How To Easily Cook Squash

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As we’re getting into fall, there are many fall foods that are so delicious. One of which is squash. Squash comes in various shapes and sizes, and make for delicious soups, and all kinds of other dishes. But while squash is nice, not that many people are eager to cook it–mostly because squash it takes well over an hour to cook them. Below, we have an answer to that problem… there are many ways to cook squash easily, and have it turn out delicious.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is be aware of the squash that you buy. First of all, there are two types of squash: summer and winter. Of course the seasons indicate when these squashes are ripe for consumption. Generally speaking, regardless of what type of squash you get, cooking them will have very similar methods. The exception to that rule is some summer squashes. They actually take less time to be cooking mainly due to them being smaller in size. What’s also important to note is that when cooking summer squash you don’t need to peel them while winter squash requires you to peel them before cooking. This is important as cooking squash in the winter may take up more time if you leave the skin on.

Another tip to speeding up squash cooking time, in general, is when baking, is to seed but not peel the squash. Furthermore, if you’re baking a small squash whole, cut off the top or bottom and remove the seeds.

With this in mind, let’s go over the methods.

There’s of course the traditional baking method. Many people aren’t keen on it because it can take well over an hour to bake. Even with the tips that are mentioned above, baking a squash may take roughly an hour. If you have the time, to bake a squash you’ll need to cut it in half or large enough pieces for single servings. From there you remove the seeds and then places the pieces on a baking pan with the cut sides upwards. Next you pour oil over the cut parts of the squash and bake them.

While the traditional method is great, there are much faster ways to be cooking squash. Outside of using a microwave, the other methods will take much shorter time to cook. The first of these methods is steaming or boiling the squash. All you need to do with this is peel the skin, remove the seeds and cut the squash into small chunks. Next, boil one inch of water before putting the pieces into the water. This method will take roughly 12 to 40 minutes. This mainly depends on the age of the squash and the size of the pieces as well as how tender you want them to be.

If you want a faster way your last option is to sauté them. This is akin to using a microwave, though pan frying them will take a little bit longer. Though certainly not as long as boiling them. The idea behind this is to peel off the skin of the squash, remove the seeds and pan fry them like you would with any vegetable. You still want to be cutting the pieces into slices or chunks and cook them in butter or olive oil on medium-high heat. Because the slices will be smaller the cooking time will be cut down to about ten minutes. To cook them faster cover the pan and steam them by pouring a little bit of water.

As you can see there are many ways to cook a squash so go and pick one up and try out one of these faster methods.