The flavor of cooked blue Hubbard squash is tarter than butternut but milder than pumpkin and can vary based on the color of the flesh. To my palette the yellow flesh reminds me of spaghetti squash while the orange is closer to butternut squash.
Cooked blue Hubbard squash can be used and eaten like other winter squashes such as butternut or acorn squash.
If you've never had Blue Hubbard Squash (or cooked whole one) I suggest looking for pieces or quarters as a way to start/try this since the pieces are smaller, lighter and easier to handle due to how large this squash can be and how tough the skin is.
Recipes for cooking both a whole and pieces of Blue Hubbard Squash are presented here. The recipe for cooking the whole squash is a combination of the one from Food Network's website and the approach I took to cook pieces of this squash two years earlier. For both recipes, I recommend using a roasting pan with handles as I found it helped getting the squash in and out of the oven.
Baked Blue Hubbard Squash Pieces
1) Place oven rack on middle rung.
2) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees farenheit.
3) Place squash, skin side down in roasting pan.
4) Fill baking dish/roasting pan with 1/8” water.
5) Loosely cover (tent) roasting pan with aluminum foil.
6) Place in oven and cook 35 minutes - 1 hour 15 minutes or until squash in center of dish/pan is easily pierced with a fork.
7) When squash is cooked to desired tenderness, remove from oven and let cool uncovered in pan for 5 minutes.
8) Transfer squash to cutting board and let cool until it can be comfortably touched with your fingers.
9) Remove the cooked squash from the skin.
10) Serve or use as you would in other winter squash recipes. Store any unused cooked squash in airtight container in refrigerator.
Baked Blue Hubbard Squash (Whole Squash)
1) Place oven rack on middle rung.
2) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees farenheit.
3) Rinse squash with water. Pat dry.
4) Place wash and dried squash on flat surface. Using a paring knife, pierce squash 10 times in multiple places as this will prevent squash from exploding while it's in the oven.
5) Place squash deep baking dish/roasting pan.
6) Fill roasting pan with 1/8” water.
7) Place in oven and cook 35 minutes - 1 hour 15 minutes or until squash is easily pierced with fork in three places. Skin of the squash may brown or bubble from baking.
8) When squash is cooked to desired tenderness, remove from oven and let cool uncovered in pan for 15 minutes or until it can be comfortably touched with your fingers.
9) Carefully cut the squash, removing the skin and scooping out the seeds. (Note, the same paring knife used to pierce squash in step 4 can be used for cutting.)
10) Serve or use as you would in other winter squash recipes. Store any unused cooked squash in airtight container in refrigerator.
11) If any part of the squash didn't cook to desired tenderness, follow recipe above to bake Blue Hubbard Squash Pieces to get desired tenderness.
Baked Blue Hubbard Squash
ready to be served or used in
other winter squash recipes
