Today, I brought you another quick, easy, and delicious side dish for the big day tomorrow.
If you seem to always make the same dishes every Thanksgiving, I suggest trying this delicious and flavorful side dish. I am sure you will love this recipe because butternut squash, cranberries, and rice are great matches for turkey. And if you have an extra one… this Roasted Butternut Squash Mash is a great substitute for mashed potatoes!
I love to roast veggies because it doesn’t require a lot of work. If you don’t have much time, you can cook your rice and roast the butternut squash in advance too. When it is time to serve, you just need to sauté the spinach. So, it is a great recipe option to avoid spending hours in the kitchen during the holidays.
Before ending this post, I would like to give you some tips to roast your veggie:
- Cut the butternut squash into roughly the same size. You want all the pieces to cook at the same time.
- Put the chopped butternut squash in a single layer to the baking sheet like I did with the Roasted Root Vegetable with Thyme recipe to avoid it becoming mushy.
- Toss every single piece with olive oil, but make sure the pieces are coated on all sides because if not the sides that are not coated will be very dry.
I wish you a very happy and beautiful Thanksgiving with your loved ones!
If you ended up buying way too much butternut squash for the holidays, you should make my Roasted Butternut Squash Cauliflower Salad, Ground Beef Butternut Squash Meal Prep Bowls (Web Story), and Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe throughout the week with them!
Rice with Roasted Butternut Squash and Dried Cranberries
Ingredients
- 3 cups butternut squash diced
- 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp dry parsley
- Salt and ground black pepper
- ½ cup onions diced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 4 cups spinach
- 4 cups cooked rice
- ½ cup cranberries
- Green onions for garnishing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, add squash, 2 tbsp olive oil, dry parsley, salt, and pepper until squash is evenly coated.
- Spread on a baking sheet and bake until squash is roasted and tender, about 30-40 minutes.
- Heat 1 tbsp in a pan over medium heat.
- Add the onion and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent, about 6-8 minutes.
- Add spinach and cook for about 2-3 minutes.
- In the same pan, where is the spinach mixture, add the roasted squash, cooked rice, and cranberries.
- Stir everything very well and garnish with fresh green onions.
Notes
- You can buy pre-diced butternut squash. If you have trouble cutting yours, you can microwave the squash before cutting it open.
- Try to find dried cranberries with no added sugar.
- You can add some nuts or seeds are an extra crunchy texture.
- To store: You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- To reheat: Reheat leftovers in the microwave.
- To freeze: Freeze any leftovers in a freezer-safe airtight bag for up to 3 months. Thaw before reheating.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This looks so tasty. I really like the colours in the pictures.
How beautiful is this salad? Looks seriously delicious. I have all the ingredients at home, me thinks this might feature over the weekend. 🙂
This dish looks amazing, Olivia! I love all of the beautiful colors and flavors. Such a wonderful idea to combine butternut squash and cranberries. Love this!
Butternut squash with cranberries.. now that’s genius! And I just so happen to have all of these ingredients lying about… sounds like a perfect lunch!
So vibrant, healthful, and festive! I love this rice! What a perfect dish for fall/winter and for holiday feasts. Beautiful as always, my dear!
This looks amazing! Maybe tomorrow night’s dinner.
You’re going to love it 😉
This dish was extraordinary! My husband raved about it too. I used wild rice and added the seasoning packet from a box of long grain and wild rice. It needed the extra seasoning. I used dried cherries in place of the cranberries. It was so delicious. Next time I will top with pepitas. Thank you!!
SO happy to hear that 😉