This delicious recipe for butternut squash dip is the perfect accompaniment to any mezze meal. It’s also perfect for children and even weaning babies can enjoy this colourful dip. Easily adapted to be vegan.
The flesh of a butternut squash or pumpkin has the advantage of being yellow or orange in colour and therefore easy to disguise as hummus when turning it into a dip. This works well for the one of my children who likes hummus, and obviously less well for the other, who used to love hummus but has recently added it to the no list!
The recipe for this is based on an Ottolenghi recipe for a butternut squash and tahini spread. I used the recipe in his Jerusalem cookbook, one of my all time favourites, but it’s more or less the same as this one published in the Guardian a few years ago. It is for many reasons a perfect sneaky veg recipe as it hides the butternut squash completely from any picky eaters out there, yet loses nothing in flavour or taste as it’s designed to be eaten this way.
This dish can’t really claim to be butternut squash hummus as it doesn’t contain chickpeas but a can of chickpeas is a great addition if you want to add some extra veggie protein and make this a little more filling.
The beautiful Morocccan style bowl used in this photo was kindly gifted to me by Moroccan Bazaar.
Here’s how to make butternut squash dip:
This butternut squash dip recipe uses roasted butternut squash. You could also use pumpkin. It really is worth taking the time to roast the butternut squash – you get a much better flavour that way. However, if time is short or if you happen to have some to hand you can make this with pumpkin purée or steamed butternut squash instead.
You will need a blender or food processor to make this recipe.
Butternut squash dip
Ingredients
- 500 g butternut squash or pumpkin peeled, deseeded and cubed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- l 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch salt can be omitted if preferred or for under-ones
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 40 g tahini paste
- 70 g greek yoghurt or dairy free yoghurt of choice
To serve
- date syrup or maple syrup optional
- sesame seeds or other seeds of choice optional
Instructions
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Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Place the prepared squash or pumpkin in a large ovenproof dish, add the olive oil, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Roast for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally until soft. Allow to cool.
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Use a food processor or blender to combine the squash with the garlic, tahini and yoghurt until combined. If you don't have one you can mash it but it will be a thicker texture.
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Either serve as it is or drizzle syrup and seeds over the top. Date syrup is more authentic. If you use syrup the dip is sweeter, but it's still delicious without it.
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Serve as a dip with vegetables or breadsticks, spread onto crackers or toast (great for baby led weaning) or as part of a mezze meal. Enjoy!
Other vegetable hummus and dip recipes:
Pin butternut squash dip for later
NB: the photographs for this recipe were updated in April 2018
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