Vegan Butternut Squash & Roasted Red Pepper Strudel
A vegan butternut squash, roasted red pepper, and kale strudel, wrapped in crispy phyllo pastry and topped with caramelized apples for a hint of sweetness. Halloween’s coming - stay safe inside with a soul-warming savoury vegan strudel.
Skip to any part of the recipe by clicking on the links below:
Introduction
As Halloween approaches, the ghosts and ghouls make their way out. The moon shines brighter, and the night goes darker. It’s eerily quiet on your evening walk, and the hairs on your neck stand up when you realize that chill in the air might not just be the wind. You run back home, lock the doors, and toss this savoury vegan butternut squash strudel into the oven.
Because it’s super simple, and even someone with a shake in their hands from a paranormal, spooky-scary experience can throw this recipe together without a hitch. With a little preparation (taking the phyllo out of the freezer a couple hours beforehand), and some strudel-rolling skills (you’ll be a natural), this dinnertime feast will make easy work of any ghosts or ghouls.
While most may think of strudels packed with sweet ingredients like cinnamon apple or blueberry, this hot take on a classic sugary recipe will blow your mind. I wouldn’t omit all sweetness, though. This recipe comes standard with brunoised (a very fancy cooking term for cutting things really small), caramelized apple to go on top or inside.
The secret to this recipe is to tightly roll your phyllo pastry once you get your ingredients ready to go. You want your pastry to stay in place after it’s been baked, so tightly wrapping everything together will ensure nothing falls apart. Remember to season your filling, and brush your pastry with some oil before you pop it in the oven to give it a nice shine after it’s finished baking.
Check out the Spruce it Up section for ideas on how to take this recipe to the next level.
Before we Get Started
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour
Total Time: 1 Hour, 20 Minutes
Yield: 12-14 Pieces
Ingredients
1 Butternut Squash
1 Red Bell Pepper
Other colours work fine, too.
1 Onion
2 Garlic cloves
Handful of Kale
Phyllo Pastry
They usually come in two sheets. Use one sheet for this (note: not one layer.)
1 Apple
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Onion Powder
Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F.
Peel your butternut squash and chop into cubes about 2 cm. x 2 cm.
Aim for bite-sized pieces and go bigger or smaller depending on your preference.
Dice your red bell pepper.
In a bowl, combine your bell pepper and butternut squash. Drizzle with oil, a good pinch of salt, and your garlic powder and onion powder. Toss to coat.
Once your oven comes to temperature, toss your squash and pepper on a baking tray with tinfoil or oil, and throw them in the oven. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
While your stuff is cooking away in the oven, finely slice an onion. Finely dice your garlic. Despine 2 leaves of kale, and chiffonade.
“Despining” is a fancy term for tearing the leaves of something away from the stem.
“Chiffonading” is an even fancier term that means to place your leaves on top of each other in a stack, rolling them up tightly like a big, green cigar, and finely slicing. You’ll wind up with long, ribbon-like strips.
Put a pan over medium-high heat with some oil. When it begins to shimmer and run more fluidly, add your onions and garlic. Cook for approximately 3-4 minutes, until translucent and fragrant.
Make sure you are stirring often as the garlic will burn if it’s left to sit for too long over medium-high heat. If you’re busy and can’t stir as often, let the onions cook for 2.5-3 minutes before adding your garlic for the final minute.
After your onion and garlic have finished cooking, add your kale, and cook for approx. 1 minute longer until it goes a dark-green colour.
As soon as your oven timer goes off, remove the tray from the oven, and give everything a good mix about. Try to turn over your squash cubes and flip your peppers over, then throw the tray back into the oven for another 10 minutes.
Don’t beat yourself up over this part though - it’s super tedious so just do your best. Take maybe 10 seconds at the most.
Lay your defrosted phyllo sheets down on your cutting board. Drizzle a bit of oil on the edge nearest to you. If your sheets are really long, you can use a knife to cut away some of the phyllo on the far side.
Slice your apple into thin slices, then slice again into matchstick-like shapes. From there, dice your apple into tiny cubes.
As soon as your squash and bell pepper are finished cooking, take them out of the oven, and spoon them out onto your phyllo pastry. Try to evenly disperse it across the length of the phyllo, leaving an inch on either side. Do the same with your onion, garlic, kale, and 1/4 to 1/2 the apple, placing it on top of your squash and peppers.
Tuck the sides of the phyllo in towards the stuffing, and gently roll the bottom of the phyllo over the top of the stuffing. Continue to roll forwards, like a burrito, until you reach the end.
Do your best to keep your rolling tight - it’ll make for a better end result.
Drizzle some oil over the top of your strudel, and use your hands or a pastry brush to coat the top of the strudel evenly.
Toss it in the oven (still at 400°F) for 20 minutes. Give it a check after 20 minutes, and recheck again every 5 minutes afterwards until it’s golden brown on top.
Pull out of the oven, and use a serrated knife to slice into pieces.
Enjoy.
Spruce it Up
Toss your cayenne or chili powder into the bowl with your squash and bell pepper to add a bit of heat.
Try adding sweetness to your strudel with different fruits, like pear.
Collard greens and spinach work really well in place of kale.
Add some other root veggies like sweet potato or parsnip if you don’t have fruit in the house.