This Mouth-Watering Butternut Squash & Egg Recipe Is Perfect for Cozy Winter Mornings

What’s your favorite type of squash? Sweet and creamy varieties are top picks because they make for delicious, marshmallow-y casseroles; however, certain squashes work beautifully in savory dishes as well. Take butternut squash, for example: When roasted, a slice of this winter fruit with a little salt and pepper satisfies just about every craving you could have. Sound good? If your mouth is watering, you’ll want to try this butternut squash and egg recipe.

The tasty duo comes from The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook (Available on Amazon). Written by Lisa Steele, the book features “over 100 fabulous recipes to use eggs in unexpected ways.” Steele’s charming Maine farm, which became her happy place after “trading a Wall Street life for rural living,” is home to a flock of chickens, so she drew inspiration from her never-ending supply of farm-fresh eggs. “I highly recommend always cooking with and eating the freshest eggs possible,” she writes. “It does make a difference.” (Of course, we don’t all have a farm full of healthy hens — so Steele recommends finding fresh eggs at local farms and farmers markets instead.) Ready to try her delicious Butternut Squash and Egg recipe yourself? Read on for the nutrition facts, cooking tips, and recipe instructions.

Nutrition Facts for a Butternut Squash and Egg Breakfast

What makes Steele’s recipe such a nutritious breakfast? About ½ a cup of squash (which is equal to one round slice, if the squash is 2 pounds) contains 90 calories. It also supplies:

• 10.75 grams of carbohydrates
• 3.28 grams of fiber
• Less than 1 gram of fat
• Nearly 1 gram of protein
• 2.02 grams of sugar

In addition, that ½ cup contains a decent amount of calcium, magnesium, and vitamin C, and an impressive amount of potassium (291 mg, or 11.19 percent of your daily value). One large egg adds 77.5 calories, 0.56 grams of carbohydrates, 6.3 grams of protein, 25 milligrams of calcium, 5 milligrams of magnesium, and 63 milligrams of potassium.

Bonus: Save those squash seeds for an extra boost of nutrition. While there isn’t much data on butternut squash seeds in particular, they are likely very similar to pumpkin seeds in terms of nutritional content. One ounce of unsalted, roasted pumpkin seeds (with the shell) contain 126 calories, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of protein, and 5.5 grams of unsaturated fat.

Cooking Tips

Here’s the big question: Once you crack an egg into the center of a squash round how can you stop it from leaking all over the baking sheet? The answer is to slice the rounds as flat as you possibly can. Once you have all your slices, lay them flat on the baking sheet and inspect them for curves and openings where egg can seep out. Trim those curves where possible. And if you’re really worried about presentation, trim any overflow once it’s done cooking.

To cook the seeds: Once you’ve scooped them out of the squash, lay them flat on a paper towel, on top of a plate. Don’t worry about pulling off the stringy bits. Rather, let the seeds and fibers dry for at least an hour. By that time, the stringy flesh will shrivel away, leaving cleaner and dryer seeds that are now ready for roasting.

Baked Eggs in Butternut Squash Recipe

Says Lisa Steele: “These baked eggs are such a fun way to use squash. I am partial to butternut, but acorn or spaghetti squash would work equally as well. Roasting the squash before adding the egg ensures that the squash is tender and slightly caramelized, while the egg is cooked to perfection in the center.”