Butternut Squash Risotto
This creamy Butternut Squash Risotto is beautifully simple, yet it tastes unbelievably luxurious! Using just a handful of simple ingredients, it's an easy dinner recipe that's surprisingly slimming friendly. It's a great way of using up leftover squash!
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NutritionPer Serving
- Calories226
- Carbs48g
- Protein4.6g
- Fat1.4g
- Saturates0.5g
- Sugars5g
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For the full list of ingredients and comprehensive instructions, please see the recipe card below. Before you scroll, there’s important stuff in the blurb!
This Butternut Squash Risotto is a delicious, slimming-friendly way of using up leftover veggies, while enjoying a dinner that feels a bit fancy!
Perfect as an autumnal dish, risotto is always our idea of comfort food – and this low-calorie version is just as satisfying and filling as something you’d pay a fortune for in a restaurant.
Risotto is a Northern Italian dish, made with a high starch, medium or short grain white rice. This rice absorbs liquids and releases starch – and this is what gives risotto its creamy consistency.
If you fancy something a bit different you can try using a rice, barley and spelt mix instead of the usual Arborio rice. We used the Gallo 3 Grain Rice, Barley and Spelt Risotto mix and it was AMAZING!
We like to garnish this Butternut Squash Risotto with a couple of shavings of Parmesan and some butternut squash seeds toasted up in the oven. Just remember to check the nutritional values of anything you garnish the risotto with.
What diets is this Butternut Squash Risotto suitable for?
This Butternut Squash Risotto recipe is suitable for vegetarian, vegan and dairy-free diets.
This recipe can be made suitable for a gluten-free diet as long as you swap out the following ingredients for gluten free versions;
- Stock pot
Please make sure to double and triple check all of your ingredients if you’re cooking for people with allergies.
Do you need any special ingredients to make Butternut Squash Risotto?
Nope! Although a good non-stick pan and a sharp knife will come in really handy.
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You will need a really good, non-stick frying pan for this recipe (and lots of others!). You can pick one up from Amazon.
A sharp knife will make slicing and dicing so much quicker, easier and safer too. We love this one, especially since it comes in a handy set.
How many calories are in this Butternut Squash Risotto?
There are 226 calories per portion in this Butternut Squash Risotto, which means it falls into our Everyday Light category.
This Butternut Squash Risotto is perfect if you’re following a calorie controlled diet and fits well with any one of the major diet plans such as Weight Watchers.
As a guide, an average man needs around 2,500kcal (10,500kJ) a day to maintain a healthy body weight. For an average woman, that figure is around 2,000kcal (8,400kJ) a day. Obviously, if your goal is to lose weight then you might want to adjust these slightly! You can read more about these recommendations on the NHS website.
Step 1
Place the butternut squash into a microwaveable container with a couple of tablespoons of water. Cover and microwave for 5 minutes until almost cooked through.
Step 2
Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and set on a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry for 5 minutes until softening. Add the rice and stir.
Step 3
Pour in 300ml of water to the pan and add the stock pot and nutmeg. Continue to stir occasionally for around 5 minutes until all of the water has been absorbed.
Step 4
When the butternut squash has finished cooking, add it to the pan and mix. Add another 300ml of water and continue to stir occasionally.
Step 5
After another 5-6 minutes, when the moisture has all been absorbed, add the final 300ml of water. Stir more frequently now to encourage a creamy consistency – this should take about 5 minutes.
Step 6
Make sure the rice is cooked to your liking and serve!
What could I serve with this Butternut Squash Risotto?
How do you know when Butternut Squash Risotto is cooked?
The perfect Butternut Squash Risotto will have a creamy consistency. Make sure the rice is cooked to your liking, the onion and garlic is tender, and the butternut squash is cooked through.
Standard advice here in the UK is to cook food until it has reached 70°C and stayed at that temperature for 2 minutes. This is to keep your family safe.
How long can you keep Butternut Squash Risotto in the fridge?
Once you’ve put it out, ideally you should eat it within 4 hours.
If you allow any leftovers to cool, make sure to refrigerate in a container with a lid and chill. You can keep leftovers of Butternut Squash Risotto in the fridge for approximately 3 days or so.
As we all know you can get food poisoning from eating reheated rice, but, it’s not actually the reheating that can cause issues, it is, in fact, the way that the rice has been stored beforehand where the problem begins.
Rice can contain spores that are resistant to heat and can survive the cooking process.
If cooked rice is left standing at room temperature these spores can grow into bacteria. At this point, the bacteria can be destroyed by reheating the rice thoroughly.
You should remember to do the following if you’re going to keep leftover rice:
- Cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour) then put it in the fridge immediately. You can split larger portions up into smaller batches to cool quicker.
- Reheat and use any leftover rice (stored in the fridge) within one day.
- When you reheat any rice, always check it is steaming hot all the way through.
- Don’t reheat cooked rice more than once.
Can I freeze Butternut Squash Risotto?
We don’t recommend freezing this recipe.
How do I reheat Butternut Squash Risotto?
From chilled: Place in a microwave proof container with loosely fitting lid and heat for 4-7 minutes until piping hot.
For more information about reheating rice please take a look at the NHS website.
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Butternut Squash Risotto
This creamy Butternut Squash Risotto is beautifully simple, yet it tastes unbelievably luxurious! Using just a handful of simple ingredients, it's an easy dinner recipe that's surprisingly slimming friendly. It's a great way of using up leftover squash!
-
Prep Time
10 MINS
-
Cook Time
20 MINS
- KCals 226
- Carbs 48G
Instructions
- Place the butternut squash into a microwaveable container with a couple of tablespoons of water. Cover and microwave for 5 minutes until almost cooked through.
- Meanwhile, spray a frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and set on a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry for 5 minutes until softening. Add the rice and stir.
- Pour in 300ml of water to the pan and add the stock pot and nutmeg. Continue to stir occasionally for around 5 minutes until all of the water has been absorbed.
- When the butternut squash has finished cooking, add it to the pan and mix. Add another 300ml of water and continue to stir occasionally.
- After another 5-6 minutes, when the moisture has all been absorbed, add the final 300ml of water. Stir more frequently now to encourage a creamy consistency – this should take about 5 minutes.
- Make sure the rice is cooked to your liking and serve!
Looking for Slimming World Syns or Weight Watchers (WW) Points?
With ever-changing plans and point calculations, we have made the decision to remove WW Points from the website - referring to your individual plan or advice from your consultant is always going to give the most accurate results.
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We agreed with Slimming World to remove their trademarked terms from our website
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7 comments
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JennieTuesday 3rd March 2020
Just making this in my electric pressure cooker!!! Hope it turns out ok? Looks soooo yummy ?
Steve CowderoyMonday 11th May 2020
Hi Jennie, Thanks for getting in touch with us, please let us know how its goes.
Natalie DawnTuesday 23rd April 2019
Hi I have frozen butternut squash do I still Chuck it in the microwave first? Would it need longer?
CateTuesday 23rd April 2019
Hi Natalie!
You could either defrost it in the microwave or add a few minutes to the cooking time.
Hope that helps! 🙂
StephanieSunday 28th January 2018
Hey there! I want to make this recipe to use up some pumpkin I have spare. Do you know if this is suitable for freezing? Thanks!
EmilyFriday 29th December 2017
When do you use the nutmeg? As part of the final garnish or earlier on? Thanks 🙂
AlexMonday 30th October 2017
Hi
How long do you think it would take to cook this in an IP
Thanks
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