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Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash

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Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash

At the farmers’ market a couple of weeks ago, I picked up two butternut squash that were each about the length of my hand. Since I love roasting butternut with a touch of lemon, I was considering cooking them in that tried and true (but unimaginative) manner when I got the idea to roast one of the squash and mix it in with my favorite grain/seed, quinoa.

The results were a light and lemony side dish that goes with practically anything.

I served it with baked tofu, gravy, steamed broccoli, and a salad for a sort of traditional American meal, but the lemony flavor makes a great accompaniment to everything from Thai food to Italian. I’m considering making it a part of my Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash

Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash
5 from 8 votes
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Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash

The pine nuts really complement the lemon flavor, but if you decide to leave them out, you can deduct about 30 calories and 3 grams of fat per serving.
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Vegan
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 240 kcal
Author Susan Voisin

Ingredients

  • 10 ounces butternut squash (about 2 cups)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1/4 cup chopped shallots
  • 4 cloves garlic , minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
  • 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • salt and freshly ground pepper , to taste
  • 2 tablespoons (about 7/10 ounce) lightly toasted pine nuts (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh chives (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F. Cut the squash in half and scrape out the seeds and strings (using a grapefruit spoon makes this easier). Peel and cut into 1/2-inch cubes and toss with the 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Place them on a non-stick baking sheet (or silicone mat), sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and bake for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through.
  2. Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse it well and allow to drain. Heat a deep, non-stick pot. Add shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, until shallots soften slightly. Add the quinoa and toast it until it has dried out and begins to exude a toasty aroma. Add the squash along with the thyme and vegetable broth. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Cook, stirring once or twice, until all broth is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Stir in the lemon peel and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and add more lemon juice if needed.
  3. Serve with toasted pine nuts and chives sprinkled on top.

Recipe Notes

Servings: 4 large side-dish servings

Nutrition Facts
Lemony Quinoa with Butternut Squash
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 240 Calories from Fat 51
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5.7g 9%
Sodium 292mg 12%
Total Carbohydrates 41.2g 14%
Dietary Fiber 5.2g 21%
Sugars 1.7g
Protein 8.4g 17%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Delicious gluten-free, vegan side or main dish, perfect for holidays.

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Comments

  1. I will be trying this one very soon! I have 16 pounds of a variety of squash on my counter right now that I've been on the hunt for new ways to prepare. I'm with you on the lemon, so I can already tell that I'll love this one. I'll report back soon 🙂

    Reply

  3. So fresh and gorgeous, that picture just makes me so hungry! I love all the bright amazing flavors in here, this would be such a wonderful dinner.

    Reply

  7. I am terribly allergic to pine nuts (but no other nuts.) I've never eaten them because of my allergy (except in pesto, which is how I found out), so I'm not sure how they taste. When I make pesto I substitute either almonds or walnuts. Do you think one of those would also work in this recipe, or is there another type of nut you would recommend? Thanks!

    Reply

  8. Shannon, I'm sorry about your pine nut allergy. They have a really unique taste, a touch piney, but are more delicious than that sounds. I think that any other nut would be fine here (they all go well with lemon, right?) I would probably use sliced or slivered almonds, but I'll bet walnuts or cashews would be interesting too.

    Reply

    • Hi Susan and Shannon ~ I, too, am violently allergic to anything related to Pine trees… which would include pine nuts. Almonds are a great alternative, Susan. Any recipe I have which calls for Pine nuts, I use almonds – pretty darn Mm good !! 😉

      Reply

  12. Thank you for this recipe! I think I have almost all of these ingredients in my kitchen right now. Perhaps I'll try out the recipe this weekend.

    Reply

  14. Oooh yummy. I was trying to think of what to do with all my butternut squash besides soup, and this blog post recipe popped up in my email. Serendipity!
    BTW, we had your caribbean beans and quinoa for supper last night, and, as always, it was a hit!

    Reply

  16. Susan,

    This sounds fabulous. I'd really like to try it. The challenge for me with my hand issues is peeling the squash. . .but I will see what I can do about that. Hopefully there will be a day that will work. I think this would be an amazing side dish for Thanksgiving, and I love the idea of cooking squash with lemon.

    Thanks!

    moonwatcher

    Reply

    • Hi, moonwatcher. You don’t have to peel it! Simply poke it on top and upper sides with a carving fork, set it on a cookie sheet, bake til you can pierce it through. Cut off both ends, slice in half and cut into pieces. Did it just this evening for a similar dish – using brown rice instead of quinoa. I’d put off using the squash for the same reason — this works! Give it a try!

      Reply

  17. This sounds delicious! This is my first time commenting, but I have been coming to your site for a couple months now and I have to say THANK YOU for all these great recipes. It has really helped me change to a vegetarian diet (mostly vegan, but I do have honey in tea.) My husband is not (nor will he ever be) a vegetarian and I don't totally make my girls be vegetarian/vegan, but since I am the one that cooks… when eating at home, we all eat vegetarian/vegan dishes. And other than my 5 y.o. daughter not liking tempeh, they have been enjoying it and not complaining. I think having great recipes like you give us has really helped to make this transition enjoyable for them as well. Thanks so much!! Can't wait to try this one, just got butternut squash the other day and was looking for something different to use it for.

    Reply

  19. ooooh I love your blog!! Great post, too- I love the idea of the lemony quinoa, which is definitely one of my faves too. I cannot wait to try this!

    Reply

  20. Sounds and looks delicious, I'll try this soon, it will be perfect for my diet with no fat, easy to prepare. Squash and lemon, Hmmm, delicious and nutritious.

    Reply

  21. Susan – again a wonderful recipe. I just tried this (sans pine nuts, not in a college studnet budget) last night and now I can't wait to make it for Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for another good quinoa recipe.

    Reply

  27. This looks delicious ! I just came back from the Paris organic market with a huge butternut squash so this will be perfect, merci beaucoup! (and great timing !)
    If you have any other good butternut recipes, would be very welcome too…
    Love your recipes/blog, keep it up!

    Lafleurdeparis.blogspot.com

    Reply

  30. I just made this and *loved* it. Things I changed: I added minced garlic to the squash while it roasted, and topped it with both scallion and parmesan (nutritional yeast would also be yummy).

    Reply

  33. Looks great! I will definitely consider this when assembling gluten-free thanksgiving.

    A note to moonwatcher: if your squash is organic (ie, not waxed) the skin is totally edible. it has a little chewier texture, but it's quite nutritious. Otherwise you can microwave the squash for a few minutes to soften it and make it easier to peel.

    Reply

  35. I've been cooking and eating vegan since August, and I have really opened so many more doors than I've closed. I can't imagine I would have ever sought out a recipe like this before, and even when I read it the first time I thought "Really? That sounds kind of gross." But, my curiosity got the best of me. I bought a squash and tried it out, and much to my delight, it turned out delicious. Thanks for the recipe; I'll be back for sure:)

    Reply

  38. I was wondering if you serve this cold, as more of a salad? I was thinking of bringing it to-go on a flight, do you think it will hold up ? I know quinoa salads are great for travel, but will roasted butternut squash still be good hours later ? Thanks !
    R, from Paris

    Reply

  40. I'm going to make this for my daughter who is vegetarian but I have discovered that eating this way is just as delicious or more so than eating traditional "meat & potatoes". In fact, I've observed that I actually feel so much better when I eat the way my daughter eats.

    Reply

  43. I'm a non-cook who has been a vegan for about a year and a half. I made this with my leftover squash, and it was so tasty. I also made your green bean casserole this weekend. I think you're a genius. Thanks for teaching me how to cook.

    Reply

  44. This is going straight to my recipe book 🙂 It looks delicious!! Now the tricky part will be to find quinoa in a supermarket here in Spain… but I relish a challenge 🙂
    I´ll keep checking your blog, you are a fab cook.
    Greetings from Paradise aka the Canary Islands.

    Reply

  45. I just made the recipe and it was very yummy. However, after 20 minutes most of the liquid had not yet been absorbed. Curious why you call for 2.5 cups of liquid when the recipe on the back of the Eden quinoa bag suggests 1 1/4 cups per 1 cup quinoa. Any suggestions for what I did wrong?
    Thanks!

    Reply

  46. Hi Liz–I used a little extra broth in order to keep the squash hydrated while the quinoa is cooking. When I made it, the squash absorbed some of the water, but I guess yours needed less. I may also have had mine at a higher temperature (my stove runs hot) and more may have evaporated in 20 minutes. I hope the dish was worth any added time you had to spend on it!

    Reply

  47. Hi Susan: I'm going to make it again today with a little less broth. The great news is that my 11-year old really liked it! The flavors are amazing — I really love the lemon zest and the thyme coupled with the squash. BTW, your recipe was recommended to me by one of my Facebook Fans!

    Reply

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  49. I made this tonight and it was my first attempt every with quiona. Can't say it went perfectly. :<

    I love the other ingredients separately, so I'll have to do some experimenting with the quiona to see where I'm messing it up.

    Thanks for all of the wonderful recipes.

    Reply

  52. This looks fantastic! I recently made a butternut squash risotto that I can't get enough of, and quinoa sounds even better. The pine nuts also sound like a perfect complement to the quinoa…I'm going to have to go back to the store for more squash!

    Reply

  54. Tried this last night…TERRIFIC!!! It was easy to put together and the lemon really set it off! My husband ate it and liked it…(he couldn't care less about healthy eating) Thanks for your blog!

    Reply

  55. This is my first time using butternut squash. I absolutely loved this recipe.

    I loved the lemon flavor and the toasted pine nuts were a great addition to the overall dish.

    This will be a common meal from now on. One of my favorites. The only thing I did differently was to steam some broccoli and mixed it in.

    Thanks, Susan!

    Reply

  59. Wow! This recipe was SO delicious, and simple too! I didn’t have a fresh lemon, so no lemon peel, but I added a little lemon pepper with the lemon juice, and that seemed to do the trick. I’m not a vegan, but I will be coming back to your site to try other tasty recipes! Thank you!

    Reply

  60. Oh, this was MOST Delicious! I used red quinoa- which made the dish even more colorful, and waited to add squash until quinoa was cooked. This was easily the BEST quinoa dish EVER! Thank you so much for this recipe and for many other you so generously share here!

    Reply

  61. I made this for My Love and I tonight for dinner. I didn’t add the pine nuts but I don’t think it lacked in taste for it. We absolutely loved this recipe and we intend to have it many times..and in the summer we thought having it cold as part of a picnic might be nice.

    Reply

  62. This recipe is amazing! The lemony quinoa is fantastic—I love it really, really lemony. Also before I was always making butternut, acorn, etc. by cutting it in half and baking it. It turns out much less flavorful that way. The method of cubing it and squeezing pepper and lemon over it makes it outstanding!
    Thanks so much for all of these awesome recipes.

    Reply

  63. I made this last week. It was easy, and it was a home run. My wife (who tolerates my vegan eating and is normally less than enthusiastic about these sorts of dishes) thought it was one of the best we’ve ever had. Note: We served it with tamari-baked tofu and mushroom gravy. This made quite a robust meal. Highly recommended.

    Reply

  64. I made this today and it’s absolutely delicious. I added some fresh basil (b/c the plant sits on my counter), but didn’t have pine nuts on hand. The flavors balance perfectly and this will definitely be a go-to recipe when I have squash in the kitchen. Thank you!

    Reply

  65. This recipe is delicious. I’ve made it twice now, first time, following your recipe exactly. This time, I upped the thyme to 1.5 tsp and added a few shakes of Mrs. Dash at the same time. I also didn’t have any fresh lemon on hand, so I used lemon juice, but added zest of orange instead. Oh, and I just realized that I only used 2 cups broth this time instead of 2.5 and it still turned out amazing.

    Reply

  66. Just made this for Thanksgiving. It didn’t work for me. I think it’s the lemon – the whole thing just tastes sour. Oh well.

    Reply

  67. This looks great. I am having a couple friends over for dinner tomorrow night and I think I will make this. What else could I make that would go well with this? Thanks!

    Reply

  68. I mistakenly bought butternut squash instead of spaghetti squash for another recipe. So I made this instead in a simplified version (things must be super easy for me to attempt them) of whatever I had in the house … onions instead of shallots, whole baked squash, pre-made quinoa, and just the garlic, lemon, thyme, and a little salt & pepper.

    It’s yum! I never would have thought of adding garlic and/or thyme to squash, plus the lemon. So good! And healthy. Thank you Susan!

    Reply

  70. Fabulous recipe! Just made it tonight. Love the lemony flavor…but it isn’t overpowering at all. We visited a local farm last week and purchased MANY different kinds of squashes, gourds and pumpkins. So glad I found this recipe.

    Reply

  71. I made this last night with some baked tofu and it was really delicious. As you mentioned, it would work well as a Thanksgiving side as well.

    Reply

  72. Oh my goodness… this recipe is amazing! I had some leftover butternut squash and was looking for a way to incorporate quinoa to make an entree and landed on your blog. I cannot wait to eat the leftovers tomorrow and make this again (for a crowd!) in the future. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    Reply

  73. I made this yesterday for a vegetarian thanksgiving potluck. I was looking for a last minute recipe and I stumbled across this on fb, I had all the ingredients so I decided to give it a try. I made double the recipe. During the cooking stage, there was so much liquid I had to take the cover off after 30 min in hopes that it would evaporate. It eventually did but all the roasted veggies and quinoa turned into a big mash. I added some extra toasted almonds at the end to try and salvage some texture and my friends still liked it but I would recommend using way less liquid than 2.5 c to 1 c quinoa.

    Reply

  74. I was out of quinoa so I substituted a very nice gluten free wild rice which I par cooked before adding it into the large pot with all other ingredients. This was a smash and we all loved it. I served it on a bed of wilted romaine (fresh from my organic garden) topped with toasted organic raw pumpkin seeds as I am a vegan and this is a main dish for me. Yumm!
    I plan on trying with the quinoa next week. Thanks for this delicious way to utilize healthy squash!

    Reply

  75. I love this recipe. I made it for Thanksgiving and have been craving it for the last week! Off to make myself a double batch for lunches…

    Reply

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