Today we will guide you on making one of the meanest casseroles that the South Side has to offer.
All you will be needing are a few ingredients, one pot, and in just under an hour, you’ll be able to whip up a healthy dose of squash delight as a side for lunch or dinner.
It goes perfectly as a side dish along with any occasional meal. It compliments as a side to your heavier dishes and balances out the flavor of the whole setting.
You could also spice it up and add a dash of diced bacon and onion sauté.
Made with fresh yellow squash, a creamy, cheesy coating and finished with crispy crushed butter crackers. It is a perfect homestyle side dish that is also on the healthier side.
Without further delay, let’s dig into the required ingredients and recipe to make your yellow squash casserole!
Ingredients
The ingredients you will need for this task are:
- Four to five cups of sliced yellow squash
- ½ cup of diced onion
- Two tablespoons of water
- One sleeve of crushed, buttered rounds of crackers
- 1 cup of cheddar cheese, preferably shredded
- Two eggs, beaten
- One teaspoon of salt
- ¼ teaspoon of pepper, preferably black pepper
- Two tablespoons butter
- ¾ cup of milk
- And ¼ cup of melted butter.
You could also add fresh parsley and dried chives to the list, as they add a light herby flavor to the dish. Panko can also be used as a topping and filling for that excellent crisp after broiling (it also helps to soak up that extra moisture).
Instructions
Once you’ve acquired all the ingredients, you can start to make your way towards the completed dish by following these simple steps:
1. Preheat the oven to about 350°F.
2. Use a deep skillet, about a good 12 inches, and proceed to add squash along with onion and water.
3. Cook the mixture above medium temperature until the pan becomes hot.
4. Cover it with the lid and lower the temperature to medium-low. Then proceed to cook for 5 minutes till the squash becomes tender. You can check by poking it with a fork.
5. Add about half of the cracker rounds to the mix after you have crushed them, along with half of the cheese, and mix well with the cooked squash. If you are using Panko, you can add it as a filling in this step.
6. Add in the eggs, butter, salt, and pepper, and pour the milk to the mixture and make sure that the ingredients are properly blended and mixed.
7. After that, top the mixture with the remaining cheese and cracker crumbs. Add parsley and dried chives if desired, for that light herb flavor.
8. Apply butter to the top portion of the casserole.
9. Then bake the mixture for about 25 minutes.
10. Your yellow squash casserole is ready to be served!
And there you have it! It is a perfect complimentary side dish that could also be the main course full of creamy and delicious squash goodness. Ready to be served in just under an hour.
Additional Tips:
- Try to cut the squash evenly so that they all cook evenly.
- Use smaller squash, preferably. If large squashes are all you have, you could cut them into halves or even quarters before dicing. That should help in layering the pieces nicely into the baking dish.
- Pre-boil the squash that they may come out tender in the end.
- Preferably use freshly shredded cheese to obtain the best flavor and melting texture.
- Be very careful and pay attention when broiling to toast the crumb topping as it can go from golden brown to black and burned in a matter of seconds!
