Take your dinner to the next level with this comforting and healthy side of butternut squash barley risotto that cooks in 30 minutes.
Your family will enjoy the squash and corn's varying texture, and everyone will leave with satisfied bellies.
The nutty flavor of the barley will shine among the smooth parmesan and white wine.
📃 Why it Works
Besides being a nutritious dish, butternut squash barley risotto is very versatile and adaptable.
It works as a main vegetarian (when you crave those filling grains) or a side dish that is not limited to fall and the holiday season only.
Substitute rice with barley whenever you can. I often use it in stuffed peppers, cabbage leaves, and stuffed onions.
Barley can be enjoyed for breakfast as it is a stand-in for creamy oatmeal!
🛒 Ingredients and Notes
- Small butternut squash - If your squash is larger, use those leftovers to make a delicious soup. You could always stir a little leftover (and mashed!) into your favorite mac and cheese.
- Barley - Quick-cooking barley cooks in 10-12 minutes while pearl barley needs about 40-50 minutes to soften. You can also try using quick-cooking farro or stick with rice if you have celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
- Spinach - Baby spinach is what we used here. Still, you can substitute it with chard, kale, or another green leafy vegetable.
- White wine - Dry, like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio.
- Sage and thyme - I always recommend fresh herbs, but dry is also fine (which is what I used here). I regularly use Dalmatian sage (Dalmatia is a region in Croatia). It is remarkably flavorful with an aromatic, savory, woodsy, and herbaceous taste (thought to be superior to the more common sage varieties).
🔪 Instructions
- Start by sautéing chopped onions until translucent for just a few minutes.
- Next, add cubed squash to the onions and sauté for another few minutes to warm it through.
- Then, add the minced garlic and a splash of white wine. Once the wine has cooked down, add in the vegetable broth, sage, and thyme. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat, cover, and cook until the squash is just tender.
- Meanwhile, cook the barley in vegetable broth. You can also add it to the pan and cook together with the squash, but I feel better control over it when I cook it separately. This also depends on whether I'm using pearl barley or quick-cooking barley.
- Finally, when squash is tender, stir in the cooked barley, corn, and parmesan and fold in the spinach. Let it wilt from the heat. Season everything with salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle it with lemon zest right before serving.
🍽 How To Serve It
You can easily pair this with a protein such as chicken, sausages, pork, or beef. I think it's an excellent side for holidays alongside Thanksgiving turkey or a hearty Christmas roast.
I love that risotto is so flexible. If you are vegetarian or want to increase the nutrition in the meal, a fresh green salad would be a great side dish.
Serving something fresh and crisp alongside a warm and creamy dish gives you a lot of enjoyment from your meal.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Barley is higher in protein than rice and has more fiber, which helps process cholesterol in the body, but it is not gluten-free.
If you are on a GF diet, then do use rice. Arborio rice is traditionally used for risotto, but you can use Jasmine or Basmati for quicker cooking.
The pearled barley itself does take 40-50 minutes to cook, but you can use the quick-cooking kind or leave it alone to simmer and keep busy with your other tasks at the same time. Just bring your barley and broth to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover, and walk away.
Peel first, using a sturdy vegetable peeler and making sure you get off all the lighter colored bits until you reach the deep-colored flesh. Then chop off the bulbous end from the longer part. This makes it easy to scoop out the seeds. Then slice and cut into consistent pieces.
- Butternut Squash And Apple Soup
- Butternut Squash With Pecans And Blue Cheese
- Apple And Butternut Squash Lasagna
- German Barley Sausage Soup
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Butternut Squash-Barley Risotto
EQUIPMENT
- Large non-stick skillet
- Medium saucepan
- Vegetable peeler
- Zester
Ingredients
- ½ cup quick-cooking barley
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- ¼ teaspoon each dried sage and thyme
- 1 cup corn, fresh, frozen or canned
- 3 cups baby spinach
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, optional
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté, stirring often, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add peeled and cubed squash and sauté for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, stir ½ cup of barley into briskly boiling 1 cup of broth. Reduce heat to a simmer; cook, covered, until tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed, 10-12 minutes or whatever the package instructions suggest.
- Stir cooked barley and 1 cup corn into the skillet with squash. Add 3 cups spinach and ½ cup parmesan cheese; season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove from heat. Sprinkle with lemon zest and serve with additional parmesan if you like.
Notes
- Cut the squash into consistent pieces so that it cooks evenly.
- The smaller you cut the squash, the less time it needs to cook. Check for tenderness by piercing with a fork during cooking.
- If you use pearl barley, keep in mind that it needs much longer to cook.
- This dish will last stored in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. Reheat in the microwave.
- For vegan option, use vegetable broth and omit the parmesan or use nutritional yeast or other substitute.
- For gluten-free option, replace barley with rice.
- For the best results, read additional tips in the post above.
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on products used.
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