeded
4 tablespoons of salted butter, melted
3 tablespoons of light brown sugar
1 cup of mini marshmallows

How to make Candied Butternut Squash

Wash, dry, and slice your butternut squash in half. These are tough so be sure to carefully cut them in half with a large knife.

Remove the seeds with a melon baller, and reserve if toasting, or compost.

Using a sharp knife, gently score the squash flesh to help with baking.

Place squash in a baking dish skin side down and bake for 60 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

During the last 10 minutes, once squash is just about tender, add the butter and brown sugar over the top. I mix the sugar with the butter than brush it on.

Top with mini marshmallows, and reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 5 minute until the marshmallows are golden brown.

Slice the squash into portions, and gently mash them down (optional) before serving. You eat these as you would a skin-on baked sweet potato. Only eat the fillings, and throw away the skin if you do not prefer to eat it.

Enjoy this sweet butternut squash as a Thanksgiving side dish! We had ours with a grilled New York strip steak which complemented it well!

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