Butternut squash combined with caramelized onions and wrapped in an herbed flavored crust is the ultimate comfort food. A savory galette is great for when the weather starts to turn cold.
A butternut squash galette can be served as a side or a vegetarian dinner. You’ll need to roast the squash first but you can always do that in advance. It’s a savory galette with the flakiest crust.
I love experimenting with butternut squash recipes, it has such a unique flavor when baked in a butternut squash casserole. Roasting it brings out its flavor in salads or sides, there’s nothing quite like it.
It has a pretty hard exterior so you’ll need a sharp knife to cut it but, it’s so worth the effort. Most groceries now have it cubed already in the produce section, if you don’t want to bother cutting it.
A galette is a type of tart or open face pie with a rustic look. No fussing with trying to make a pretty pie crust, you just roll it out on a baking sheet. The flaky pie crust is always my favorite part of the pie and with this method, you get even more crust. They can be made sweet with fruit fillings like an apple and pear galette or savory like this one here.
For this butternut squash galette recipe, I added some herbs to the crust to give a bit of extra flavor to the flaky crust. If you love a savory galette, try making Chicken Pot Pie Galette and Tomato Galette, both family favorites at our house.
Why you’ll love it
- Great flavor. The caramelized onions combined with butternut squash are amazing. If you ask me, anything with caramelized onions just can’t be bad.
- Works great for leftovers!
- Simple enough for dinners at home but also an impressive dish for a casual brunch or lunch for guests.
What you’ll need
- Baking ingredients for crust: You will need regular all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, salt and butter.
- Add flavor to the crust: Fresh basil and oregano though you can swap with dried if you prefer, apple cider vinegar and salt.
- Butternut squash: The star of this galette though the onions are a close second. Butternut squash is easy to find and cook but you can experiment with other winter squashes if desired.
- Olive oil: Or you can swap with another neutral oil.
- Butter: A bit more added to the olive oil for caramelizing the onions.
- Onion: I prefer using sweet onions such as Vidalia or Walla Walla onions.
- Sugar: Enhances the sweetness in the caramelized onions.
- Cayenne pepper: Just a bit to balance out the sweetness of the onions.
- Fontina cheese: It’s what brings all the flavors together and makes it gooey.
- Fresh thyme: The flavors of thyme meld perfectly with the butternut squash and caramelized onions. I highly recommend using the fresh!
How to make a rustic butternut squash tart
Step 1: – make the crust
Add flour, sugar, herbs and salt to a food processor and pulse until combined. Next, add the butter and pulse. You want to leave some clumps of butter. Add cold water and vinegar and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. (You can use a pastry cutter instead of a food processor)
Form the dough into two round disks about one-inch thick. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
This makes enough crust for two galettes, just freeze the second one until your ready to make it. I love having a pie crust in the freezer for when you’re short on time.
Step 2: – roast the squash and caramelize the onions
Cut the squash into one-inch chunks and mix them with olive oil. Roast at 425º for 30 minutes. When ready, remove and set it aside to cool.
While the squash is roasting, melt the butter and olive oil in a heavy skillet and cook the onions over medium-low heat with a little sugar and salt, stirring occasionally until soft and tender, about 25 minutes. Add some cayenne pepper.
Step 3: – form the galette
Mix the onions and squash with cheese and thyme.
Roll out the dough into a 9 inch circle. Spread the squash mixture in the center leaving a two-inch border. Fold the border over the squash and brush the outside of the crust with cream.
Bake the butternut squash and caramelized onion galette at 425º until golden brown, 30-40 minutes. Remove and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
How to store
Leftovers: As long as you wrap up leftovers well or store in an airtight container, this vegetarian galette makes great leftovers. Store in the fridge up to five days or in the freezer for up to three months.
Reheat: If frozen, thaw out in the fridge overnight. Transfer to a baking tray and heat in a 350° oven for 15-20 minutes or until heated through.
FAQ and tips
- Do a little planning to make this recipe. The galette dough needs to be refrigerated just like any pie crust.
- Roll out the dough and fill the galette on a piece of parchment paper to make sliding it onto a baking pan easier.
- Serving ideas. I love butternut squash galette all by itself served up with a simple spinach salad. It’s also wonderful as a side dish with roasted pork or garlic chicken.
- To save time, caramelize the onions while the squash is roasting.
Can I make dough for the galette in advance?
Yes, if you want to get ahead of the game a bit you can make the dough up to 48 hours in advance. Be sure to wrap it well. If it’s too firm to roll out, let it soften for up to an hour on the counter before you get ready to roll the dough and add the filling.
Is galette served hot or cold?
For a savory galette, and this one in particular, I prefer serving it warm. It will work served room temperature but I think it loses some of its flavor when eaten cold.
More Butternut Squash Recipes
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Butternut Squash Galette with Caramelize Onions
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 20 tablespoons butter 2 ½ sticks
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup cold water
- coarse sea salt
Filling
- 1 lb butternut squash peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- pepper
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 1 sweet onion sliced thinly
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 cup fontina cheese grated
- ½ teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon cream
Instructions
Crust
- In a food processor, add flour, sugar, herbs and salt and pulse until combined. Add butter, cut into 1 inch pieces and pulse until until there are still clumps. Add cold water and vinegar and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Place on floured surface and form into two round disks about 1 inch thick and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (This makes enough for two galettes, freeze the 2nd one for another time)
- Cut the squash into 1 inch chunks and mix with olive oil. Lay on a baking sheet in a single layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 425º for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- While squash is roasting, melt the butter and ½ tablespoon olive oil in a heavy skillet and cook the onions over medium-low heat with the sugar and salt, stirring occasionally until soft and tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in the cayenne pepper.
- Mix the onions and squash with cheese and thyme.
- On a floured piece of parchment paper, roll out the dough into a 9 inch circle. Spread the squash mixture in the center leaving a 2 inch border. Fold the border over the squash and brush the outside of crust with a little cream.
- Bake at 425º until golden brown, 30-40 minutes. Remove and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- The recipe makes enough crust for two galettes, you can half the recipe if you only want one.
- You can prepare the squash and onions ahead of time.
- If you don’t want to cut the butternut squash, you can find it precut in the produce section.
- You can use a prepared pie crust dough.
Nutrition
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Hi, the recipe doesn’t say what to do with the cider, water or sea salt although I can easily figure it out. Also, it talks about cream, I assume it’s the tablespoon at the bottom of the recipe. Didn’t notice that at the grocery store, so guess I will do a milk/egg wash.
I’m sorry that the recipe wasn’t clear, I have corrected it.
Thank you Barbara, making it again for Thanksgiving. It is amazingly delicious!! I was going to write a review and then saw that I had written before, getting forgetful 🙂
So glad it’s become a Thanksgiving dish for you. I love it for a vegetarian dinner too.