Butternut Squash Puree

Butternut squash is so flavorful, sweet and delicious when cooked for your baby. It is such a versatile winter squash, making it the perfect vegetable to combine with other fruits, veggies, and protein for your child. Butternut squash is sways available year round, yet it is best enjoyed and less expensive during its harvest season in late summer/through early winter.

Butternut squash is also a super-nutritious food because it is packed with fiber and antioxidants.

HOW TO MAKE BUTTERNUT SQUASH PUREE

What Kind of Butternut Squash Should You Use to Make Butternut Squash Puree for Your Baby?

Butternut squash is such a versatile veggie. Once your baby masters single vegetable purees, you can mix butternut squash with practically everything! I like to look for firm butternut squash that do not have to many dents and marks. I love buying my daughter organic butternut squash from my local pumpkin patch during the Fall season. You don’t have to buy organic, but I do highly recommend it for your baby’s puree. I always try to go with the organic option if it’s available for my little one.

You can also buy precut butternut squash cubes and bake them the same way I bake sweet potatoes in this post.

Wash the Butternut Squash

I always wash my veggies and fruits even if I am not using the skin/peel. This is because I don’t want to push any dirt, pesticides or other unwanted contaminants that can be living on the outside of the vegetable or fruit with the peeler tool or knife.

How to Cook the Butternut Squash

When it comes to cooking butternut squash, I recommend roasting the butternut squash because it brings out its natural sweetness and keeps its nutrients as well. Baking/roasting and steaming are the preferred methods to use when cooking homemade food. Boiling food can actually remove some of the nutrients within a vegetable or fruit.

Foods such as carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, parsnips, pears and peaches are wonderfully flavorful when baked.

STEP 1

Roast the Butternut Squash

Dry the butternut squash off from the washing process and then no need to cut the squash in half like other cooking websites say to do. This process is so hard because it’s difficult to cut a squash in half before baking! Instead, pierce the skin making holes with a knife all over the squash.

piercing butternut squash skin to bake www.herbnsage.org

Drizzle extra virgin olive oil (Costco’s Kirkland brand is actually a top pick with olive oil experts!) onto the squash and rub it all over and place on a cooking pan.

Next I roast the winter squash in the oven at 425 degrees for 60-80 minutes, until you can pierce it easily with a knife and until it is browned and look close to the image below.

Baked brown butternut squash www.herbnsage.org

STEP 2

Remove the Seeds and Peel the Butternut Squash

After you bake the butternut squash, you’ll want to remove the seeds; along with the stringy flesh attached to the seeds, and the peel. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and the stringy flesh that surrounds the seeds.

baked butternut squash www.herbnsage.org

Next, I peel the skin rather than scooping the flesh out because if you peel the skin it gives it more of a caramelized flavor to your baby’s food.

STEP 3

Blend the Butternut Squash

Using my Blendtec(always blends my baby purees perfectly), I blend the butternut squash until it’s a silky smooth puree. When your baby first starts on solids, you want to blend their food to being silky smooth because they are not ready to handle textures quite yet. Once your baby starts to grow you can leave the puree a little chunkier and chunkier as they age.

blending butternut squash for homemade baby food www.herbnsage.org

STEP 4

Freeze the Butternut Squash

When you make your baby purees; I always recommend making it in a large batch so you can easily heat up the frozen batches on another day. I love using these silicone trays because they are easy to remove the purees from and they freeze in small honeycomb shapes, which are much easier to defrost than the large square cubes that other companies offer and take longer to defrost.

Once the puree is frozen in the silicone trays, pop out the honeycomb ice cubes and store them in an airtight container or ziplock freezer bag in the freezer.

homemade baby carrot puree in a silicone ice cube tray

STEP 5

Reheat the Butternut Squash

Warm the butternut squash in a microwaveable safe dish (I like to use the OXO Tot baby block glass container for heating up my baby’s food) in the microwave for 30 seconds (pausing half way to stir). At the moment I like to use 8 honeycomb cubes for my baby (about as much as she eats at the moment per feeding). Make sure the butternut squash is not too warm/hot before feeding your baby! You can also reheat over the stove as well.

You can also combine other whole foods in your baby’s puree that you have previously frozen, for optimal flavor and nutrients. The following list is a general guide, so feel free to be adventurous and combine and build your own meals for your little one:)

Butternut Squash Flavor Compatibility Guide

Apples	Bananas	Beets	Black Beans
Broccoli	Cannellini Beans	Chard	Carrots
Lentils	Green Beans	Northern Beans	Kidney Beans
Parsnips	Cauliflower	Edamame	Garbanzo Beans
Pears	Navy Beans	Pinto Beans	Split Peas
Sweet Peas	Spinach	Kale	Summer Squash
Turnips	Apricots	Asparagus	Blackberries
Blueberries	Sweet Potatoes	Whole Grains	Cereal

If you have read my post on the importance of probiotics for your child (linked here); you can sprinkle a little probiotics on top of your homemade baby food for added nutritious value.

If you make something from Herb’n Sage, I would love to hear about it in the comments! Don’t forget to rate this recipe and follow along on Instagram and Youtube for more recipes and inspirations for your creations for your little loved one(s)<3

Bon Appétit!

xoxo -Sage