Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin

Published September 30, 2015. Updated July 22, 2024

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Butternut Squash Gratin is made with slices of velvety, buttery butternut squash coated in a crisp, golden brown coating of panko and parmesan cheese. And the best part – no peeling required! It’s a side dish you’ll want to make over and over again!

Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin

Butternut Squash Gratin

I’ve finally got my husband to love butternut squash – with this recipe! It really is one of the best butternut squash recipes I’ve tried and I know I’ll be making this one again and again. This one is even worthy of making it to the holiday menu of vegetables and sides. A whole butternut squash is the perfect start to your simple side dish that pairs with a traditional turkey dinner, pork tenderloin, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, or cauliflower.

This Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin is so simple to prepare once you get past the cutting board stage of peeling and cutting. If you aren’t familiar with the how-to of peeling, seeding, and cutting the squash here is a quick video that shows how here. Using a good knife and sharp vegetable peeler makes it much easier to prep and cook butternut squash. This recipe calls for butternut squash halves or coins, rather than butternut squash cubes, which also saves you some time.

Once you try this delicious roasted butternut squash recipe you’ll be hooked! The crisp Panko bread crumbs and salty parmesan pair so well with the soft and buttery squash flesh, and the herbs and garlic just give it that extra boost of flavor through perfect roasting and rich ingredients. I think you could replicate this recipe with a spaghetti squash or acorn squash, too.

Even my picky four-year-old loved it! I thought it would be years before I could get my kids to like the taste of squash. No one could resist this! Trust me, it will disappear in no time!

Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin before baking in a casserole dish.

How to Make Butternut Squash Gratin

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Spray a 13 by 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray or olive oil then arrange the squash in the pan, slightly overlapping them.
  • In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, then reduce heat to low, add garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin after baking in a casserole dish.

  • In a mixing bowl toss together bread crumbs, parmesan, thyme, sage, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
  • Drizzle 2 Tbsp of the butter garlic mixture over panko mixture then toss to evenly coat.
  • Brush the remaining butter and garlic mixture over the squash in a baking dish, then season the squash with salt and pepper.
  • Sprinkle bread crumb mixture evenly over the top with a spoon. Bake in a preheated oven for 35 – 40 minutes until tender, then if the topping is not browned increase heat to 425 and bake 5 minutes longer.
  • Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve warm.

Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin close up image

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5 from 3 votes

Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin

A super tasty way to prepare squash! Squash slices are coated with panko, parmesan, garlic and herbs them baked until tender. A delicious autumn side dish!
Servings: 6
Prep20 minutes
Cook50 minutes
Ready in: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 13 by 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray then arrange squash in pan, slightly overlapping them.
  • In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, then reduce heat to low, add garlic and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat.
  • In a mixing bowl toss together bread crumbs, parmesan, thyme, sage and season lightly with salt and pepper. Drizzle 2 Tbsp of the butter garlic mixture over panko mixture then toss to evenly coat. 
  • Brush remaining butter and garlic mixture over squash in baking dish, then season squash with salt and pepper. 
  • Sprinkle bread crumb mixture evenly over top. Bake in preheated oven 35 - 40 minutes until tender, then if topping is not browned increase heat to 425 and bake 5 minutes longer.
  • Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve warm.
  • Recipe source: adapted slightly from Betty Crocker