The best flavours of fall come together in this low carb butternut squash casserole. A perfect Thanksgiving side dish.
I’m immensely pleased with myself at the moment. Not just because this is a delicious low carb casserole recipe that I am excited to share with you. And not just because I am ahead of the game here and bringing you a great Thanksgiving side dish with plenty of time to spare. But because of the photos I managed to get. Okay, so there is nothing earth shattering about the composition or the lighting or the styling. But look closely at the photo of the casserole dished out. Do you see it, do you see it? It’s a little faint, but yes, that is steam rising from the food. I can’t believe I managed to catch that on camera!
This might not seem like a big deal to you, but it sure is to me! I have tried to capture steam rising from my food before and not been even remotely successful. I even did a little reading on how to do it and was discouraged because it seemed beyond my ken. And I am sure this was just pure luck, with the right light and the right dark backdrop. But when casserole really was hot from the oven and when I inserted the spoon, there was so much gorgeous steam, I had to try to capture it. I got a number of pictures with little whisps here and there but this was the best of the lot. And it makes what amounts to mashed vegetables look that much more inviting. If I knew what I was doing on Photoshop, I am sure I could have enhanced the effect a little more, but I am happy with it as it is.
Now for the food itself. Butternut squash is such a fall comfort food, but it’s just high carb enough not to be all that good for me. Still, I saw some lovely ones at our local farmer’s market and I had to get one. Along with a very large head of cauliflower, and I knew they’d be a great combo. Stir in a little Parmesan, cream and dried thyme and you have yourself a delicious low carb dish for Thanksgiving. It made my whole house smell like the holidays.
Please check out my Butternut Squash & Cauliflower Casserole Recipe on A Sweet Life Diabetes Magazine
Serves 12. Each serving has 7 g of carbs and 1 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 6 g.
81 Calories; 4g Fat (45.9% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 326mg Sodium.
Lauren at Keep It Sweet says
Yay for the photography success! So impressed:-) Going to check out the recipe now…
Kim @ Hungry Healthy Girl says
Yum…this is going on my Thanksgiving to make list, for sure!
Katharine says
I’ve got the ingredients so I’m going to do a test run on this recipe with hopes for thanksgiving!! thank you! gorgeous pic, too. Can’t wait for pics of the pecan pie I hope you’re working on… 🙂
Kalyn says
This is a great idea and your photos are gorgeous!
Carolyn says
Thanks, Kalyn!
Stephanie @ Eat. Drink. Love. says
This looks like the perfect fall casserole!
Mimi says
Great photo! Great recipe!
Luana says
Ah, the photo is beautiful! I bet the casserole tastes great, too.
Patricia says
Being from the great white North our Thanksgiving has now past, so it will have to be for
Christmas or maybe my hubby’s b day in a couple of weeks……looks very good!
I love butternut squash but it is higher in carbs….I didn’t think of mixing it with cauliflower….so thanks for that….your pics are great but am i the only one who thinks that the dish you used is just the cutest thing!! I appreciate your website as I find myself returning to it over and over again for great recipes….
Carolyn says
Thanks, Patricia. Do you mean the rooster dish? Wanna hear something crazy? I got that at my wedding and I’ve never used it. I’ve always wanted to but thought maybe it wasn’t oven-safe. It finally occurred to me to look it up online!!! It’s some French company (Lovel, I think) and they sell it at a lot of places so the info was right there…oven-safe to over 500 degrees.
Gail says
Going to try this dish soon. I love squash and cauliflower. But, I have to admit that the first thing I noticed was the cute dish it was baked in. Maybe I can get this in on the Thanksgiving menu if not then for Christmas.
Carolyn says
That dish was given to us for our wedding!
Anna says
I agree, that chicken baking dish is so cute! It’s the first thing I noticed. The recipe looks great. Although I like butternut squash on its own, I honestly think I’d like it even more with cauliflower added.
I’m just starting on the whole lower carbohydrate way of eating, today is my second day. I have a metabolic issue that’s resulted in out of whack insulin levels and the doctor said to cut out as much sugar and grains/starches/carbs as I can. Been scouring the internet looking for awesome recipes and I’ve already found several on your website, can’t wait to try them! We always go to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving I think we will bring this recipe and a nice salad to share. If I eat them plus some turkey, it will be a wonderful meal even without my beloved mashed potatoes and other carb-y delights.
Thanks for the great looking recipes, can’t wait to try them!
Susan Hayes says
Great picture moment, well done!
Even better is that my 15 y/o with autism, who used to eat a total of about 8 foods, no veg, no fruit until we started giving him heavy doses of vitamins loved this!!! He ate it first and signed for “more please!”
When I was diagnosed pre diabetic this summer I realized that by taking grains and starches off the table we were also going gluten free. Something we had tried back when our kiddo was 6 or 7 with absolutely no success. It is fair to say it was a disaster. No pasta, no crackers etc equaled plenty of tantrums and melt downs. Since we’re mostly gluten free already seems like the time to really give it a go and see if it helps him. He’s been eating better since we upped the vitamins but I still consider it a joy and a miracle to watch him snarf down butter nut squash and cauliflower! Snarling, I tell you, no gagging, or worse, just wonders and miracles:-)
Thank you again for making my low carb, sugar free and now gluten free life easier and delicious!
Carolyn says
That’s wonderful! I am glad he loved it so much. I can’t imagine how hard it is when a kid eats so very little variety. I wish you luck in getting him more gluten free!
Susan Hayes says
Oops, snarfing, not snarling. TY auto correct,
Lizzie says
There’s way too much Photoshopping in the world already, thanks for capturing something very real and just letting it be its unaltered beautiful self.
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says
Beautifully captured! This sounds like a wonderful holiday side.
Ari @ Ari's Menu says
That gorgeous steam photo made me click over immediately!! I totally get how exciting that is! And this dish looks absolutely delicious!
Diane (createdbydiane) says
oh this looks so delicious, can’t wait to make it.
Desiree says
What kind of cream do you use in this recipe?
Carolyn says
Heavy cream.
Kathy says
We had this last night as part of our Christmas meal. Much as my family loves fauxtatoes, it can get “same old, same old” when we do that dish to death in every occasion calling out for mashed pototoes. I decided to make this, and it was a huge success, not just for the taste, which is delicious and doesn’t taste like cauliflower, but for the gorgeous colour. Another winner by Carolyn!
Lisa says
Hi,
I have tried several times to retrieve the Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Recipe from the magazine site is not loading the recipe. Will you email me a copy of this recipe or post the recipe in comments?
Thanks so much for your help!
Lisa
Carolyn says
Please email me directly.
Carolyn says
It’s all fixed now, their site crashed this morning.
Jules says
Looks yummy but I don’t see a recipe on this page and when you follow the link it says the site is down for maintenance 🙁
Carolyn says
They must have been down for a bit but they appear to be up and running again now!
Ann says
Just tried this recipe this week after trying to find a new way to use butternut squash. It was lovely!
Erica says
I have found canned butternut squash from Farmer’s Market Organic. It’s a 15oz can, how much would I use of it? says it’s 11g carbs per 1/2 cup serving and there’s approx 4 servings per can.
Carolyn says
I probably would do 1 cup. Otherwise I think the carbs get too high. I imagine that since it’s already cooked and mashed, it’s pretty concentrated compared to fresh butternut.
MARY Barton says
I can’t get the directions for the butternut and cauliflower casserole. Link will not open can you post the directions
Carolyn says
Ingredients
4 cups cubed butternut squash
1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup cream
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Instructions
In a large pot or vegetable steamer, steam squash, cauliflower and garlic cloves until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. You may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your pot.
Drain vegetables very well in a colander, shaking to remove any excess water, and then transfer half to a food processor. Puree until smooth and transfer to a large bowl, then repeat with remaining vegetables.
Stir half of the Parmesan, the cream salt, pepper and dried thyme.
Preheat oven to 350F. Transfer pureed vegetables to a 3 to 4 quart glass or ceramic baking dish and spread out smoothly. Top with remaining Parmesan and bake for 30 minutes.
Turn broiler on high and broil 5 minutes to brown topping.
Serve hot.
Yield: 12
jewel says
Well first all low-carb Turkey day, and I stole many recipes from your site. But without doubt, this casserole got the most wows from my fam. Thank you for sharing so much knowledge and so many wonderful recipes. You are tops!
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
DonnaL says
Stupid question. Do you use fresh Parmesan or the grated one in the green can?
Thanks
Carolyn says
Fresh parm and I grate it myself.
Denise says
I landed on this recipe while searching for another savory butternut squash recipe to use up the plentiful supply of squash we grew this year here in southwest Georgia. To start, i used one of the small, under-ripe butternut squash that we picked so that they wouldn’t go to waste. They are easy to peel and the flesh is a very pale beige with a very nutty flavor. I use 2 cloves of garlic and one small onion and steamed the vegetables until very tender, about 15 min. Then i pureed them in the food processor with 2 tablespoons of half and half, salt and pepper and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese since i didn’t have enough Parmesan. I omitted the thyme, it’s not my favorite and can easily overpower a recipe in my opinion. I topped the casserole with the other 1/2 cup of cheddar and baked for 30 minutes. This is an excellent way to serve two under used vegetables. Thank you for posting the recipe
Carolyn says
Glad you liked it!