6 pumpkin and squash dishes
Pumpkin and squash are the cheapest way to make a plate feel like autumn. These are the dishes in Cookpath that use them, from soup to pasta, bowls and a dip.
CThe Cookpath kitchen9 min read · 6 recipes
Pumpkin Chickpea Pasta
- 25 mintotal
- 20 gprotein
- 470kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: The most protein on this list. The fastest one here.
14 ingredients · 7 steps
The quickest dish here at 25 minutes, and the one with the most protein: 20 g a serving at 470 kcal. Chickpea pasta carries a sauce of mashed chickpeas and just 120 g of pumpkin for four, with sage, lemon and parmesan. There is no cream in the pan, so the pumpkin and the starchy pasta water make the sauce creamy.
Mash the rinsed chickpeas only lightly, so some texture is left. Save the pasta water before draining, because the sauce is made with it, then simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until most of the liquid has gone. Chickpea pasta can turn soft, so drain it the moment it is al dente. Lemon zest, parsley and parmesan go on at the end. It keeps 2 days.
Sweet Potato Quinoa Bowls
- 30 mintotal
- 14 gprotein
- 330kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 3servings
Why it's here: One of the strongest on the list.
13 ingredients · 7 steps
Roasted sweet potato and black beans on spiced quinoa, finished with a coriander yogurt cream. Sweet potato is what puts it on this list. At 330 kcal and 5 g of fat a serving it is a light meal, and its 14 g of protein is the third highest on the page. The recipe makes three bowls in 30 minutes.
Dice the sweet potato evenly and spread it in one layer on the tray, so it roasts at 220 °C instead of steaming. Twelve to 15 minutes gets it fork tender. Rinse the quinoa before it goes in the pan, and season it with the spices and lime while it is still warm. Blend the coriander cream until completely smooth. For meal prep, keep the cream separate until eating.
Pumpkin Carrot Soup
- 35 mintotal
- 3 gprotein
- 160kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: Packs well for work.
10 ingredients · 6 steps · 15 min hands-on
The lightest dish on the list at 160 kcal a serving, and the lowest in protein at 3 g. Pumpkin and carrot, 454 g of each, simmer with onion, garlic, ginger and vegetable stock and then get blended smooth. It makes four bowls in 35 minutes, 15 of them hands-on. Ginger and nutmeg are the only seasoning besides salt and pepper, and parsley goes on to serve.
Cut the pumpkin and carrots into small to medium chunks, since big pieces take a lot longer to cook. Do not leave out the onion, garlic or ginger: with so few ingredients, the soup turns bland without them. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes, blend, then stir in the nutmeg. It keeps 3 to 5 days in the fridge or 3 to 4 months in the freezer, so a big pot is worth making.
Sweet Potato Salad
- 40 mintotal
- 7 gprotein
- 360kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
14 ingredients · 5 steps
A salad of roasted sweet potato on mixed leaves, with feta, avocado, cherry tomatoes and pumpkin seeds in a maple balsamic vinaigrette. A serving is 360 kcal and 7 g of protein, with 22 g of fat from the avocado, feta and oil. That reads as a light lunch or a side for four, and it takes 40 minutes in all.
Turn the sweet potatoes only once or twice while they roast for 20 to 30 minutes, and do not add more oil, since both make them softer. Let them cool a few minutes before folding them into the dressed leaves. For meal prep, keep the dressing and the feta apart, because a dressed salad goes soggy. In an air fryer, 200 °C for about 15 minutes does it.
Pumpkin Feta Pasta
- 40 mintotal
- 19 gprotein
- 540kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
11 ingredients · 6 steps
Pasta in a sauce made by roasting pumpkin, pepper, carrot, onion, 7 cloves of garlic and a whole block of feta, then blending the lot. With 19 g of protein and 540 kcal a serving, it has more protein than anything else here except the chickpea pasta. Most of the 40 minutes is the oven doing the work. The feta goes onto the tray as one block and is blended in with the vegetables.
Cut the vegetables to a similar size so they roast evenly, and put the feta in the middle of the tray so it softens without drying out. Blend everything with pasta water, adding it gradually, and work in batches if your blender is small. Toss the sauce with the pasta over low heat. Leftovers keep 3 days, and the sauce thickens, so loosen it with water.
Butternut Dip with Cheddar Toast
- 45 mintotal
- 10 gprotein
- 500kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
14 ingredients · 7 steps
More a dip than a dinner. Butternut squash, shallots and 16 cloves of garlic are roasted, then blended with coconut milk and served with buttery cheddar toast for dipping. It is the slowest dish on the list at 45 minutes, and a serving is 500 kcal and 10 g of protein, with 41 g of fat. Pumpkin seeds and chilli flakes go on top, and the toast is a grilled cheddar sandwich with butter and parsley.
Roast until the squash is soft and slightly caramelised, because the browned edges add depth. Squeeze the roasted garlic into the blender with the coconut milk, and add a splash more if the dip comes out too thick. Cream works if there is no coconut milk. Grill the toast 3 to 4 minutes a side and make it fresh. Reheat the dip gently the next day.
Squash is mild and a little sweet, and that makes it easy to cook with. Roasted, it caramelises at the edges and goes soft in the middle. Simmered, it turns into soup with very little help. Either way it takes on spice and herbs well.
The hard part is the peel. If the skin is tough, cut the squash into wedges, roast it and scoop the flesh out afterwards. That is much easier than peeling it raw, and some varieties have skin that is soft enough to eat.
These dishes use it in different ways. Some make it the main part of the plate and some use it as a supporting ingredient. The time is on each one, so you can pick a quick weeknight dish or a slower weekend one.
Squash keeps for weeks in a cool place, so you can buy one and use it over a few meals. Cooked, it freezes well as a purée.
Three things that help
Roasted squash has more flavour than boiled. Give it twenty minutes in a hot oven before it goes into a soup.
Same-sized pieces cook at the same speed, so nothing is mushy while the rest is hard.
Squash is hard to cut. Put a damp cloth under the board so it does not slide.
Every dish here is in the app with timers inside the steps, servings you can change and a shopping list that builds itself.
