Make a great side dish or snack with Air Fryer Butternut Squash. The wonderful taste and flavor will remind you of fall.
Discover the perfect Air Fryer Butternut Squash Recipe for a healthy treat! Try out this easy-to-follow recipe for crispy, roasted butternut squash but with minimal effort using your Air Fryer or Ninja Foodi!
Fall and winter are the perfect time of year to make winter squash in the air fryer.
Butternut Squash brings all the fall flavors together in one perfect side dish.
Typically, I tend to cook butternut squash in the slow cooker, but I’m finding that I really enjoy the taste of air fryer butternut squash too.
Do air fryers make vegetables crispy?
YES! In most cases, they do make vegetables crispy. Air Fryers give vegetables that roasted taste without actually roasting them.
If you want to, you can also add batter to vegetables in air fryers as well.
When using your air fryer, it’s always a good idea to check in on the dish during the cooking time because all air fryers tend to heat differently.
If you do this, you will get that deep-fried flavor without the deep-fried calories, a good one to try is these Air Fryer Onion Rings.
This is also a great recipe to add to your list of Ninja Foodi Recipes.
What type of spray or oil should you use for the air fryer?
I almost always use Olive Oil Cooking Spray, you just need a light coat to give it some moisture. This means you are using far less oil than you would if you were using a bottle of oil.
The key here is to be sure you use a spray with a high smoke point.
I also suggest avoiding PAM Spray or similar sprays when using an air fryer, these can ruin the lining in the air fryer.
I use olive oil or grapeseed oil cooking spray and cinnamon…that’s it!
Grapeseed Oil will have a higher smoked point.
How do you prepare the whole butternut squash for the air fryer?
In order to get it fully cooked and roasted, you will want to cut the squash into cubes or similar small chunks. It is an absolute must to use a sharp knife to cut it and you can also use a vegetable peeler to peel the squash.
I found this video to be the best at showing how to easily prepare the butternut squash they are a bit tricky and tough to work with but worth it!
This can be done with already preparing butternut squash or frozen butternut squash.
What do you need for Air Fryer Butternut Squash?
- Olive Oil Cooking Spray
- Butternut Squash
- Cinnamon
If you want to add some maple syrup and brown sugar, you can certainly do so; however, with this recipe, I like to use simple ingredients to keep the calorie count low.
This recipe uses simple ingredients and a quick cooking time to give you an easy side dish in minutes!
Once you cook the squash in the air fryer, each piece will be fork tender with a wonderful sweet flavor, making it one of the best air fryer side dishes!
How to store leftover squash?
This diced butternut squash needs to be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Can you use pre-cut butternut squash?
This can easily be made with pre-cut butternut squash too, this squash will be cut into 1-inch cubes and can be placed in the air fryer basket in a single layer just like a freshly cut squash would be.
These can actually be found fresh or frozen in the grocery store during squash season.
More Air Fryer Squash Recipes:
- Air Fryer Spaghetti Squash – Make your favorite spaghetti squash in your air fryer. This results in a wonderful roasted spaghetti squash.
- Air Fried Yellow Squash – Use a gluten-free breading to coat your garden fresh squash and then use very little oil to prepare it in the air fryer and make air-fried squash!
If you are looking for oven-roasted butternut squash be sure to check out this recipe too.
It pairs perfectly with flavors that resemble the fall season such as apple, maple, pumpkin, and cinnamon. It makes for the perfect Thanksgiving side dish too!
These Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts will also make a great additional side dish along with the squash.
Enjoy this easy way to make a healthy side dish!
Be sure to check out my Amazon Store for more Air Fryer Products!
Air Fryer Butternut Squash
Ingredients
- 4 Cups Cubed Butternut Squash
- 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
- Olive Oil Cooking Spray
Instructions
- Spray the air fryer basket with olive oil cooking spray or line it with foil and spray.
- Place the butternut squash in the basket.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon and coat with olive oil spray.
- Cook at 390 degrees for 20 minutes. It’s best to check on it after 10 minutes, stir, coat and continue cooking. At this point, you can also add more cinnamon if you prefer.
- Serve.
Notes
Nutrition
My squash came out a bit dry .. was better in the oven . What am I doing wrong ?
Did you use olive oil spray? It does need some oil, so I use the olive oil spray to keep the moisture/oil in.
Don’t spray air fryer basket. It takes off the Teflon finish in time. I add a little oil in a bowl to my butternut squash the drop in air fryer
I use olive oil spray on mine, it works great!
I made this tonight. Always used to do the half baked in a pan of water and then fill the cavity with butter and brown sugar, which is delicious, but I really love the way these came out and so flavorful with just the hint of cinnamon sweetness.
I put sliced onion and Old Bay on mine, sprayed with oil and put an egg on it for dinner – fantastic
I’d like to read all the reviews but I only see 4. How can I find the rest of the reviews?
Any that leave comments you will see below, so 4 left comments, but most do not.
I used Italian seasoning instead.
I def want to try this but want to make sure I understand – Pam olive oil spray is okay to use, right? There’s a comment in your article about avoiding Pam – “I also suggest avoiding PAM Spray or similar sprays when using an air fryer, these can ruin the lining in the air fryer.” Thanks!
The aerosol cans are the big issue, they can ruin the coating on the air fryer basket. Olive Oil Cooking Spray does not have a very high smoke point, I have used it regularly without issues but Grapeseed is going to be the best one for air frying. Pompeian Sprays are the ones I always use.
It’s the propellant that ruins the coating from what I have read.
My air fryer does not cook higher than 200C. Had to cook almost 10 minutes longer to get desired results. Was delicious.
The 390º in the recipe is Fahrenheit, which is 200ºc
Love this so much! Thank you! I had butternut squash tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and ready to go in the real oven, but it was still stinky from cleaning, so I used your recipe and it turned out fantastic! Delicious, crispy outside, and soft inside, just perfect! I think I may make a lime satay-type sauce to pour over and just bliss out on the squash goodness! I am so grateful for you figuring out times and temps! I have to check out your other posts now! Thank you!
So happy to hear this!! Glad you enjoyed them!!
This was so good ad so easy. I’m on NOOM, went out to eat for lunch so needed a low calorie dinner. My house smells wonderful and the squash was fantastic!
Trying now! Sooo EXCITED!
Wow, this was so good! We followed your directions and also added a pinch of pink salt, along with a drizzle of maple syrup! To die for!
I it might be a common sense question but just wondering if I have to peel the butternut squash.
I usually do for this recipe.
How to peel the butternut squash
Here is how you do it https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_peel_and_cut_a_butternut_squash/
Absolutely love the air fried squash. Very tasty. I handed some honey to my recipe. Very good.
I coated in olive oil and tossed in Goyas Sazon con azafran! Was amazing!!!!( contains msg)
Girrrl that was the bomb
I substituted curry powder and it was fantastic!