15 Squash Recipes You Need In Your Repertoire

The greatest trick squash ever played was convincing us that it's too boring to eat. A zucchini, after all, has a relatively bland flavor and high water content, while an acorn squash looks difficult to penetrate—yet the mildness of squash is is exactly what makes it versatile, and the tough outer shell of certain varieties makes them perfect candidates for roasting.

If you haven't played around with squash before, that needs to change. With minimal effort, this seasonal produce can be transformed into soup, sandwiches, casseroles, pastas, and even showstopping desserts. Here are 14 recipes that will teach you how to take squash from gourd to great.

Most delicata squash are a beautiful cream color with green stripes, or a slightly darker golden color with stripes, but the interior flesh is orange, like butternut squash. Its skin is edible, so preparing a dish of roasted delicata rings is even easier than serving other varieties. Basically, it's almost impossible to screw up, so it's a good starter squash. Get the recipe here.

Kabocha squash, also known as Japanese pumpkin, is one of the many varieties of squash that's likely available year-round at your local Asian supermarket. This soup contains only five ingredients, and it bolsters the mild sweet flavors of the squash with savory elements like bouillon and salted butter—even picky kids love it. Get the recipe here.

Butternut squash is the long, beige variety that looks like a vegetable barbell and yields a vivid orange dish of deliciousness that can be sweetened, spiced, pureed, or simply eaten with a fork right out of the oven. It's a canvas for both savory and sweet flavors, from curry powder to ginger to cinnamon to sumac to maple syrup. Mostly, what this gourd needs is roasting time. Learn more about how to roast butternut squash here.

Yes, it's probably the butter and the sugar that make this squash and pecan casserole extra delectable, but the squash gets points for lending a dessert-like texture to the final product. This recipe is easy to prepare and works with any kind of squash, or even sweet potatoes. Get the recipe here.

You can mix and match both zucchini and yellow squash in this recipe, or stick to whichever variety you like best. Don't worry about messing up this casserole; as long as you use the ingredients somewhere in the vicinity of the original measurements, it'll taste good (though don't go overboard with the salt). Crispy crushed crackers on top make this the ultimate comfort casserole. Get the recipe here.

There are three components to a traditional pavlova: sweet meringue, fresh fruit, and a generous pile of whipped cream. This recipe is an autumnal interpretation, swapping out berries for maple roasted butternut squash and mixing some tangy Greek yogurt into the cream. A sprinkling of pumpkin seeds on top adds pops of salty, toasty savoriness, a bit of complexity in a deceptively simple dessert. Get the recipe here.

The problem with a lot of vegetarian sandwiches is that they don't know how (or just don't bother) to make plants exciting. This spicy kabocha squash sandwich, meanwhile, is both decadent and balanced, rich with brown butter and a generous portion of onion & garlic mayo. The chipotle heat pairs perfectly with the sweet and nutty gourd and results in a hoagie that outperforms many a meat-filled sub. Get the recipe here.

This vegan pasta recipe comes to us from the Plants Only Kitchen cookbook from Avant Garde Vegan's Gaz Oakley. In addition to squash, the pasta is tossed with crispy sage leaves, sun-dried tomatoes, and shiitake mushrooms, as well as many other simple and flavorful ingredients. You can make the recipe easier on yourself by using pre-bagged cubed butternut squash, which will roast in as little as 20 minutes—just enough time for you to get the rest of the pasta together. Get the recipe here.

While it's not a perfect 1:1 substitution for actual spaghetti, spaghetti squash can produce fantastic results if you know how to dress it up. There's no special equipment involved in the prep work; you can fully cook an entire spaghetti squash in the microwave in just a few minutes, allowing it time to rest before shredding. Once cooked, spaghetti squash has a million uses, pairing well with a range of mild and spicy condiments. Learn more about spaghetti squash here.

Let's not forget about zucchini, the ultimate farmers market staple. This Zucchini Pesto Pasta makes use of two whole pounds of zucchini, pairing it with garlic, lemon juice, Parmesan, and toasted almonds for a luxuriously creamy sauce that rigatoni was made to be smothered in. Get the recipe here.

This Zucchini Casserole works just as well with yellow summer squash, so you can use whichever you prefer—the real star is, admittedly, the generous helping of cheddar cheese, which is broiled on top of this puffy, souffle-like dish for added decadence. Get the recipe here.

Forget your desserty associations with the phrase "pumpkin spice" for a moment. This pumpkin soup demonstrates that a whole range of spices, not just cinnamon and nutmeg, pair perfectly with fall's cutest squash. Garlic, red pepper, and curry powder all play off of the light, sweet, and earthy notes of the pumpkin puree in a dish that's bursting with fall flavor. Get the recipe here.

This recipe comes from Always Add Lemon by Danielle Alvarez, and it starts with the beautiful premise that virtually anything can be filled with cheese. Mushrooms, onions, bread, and gruyere are all layered inside a hollowed-out pumpkin, which is then roasted for hours until the filling simmers; serving the dish is as simple as scooping out the insides onto plates. It's a showstopper that will earn you all due bragging rights, and everyone will want to photograph it. Get the recipe here.

Not everyone loves the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. It can taste almost cloyingly sweet, and our fall palate deserves something more balanced. Enter this recipe for Perfect Pumpkin Foam, which incorporates garam masala for added complexity. The base of this foam is a pumpkin sauce that has all kinds of additional uses: drizzle it onto ice cream, stir it into oatmeal, or fold it in with a batch of homemade granola. However you use it, you need it in your repertoire. Get the recipe here.

Traditional blintzes are a pain in the butt, since they require the formation of many delicate pancakes which are then wrapped carefully around the filling ingredients. This baked version cuts right to the chase by mixing all the ingredients together in a pan and serving up the finished product in simple pie slices. It's not a super-sweet breakfast, so you can either keep it as-is or add maple syrup, apple butter, or fruit compote. Get the recipe here.