I like acorn squash. I do not like to peel acorn squash. The grooves make these tiny squash almost impossible to peel, especially considering how small they are and how little flesh they actually yield. Many people bake or steam acorn squash halves exactly for this reason, leading me to see if I could get an acorn squash ready to eat within 20 minutes of cutting it in half. The Instant Pot works its magic as usual using only a half a cup of water to cook the squash. The quick 5 minute cooking window yields a squash that still has some texture and bite to it left, yet you could always cook it for a couple minutes longer, or let the pressure release naturally (instead of the quick release method) if you want a softer acorn squash for a mash or puree.
What you need:
- 1 or 2 small to medium acorn or winter squash, cut in half and seeds removed
- 1/2 cup water
- Sea Salt
Equipment:
- Instant Pot pressure cooker
- Steamer basket
- Large kitchen knife
- Ice cream scoop or large spoon
How you make it:
- Carefully cut your squash in half down the middle.
- Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to remove the seeds from your squash halves.
- Place steamer basket into your Instant Pot along with your 1/2 cup of water.
- Add your squash halves to your Instant Pot and lightly sprinkle with sea salt.
- Close lid, set pressure valve to sealing, set to manual (high pressure) for 5 minutes.
- Perform a quick release of the pressure immediately after the cooking program finishes.
- Use a fork to pull out your cooked squash from it’s shell, or allow to cool and remove meat by hand and enjoy!
- Note: For firmer squash, reduce cooking time to 4 minutes. For softer, delay your quick release time by a few minutes.
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Based on 26 Review(s)
| Prep Time | 2 minutes |
| Cook Time | 5 minutes |
| Passive Time | 12 minutes |
| Servings |
people
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- 1 to 2 Whole acorn squash cut in half and seeds removed
- 0.5 Cups water
- 0.5 tsp sea salt to taste
Ingredients
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- Carefully cut your squash in half down the middle.
- Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to remove the seeds from your squash halves.
- Place steamer basket into your Instant Pot along with your 1/2 cup of water.
- Add your squash halves to your Instant Pot and lightly sprinkle with sea salt.
- Close lid, set pressure valve to sealing, set to manual (high pressure) for 5 minutes.
- Perform a quick release of the pressure immediately after the cooking program finishes.
- Use a fork to pull out your cooked squash from it's shell, or allow to cool and remove meat by hand and enjoy!
For firmer squash, reduce cooking time to 4 minutes. For softer, delay your quick release time by a few minutes.
Comments 7
The recipe says 5 minutes in the text, but the recipe card says 15
I imagine that it says 15 min because the InstaPot takes time to come up to temperature and pressure before the 5min starts counting down.
InstaPot recipes can be a bit misleading because the pot takes time to come up to temperature and pressure before the cooking time (5min in this case) begins.
I’m guessing that’s taking into account the pot coming to preasure.
Nicely done.
Since I like added flavors, i sprinkled a little nutmeg onto the ½-tbsp of butter and 1-tsp brown sugar in each half. Cooked for 7 mins. on high, which made the squash nicely soft for one of my first solids after radiation in the throat..!
Maybe it was just my squash, but it took mine cooked as directed .. X3 [ in other words a total of15 minutes on high .. to be at the edible texture…]
5 minutes was not close to long enough. I thought it seemed low but I did it anyway, but as I suspected it was way too hard. Put it back in for another 5 minutes and it was closer but still could have used another 1-2 minutes. Next time I’d cook them for 12 minutes.