Butternut Squash Brown Rice

Butternut Squash Brown Rice for the perfect fall side dish!

In the fall and winter, I find squash recipes to be a warm and comforting part of dinner. It doesn’t matter what kind, although I do enjoy butternut squash most of all.

Roasting brings out the sweet nutty flavor that butternut squash has naturally. I have found that the best way to peel and cut the squash, is to use a vegetable peeler. It seems to do the trick.

Care does need to be taken as they are tough little buggers and their shape is not conducive to easy cutting.

Having said that, I cheat and buy it cubed. I know its the lazy way out but, I’d rather be lazy, than lose a finger. Maybe lazy is the wrong word, perhaps I should just say I am conserving time!

Speaking of time……once again I used my pressure cooker. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, if you don’t have one of these, get yourself one. They save oodles of time.

Cooking brown rice is time consuming, it can take 40 to 50 minutes. Brown rice unlike white rice, has a high fiber bran coating that makes it better for you than white rice. It also has a nutty, chewy texture, that to me is worth the extra time. But wait…..there is a better way, as I said above a pressure cooker can cut the time by almost half.

After the rice is cooked adding spinach and the roasted squash gives a beautiful rich color, and healthy flavors to the rice. A pinch of red pepper flakes adds just the slightest background of heat and toasted walnuts for crunch!

This recipe isn’t fussy or time consuming. Butternut Squash Brown Rice can be made in the time it takes to cook a meat dish. Or it can stand alone. If you swap the chicken stock for veggie stock, it would make the perfect vegetarian meal.

Butternut Squash Brown Rice

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• Author: Marty Boyd
• Yield: 6 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• Pinch red chili flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
• 2 cups cubed & roasted butternut squash
• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup baby spinach
• ¼ cup toasted walnuts

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Place cubed squash on a baking sheet sprayed with non stick spray. Roast cubed squash for 20-30 minutes or until soft and brown. Set aside.
3. Using the sear setting on a pressure cooker melt butter and sauté onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes until onion is translucent. Add rice and sauce for one minute more. Add chicken stock.
4. Set pressure cooker to high and the timer for 25 minutes.
5. Release the steam and stir in the roasted squash and spinach mixing lightly, allowing spinach to slightly wilt.
6. Garnish with toasted walnuts.

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