Here's How to Avoid Picking a Dry, Flavorless Butternut Squash at the Store (2024)
Updated: Aug. 25, 2022
Our tips on what to look for when choosing the perfect butternut squash for your fall cooking.
Shutterstock / Svitlana Pimenov
There’s so much to love about fresh fall produce. It’s more than just pumpkin spice everything. It’s also all the delicious seasonal squashes—acorn, spaghetti and, most importantly, butternut. Get our best slow cooker squash recipes here!
Butternut squash is an essential ingredient for crisp autumn days. It’s a big player in comforting soups, stews and sautes. But finding the right one can be difficult. If it’s underripe, the squash won’t have developed its signature taste. If it’s overripe, it may be dry, mushy or flavorless. Follow these tips the next time you’re at the grocery store or farmers market to find the perfect recipe-ready butternut squash.
Pick it up to feel its weight. A ripe butternut squash should be hard and heavy for its size. What exactly does that mean? Use your best judgment and pick up other squashes to get an idea of the average weight. If a squash is too light, it’s not ripe enough yet. You can also do the tried-and-true knocking test. Tap the outside of the vegetable. If it sounds hollow, it’s ready to eat.
You want a butternut squash with a full stem that’s firm to the touch. When the stem is intact, your squash will keep longer. If the stem is missing, it may have popped out because the squash is past its prime. Look at the color of the stem, too. The perfect hue? Deep brown.
The deeper the hue, the better. A butternut squash should be dark beige. Green spots or streaks mean the squash isn’t fully ripened. But that pale spot you might see? That’s OK—it’s just where the squash was lying on the ground in the field.
There’s a trick to choosing the best pumpkin, too.
Inspect the Skin
Ideally, your butternut squash will not be shiny or waxy (a sign it was picked too early). Look for one with a matte finish, with color that’s even across the entire surface. The thickness of the shell is equally important. Use your fingernail to try to gently prick the surface. If your nail goes through easily, it’s not a good squash. You want one with a hard exterior.
Now you know how to assess a butternut squash’s weight, color and texture—but don’t stop there. Stay away from any squashes with obvious cuts or soft spots that might lead to rot or mold. Brown marks, usually caused by frost, are a sign the squash won’t last as long or will have an undesirable texture. Have squash you need to use fast? Try one of our favorites: Butternut Squash Apple Bake.
Keep these tips in mind and you’ll find a butternut squash that’s ready for dinner tonight. And remember, if you’re at a farmers market and still unsure about your squash, ask the farmer! (They know best, after all.)
Ready to start cooking your perfect butternut squash? You have a world (or, well, a kitchen) of opportunity, from savory soups to delicious desserts to creamy casseroles. Ah…fall is in the air!
If you pick too early, the flesh will not be fully developed and the squash will lack flavor and not be that wonderfully vegetal sweet that is the wonder of butternut, honeynut, delicata, acorn, pumpkin and kabocha, among dozens of other winter squash.
Butternut squash has a thick skin and starts out yellow or green and changes to beige when ripe. When choosing one at the store, be sure to select one with a creamy tan color. Light surface scratches are normal, but avoid choosing one with soft spots, bruises or cuts.
I asked for help at the squash bin, and was told to look for a squash with a nice deep green colour to the skin. If it is too light, it's not really ripe enough. Then, check the stem. A dry stem on the top should indicate that the squash will be drier on the inside.
Most squashes are at their "driest" immediately after harvest... not in terms of their moisture content, but in their cooked consistency. At this point (provided the squash was fully ripe) the starch content is very high, and the cooked texture will resemble mashed potatoes.
No doubt, squash's flavor issues stem from the fact that it's mostly water. Being as much as 95 percent H2O, it's no surprise that it tastes a lot like water, which is to say, bland.
Mold: Look for any unusual spots or fuzzy growths, which indicate mold. Color Changes: If the squash has brown or discolored spots, it may be going bad. Texture: Fresh butternut squash has a firm texture; if it becomes soft or mushy, it's a sign of spoilage.
Look for firm, vibrantly colored squash. A few nicks and scratches on a squash's thin skin are to be expected. But avoid wrinkly skin, which is a sign of age, or soft and wet spots, the first signs of rot.
Harvesting before the first frost is absolutely essential to save your butternuts from frost damage. The right temperature and humidity are key for drying and storing winter squash like butternuts. Provide a space for ripe squashes that is relatively cool at 70 to 85 degrees with humidity at 80 to 85 percent.
Flavor: No, spaghetti squash doesn't actually taste like spaghetti. It has a tender, chewy, fragile texture, and a very mild flavor. Unlike other winter squash varieties, it lacks sweetness.
I'm sure some folks consider it a "crutch," or cheating. But butter fixes all sorts of cooking sins. The fat in butter will help bring the squash back to life. Some broth, olive oil, milk, cream, or other (flavorful) liquid will also help.
Buttercup. Not to be confused with the long, tan-hued butternut squash, the buttercup squash is squatter, with dark green skin. Its sweet, nutty flesh is dense and dry, and can be boiled, steamed, or worked into baked goods and casseroles. It will keep for two to four months.
After harvesting, cure winter squash (except for the acorn types) at a temperature of 80 to 85°F and a relative humidity of 80 to 85 percent. Curing helps to harden the squash skins and heal any cuts and scratches.
All you have to do is spread them out over a baking sheet or two (if they're piled up the moisture won't escape as well) and roast at say 425F until they're mostly cooked, a bit shrunken down, and obviously not as wet. Your idea of grilling should work fine too, just maybe a little more work.
Store whole butternut squash in a cool, dry and well-ventilated area. The ideal temperature for butternut squash (and any winter squash) is between 50℉ and 60℉, so a cool pantry or cellar would work best.
How do you fix bland butternut squash soup? Roasting the squash until golden brown and caramelized adds more flavor than steaming or boiling. You can also add a dollop of vegan butter, a splash of vinegar, nutritional yeast, or vegan parmesan to the recipe for even more flavor.
It has a lamp-shaped body and flesh the color of American cheese, and when prepared deftly, it tastes like a sweetened, concentrated pumpkin—a touch vegetal, and noticeably nutty. There is little more that is winter-affirming than a perfectly cooked butternut squash, soft and candy-like, buttery and rich.
Young plants will need protection from slugs, snails and aphids after planting out. Later in the season, butternut squash can succumb to powdery mildew and cucumber mosaic virus. Keep plants well-watered and look for varieties that have good disease resistance.
If your squash plant produces ample flowers but never bears actual fruit, or it bears fruit that stops growing when it's very small, then you're likely dealing with a pollination issue.
Introduction: My name is Barbera Armstrong, I am a lovely, delightful, cooperative, funny, enchanting, vivacious, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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Shutterstock / Svitlana Pimenov