November 22, 2025

Butternut Squash Dumplings

For a Sunday afternoon project I decided to tackle the first half of Butternut Dumplings with Brown Butter and Sage by making the dumplings and freezing them for later. I had been sort of dreading this one, because reading through the comments on the Food Network recipe page, I saw that tons of people had a lot of trouble with it and ended up with wet, sticky dough that couldn’t be worked. So, I figured I’d halve the recipe and see what I could come up with.

The recipe on the site leaves a lot to be desired, especially because it doesn’t give any weights to the ingredients. It calls for one and half butternut squashes, and four russet potatoes. After weighing a few squashes and potatoes at the supermarket, I determined that half of this recipe would be 1.5 pounds of butternut squash, and 1.5 pounds of potato. So, equal proportions.

I went ahead and roasted the butternut squash (oh, by the way I used pre-cubed pieces, which makes it so much easier) and the potatoes for about an hour at 375. When they came out I mashed them all together and mixed in an egg (I didn’t halve that part of the recipe) plus 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and a pinch of nutmeg.

Since we’re halving the recipe I then added 3/4 cups of Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour and mixed it with a spoon. The dough looked like it was coming together but it wasn’t quite the consistency I thought I was looking for, so I added another quarter cup of flour for a total of 1 cup altogether, plus a quarter teaspoon of xanthan gum. At this point, the dough was the consistency of the cookie dough you buy in the tube at the grocery store, which seemed exactly right to me.

Rolling it out on the counter, I used only a little more flour. This part was time consuming but not terribly difficult. As I made rope after rope, I cut them up with a butter knife and put them on parchment-lined sheet pans.

Then it was into the freezer. A few hours later I took all of them out and put them into a plastic bag for cooking later.

The next Saturday was when I decided to give these a try for lunch. I started by boiling a large stock pot full of water, then dumping 2 cups of dumplings into the water. The recipe said they’d float when they were done, but I didn’t find tha to be true. I checked them frequently and when they were thawed through and cooked to al dente I removed them from the water and added them to an ice batch (a strainer in a bowl of ice water). I then drained them, tossed them in a little olive oil, and added them to a pan with some butter and sage.

When they started to get a nice browned crust I plated them and grated some fresh Parmesan cheese on top, plus a pinch of sea salt.

Then we ate! They were good. Not mind-blowing, but a really nice snack. The texture was very light, and the flavor mild. They were a little dry and we concluded that a bit of a light cream sauce or brown butter sauce would really take them up a notch. I might try that with the ones I still have in the fridge. Overall, though, this was a decent project with a pretty delicious result.

Butternut Dumplings with Brown Butter and Sage

• Crowd: 3/5
• Ease: 2/5
• Substituted Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free flour, plus a quarter teaspoon of xanthan gum
• Added an extra quarter cup of flour
• Would benefit from a cream or butter sauce