This delicious dish of Mashed Butternut Squash and White Beans is the most satisfying, comforting side dish.
Made with roasted butternut squash, roasted garlic, and canned white beans, this is a super easy vegan side dish recipe that tastes like a million bucks!
Butternut squash is one of my favorite ingredients year round, but I especially love it when I can get it fresh and in season so I can have an excuse to make this Butternut Squash White Bean Mash.
We absolutely love this Fall-themed butternut squash side dish because it's so flavorful, it's substantial and filling, it's healthy, and it's super versatile.
This side dish is easy enough for weeknights but gorgeous enough to be the side dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. By the way, if you're looking for more holiday inspiration, check out my favorite vegan holiday recipes!
This garlicky butternut squash puree makes the perfect side dish for so many flavors and dishes. It's amazing with some crispy tofu, vegan loaf, or with bbq jackfruit, or vegan steak.
I add white beans to this mashed butternut squash because, let's be honest, pureed butternut squash can feel a little like baby food. As much as I love butternut squash, I am willing to admit that!
Adding beans to the mixture makes this a much more substantial, richer side dish, and it totally takes away that baby food aspect all while adding lots of fiber, protein, and making everything taste more amazing.
I hope you give this one a try and love it as much as we do!
More easy vegan white bean recipes: Butter Bean Hummus
How to make White Bean Butternut Squash Mash
Start by roasting cubed butternut squash and garlic. Lots of garlic.
I like to cut the butternut squash into larger cubes - about 1.5 inches each - for two reasons: (1) bigger pieces = less chopping and (2) bigger pieces take a little longer to cook through, giving them time to caramelize in the oven.
And YES, there are 4 cloves of garlic going into this dish. To be honest, you can go up to 6 if you want. The garlic cloves get roasted and their flavor mellows out completely, giving the whole dish a mellow roasted garlic flavor.
Toss the butternut squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes, or until the butternut squash is fully cooked. If you want, add a sprig or two of rosemary or thyme during the last few minutes of cooking - it will crisp up a little and will add lots of Fall flavor to this butternut squash mash.
Allow the butternut squash to cool for just a few minutes, then transfer it to a food processor along with the roasted garlic and roasted rosemary. Process until smooth.
Add about 1.5-1.75 cups of cooked white beans (that's one 15-oz can, drained and rinsed), and process until completely smooth, or until mostly smooth - your preference!
At this point I season with more salt and pepper (usually just a pinch of each), and sometimes add a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (that's about ½ lemon), just to add a little acidity which goes so well with the sweet butternut squash. Pulse an extra few times for good measure.
I use this oxo citrus squeezer for when I need to squeeze just one half of a lemon, it's very handy!!
That's it. DONE.
Serve and enjoy!
What kind of beans to use for this butternut squash mash
To be completely honest, any kind of white beans will work! Great northern, navy, butter beans - I've used them all. You can use canned white beans or home-cooked white beans, it's all good.
I do recommend using white beans vs other kinds of beans though, just to have the final dish have that gorgeous orange butternut squash color. Other color beans would definitely ruin that color a little!
More vegan recipes with white beans: Vegan Butter Bean Stew
Doubling the recipe or adding more beans
This recipe makes about 4 small side dish servings, or 2 larger side dish servings. Mashed butternut squash tastes JUST AS AMAZING on Day 2, so go ahead and double the recipe if you want to.
You can also increase the beans to 2 cans of white beans. Yes, it will taste a little beany, but it is still really good this way... if you like white beans!
I am able to make this recipe as-is with 1 lb of butternut squash in my mini food processor. If you want to use a little bit more butternut squash or add extra beans you're going to need a bigger boat, such as this one, or process it in batches and then mix well in the serving dish to make sure the consistency is the same throughout.
Turn this into a sheet pan dinner
One of my favorite things to do when I make this butternut squash mash is to roast other vegetables or other dinner ingredients at the same time, to have a complete sheet pan dinner in just about 30 minutes. Feel free to add any of the following to the baking sheet, or to add another baking sheet to the oven and roast these at the same time:
- Halved Brussels sprouts
- Roasted cauliflower florets
- Broccoli florets
- Roasted baby potatoes (you might need to let the potatoes cook a bit longer)
- Sliced red peppers
- Crispy baked tofu
Just make sure to toss the veggies in olive oil, salt, and pepper before popping them in the oven.
Or simply make some delicious, saucy jackfruit to put on top of this butternut squash mash!
However you decide to serve this fantastic vegan side dish, I hope you love it as much as we do! If you end up making it, please take a picture and tag me on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK. I love seeing your creations!
Looking for other easy side dish recipes?
- Slow cooker pinto beans
- Vegan cheesy cauliflower and rice casserole
- Vegan wild rice casserole
- Roasted Brussels sprouts with maple balsamic dressing
- Vegan yellow squash
- Vegan Mexican rice
- Roasted baby potatoes
- Cheesy baked vegan cauliflower
If you enjoyed this recipe, let me know with a comment and a star rating below. And don't forget to share it on Facebook and save it on Pinterest for later!
Recipe
White Bean Butternut Squash Mash
Ingredients
- 1 lb butternut squash, (1 small butternut squash, or ⅔ - 1 large butternut squash)
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, (use an oil spray for a lower-fat version)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 15-oz can white beans, such as butter beans, or great northern, drained and rinsed (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, sage, or other fresh herbs
Special equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a large baking sheet with olive oil.
- Peel the butternut squash, and cut up into 1-1.5 inch cubes. I prefer larger cubes for this dish so they have time to get caramelized and roasted before overcooking. Place the cubed butternut squash and the peeled garlic cloves on the greased baking sheet, and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Roast at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes, or until the butternut squash is fully cooked. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- In a food processor, combine the roasted butternut squash and roasted garlic and pulse / process until mostly smooth. Add the drained white beans and herbs and pulse to combine, or until smooth - your preference! Give it a taste, and add more salt and pepper, if desired.
Notes
- This white bean butternut squash mash is great topped with BBQ Jackfruit or as a side dish for vegan steak.
- This recipe makes 4 small side dish servings, or 2 large side dish servings. I recommend doubling it!
- You can add 2 cans of white beans if you want a little bit more of a white bean mash flavor! Or use more butternut squash if you prefer.
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