Step 1

Trim the ends. Place the squash on its side and cut off both ends. The safest way to slice into a butternut squash is to stabilize it with your non-dominant hand formed into a "claw," and then make an initial cut into the squash to penetrate the skin. Do this with as little pressure as possible — you're not trying to hack though the whole vegetable at this point. Once the knife has made its way through the skin and no longer poses a threat to slip, you can lean heavily into it to complete your cut.

Step 2

Peel. Run a vegetable peeler along the length of the squash to remove the skin, rotating the squash as you go. You can peel the length of the squash in long strokes, or you can peel it halfway up the sides and then turn it and peel the other half.

Step 3

Cut the squash in half at the neck. The neck of the squash and the body will be dealt with slightly differently, so cut the squash in half where it looks like the neck ends and the body begins to curve out.

Step 4

Cut the neck end into cubes. If you'd like squash cubes, cut the squash neck crosswise into rounds as thick as you want your cubes to be. In other words, if your recipe calls for 1-inch cubes, cut the squash into 1-inch rounds. Cut the rounds into sticks, then cut the sticks crosswise into cubes. A few of the end pieces will be more triangular in shape, but that can't be avoided and is actually just fine!

Step 5

Cut the body end into cubes. Cut the body in half lengthwise, exposing the seeds. Using a spoon, scrape out the seeds and any stringy bits. (Save the seeds if you have ambitions to roast them.) Slice each half crosswise into half-moons the same way you cut the neck, then repeat with cutting those pieces into sticks and then cubes.