Bacon and Sage Roasted Winter Squash Seeds

We all know I’m obsessed with squash. It’s weird. I’ve accepted it. But what I haven’t told you yet is that I literally use the entire squash whenever I have one. I have a distinct memory of carving pumpkins with my college roommate and immediately proceeding to make roasted seeds and even pumpkin “gut” bread. We justified pissing off all our neighbors by making noise until the wee hours of the morning by being super economical and not leaving a single piece of squash to waste.

While I haven’t made any “gut” breads recently, I always roast the seeds of whatever squash I’m using a) because I’m poor and feel guilty when I waste anything I can consume and b) because squash seeds seriously make the perfect snack. This time, I decided to spice up my favorite snack by roasting them with bacon grease, bacon itself, and debatably the classiest of all herbs, sage. Keep this little ditty in mind and feel free to double or even triple the recipe when you’re roasting your squashes for the holidays (everyone does that, right?) because I’m not quite sure what a holiday table is if there’s not bacon on it.

Level: Easy

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 1-2

Ingredients:
1 slice bacon, extra small dice
seeds from one squash (acorn, spaghetti, whatever you have)
1 pinch dried sage
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. To get the ideal bacon dice for this recipe, slice bacon in half lengthwise (making it half as wide), and then dicing it from there.
3. In a small frying pan over medium-low heat, add diced bacon and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until almost half to 3/4 way cooked. Don’t cook through all the way through as the bacon will continue cooking in the oven.
4. While your bacon is cooking, scoop out the “guts” from whatever squash you are using.
5. Remove seeds from innards and wash thoroughly using a colander.
6. Transfer seeds to paper or cloth towels to dry them completely.
7. Transfer dried seeds to parchment paper.
8. When bacon reaches ideal level of doneness as described above, add to baking sheet with the seeds. Make sure you get all the grease, too!
9. Add salt, pepper, and sage to seeds and bacon.
10. Place baking sheet in the oven for about 10 minutes or until seeds are golden brown.
11. Eat as a healthy snack or put on top of the squash itself for a nice crunchy touch.