“Candied” Maple Roasted Squash {Paleo & Vegan}

Winter squash is roasted, filled with a sweet “candy” mixture, drizzled with maple syrup and roasted again to combine flavors.  This paleo and vegan roasted squash recipe is perfect as a sweet side dish for the holidays, or a dessert!

We just can’t get away from winter squash, can we?  Maybe if I had the discipline to stop buying squash at every grocery trip, the recipes would stop too.  Soon, I promise.

But for now, we’re getting cozy and sweet with my two of my current obsessions – winter squash and maple syrup.  Oh, and pecans and dates, too, but they’re generally a year-round staple for me.

As is maple syrup, I now realize, but details, really.   Let’s get back to the squash and see what’s going on here before we get the oven started!

As I mentioned above, I go a little wild at the grocery store with squash this time of year.  It’s my favorite way to do the whole seasonal-eating thing which I normally don’t pay much attention to (oops!)

My favorites are butternut, delicata, and acorn squash, but I also like to buy those fun, colorful “carnival” squash, which sort of look like small acorn squash but a whole lot brighter and “stripy” for lack of a better term.

They look like acorn squash with stage makeup, or perhaps they just look like squash at a carnival, hence the name. On the inside, they have a pale color similar to a delicata, and in my opinion the taste is a cross between acorn and delicata.   Shall we move on?

Yes, so for this particular recipe, you can use any winter squash you want, as long as it’s small.  Don’t worry, if your squash is TOO small, just make sure you have a third and roast that one, too.  Just look for the smallest, most happy squash in the store and buy a few of those, for best results 🙂

And by happy squash, I guess I mean the squash that makes YOU the most happy when you see it.  Squash doesn’t have feelings, people who look at squash do.

As for the filling, I was inspired by two things – 1.) Maple syrup (see my last post for details and 2.) My favorite sweet Thanksgiving side dish – “candied” sweet potatoes.

Let’s face it, anything you can do with sweet potatoes, you can do with winter squash, perhaps even better (AKA anything you can do I can do better.) I’m not going to say this recipe trumps my candied sweet potatoes – not nice to play favorites with recipes 🙂

What I AM saying is that this recipe is insanely delicious.  It’s sweet – so sweet that it really could be a dessert, because it legitimately tastes like candy.

The caramelized roasted squash combined with chopped dates, coconut, pecans and maple syrup is basically the best combination ever, period.  I actually want to try making cookies out of this mixture, it’s just that good!

Anyway, I think we’re all ready to start – pick out your happiest squash and turn the oven on – let’s go!

“Candied” Maple Roasted Squash {Paleo & Vegan}

What I Used To Make My “Candied” Maple Roasted Squash:

Want More Paleo Winter Squash Recipes?  Try one of these!

Roasted Butternut Squash Hash with Apples and Bacon {Whole30}

Sausage Apple Cranberry Stuffed Acorn Squash {Whole30}

Butternut Squash Stuffing with Sausage, Apples and Cranberries {Whole30}

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with “Buttermilk” Dressing {Vegan, Whole30}

Caramelized Onion Sausage Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash {Whole30}

Beef and Bacon Stuffed Delicata Squash {Whole30}

Tell Me!

What’s your favorite sweet side dish?

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