• Home
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • VIDEO SERIES: Learn to Cook on a Budget
    • How-To & Cooking Tutorials
    • Popular Recipes
  • Meal Plans
    • Weekly Meal Plans
    • Freezer Meal Plans
    • The ORIGINAL 20 Meals for $150 Plans
  • Classes
    • Grocery Savings 101 Workshop
    • Freezer Cooking 101 Workshop
    • Meal Planning 101 Workshop
    • Instant Pot Cooking 101 Course
    • My Efficient Kitchen Course
  • Store
    • COOKBOOK: Feeding Teenage Boys on a Budget
    • COOKBOOK: Learn to Cook on a Budget
    • COOKBOOKS & PREP KITS: MyFreezEasy Freezer Meals
    • Whis-Kid Cooking Lessons
    • Erin’s Favorite Gadgets
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • About
    • Press
  • Login

$5 Dinners | Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals

Budget Recipes, Meal Plans, Freezer Meals and Cooking Tutorials for the Busy Home Chef

Save on Groceries in 2025

Butternut Cranberry Rice Pilaf

October 15, 2014 by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom Leave a Comment

34 shares
  • Share10
  • Tweet
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Sign up to receive FREE weekly emails with recipes, coupons and other money saving tips right into your inbox. Become a friend on Facebook too AND/OR join the $5 Meal Plan Family and get meal plans delivered to you each week!

Butternut Cranberry Rice Pilaf on 5DollarDinners.com

All the flavors of fall in a dinner dish.

That’s this rice pilaf!

When making this, I used 1/2 cup of wild rice because I have some in the pantry and I’m trying to use it up! You could use all brown rice or even all wild rice if you have some. Wild rice is expensive, which is why I try to use it sparingly and stretch it out!

This pilaf has roasted butternut squash, roasted sweet potatoes…along with sweet cranberries and a bite from the red onion. Topped off with a tangy vinaigrette dressing…mmm.mmm.mmm!

Butternut Cranberry Rice Pilaf Recipe

I prefer to roast butternut squash from scratch, but you could save yourself from cutting up the squash if you purchase the already cubed butternut squash from the freezer. BUT…since fresh butternut squash will be ridiculously cheap in the coming months, I prefer to spend less and cut them up myself!

Here’s the recipe for ya…enjoy!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe Recipe Saved!

Butternut Cranberry Rice Pilaf

All the best flavors in one dish!
Prep Time25 minutes minutes
Cook Time1 hour hour
Servings - 4 servings

Ingredients 

  • 1 small butternut squash
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1/2 cup wild rice
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • Tangy vinaigrette dressing
  • 1 small red onion, chopped

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400 F. Add 1/4 inch of water to a 9x13 inch glass baking dish.
  • Slice the top off the butternut squash, then cut it in half, lengthwise. Place the 2 pieces, flesh side up in the baking dish. Roast for 1 hour, or until flesh is soft all the way through. Cut into bite size pieces.
  • Cook the rice, as directed. I mixed the brown rice and wild rice together in my rice cooker with 3 1/4 cups of water.
  • Cook the 2 sweet potatoes (with a slit) in the microwave for 5-6 minutes, or until soft. Cut them up into small bite size squares.
  • Once everything is cooked and cubed, combine the rice, butternut squash cubes, sweet potato cubes, and cranberries in a large mixing bowl. Add in the cinnamon and ground ginger. Then add dressing, to taste.
  • Serve Butternut Cranberry Rice Pilaf with red onion garnish.
  • To Freeze: Before adding the red onions, add the cooled rice pilaf into a plastic container or freezer baggie.
  • To Thaw and Reheat: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Add to a saucepan with about 3/4 cups of water and cook over medium low heat, tossing often until heated through. Add red onions before serving.

Pin all of our Freezer Recipes on Pinterest:

Follow $5 Dinners’ board 31 Days of Freezer Cooking Recipes on Pinterest.

34 shares
  • Share10
  • Tweet

Filed Under: Budget Friendly Recipes, Freezer Recipes and Freezer Meal Plans, Gluten Free Recipes, Rice Recipes, Side Dish Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes Tagged With: 31 Days of Freezer Cooking Recipes

These meals are a LIFESAVER!

Want a set of our best selling freezer meal bag holders?! You can now order them right here!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search $5 Dinners

Favorite Meal Planning & Cooking Resources

Whis-Kid Cooking Lessons Grocery Budget Makeover My Freezeasy Erin Chase Store 5DD Freebie Library 20 Meals for $150 Plans

© 2025 5 Dollar Dinners | Disclosure Policy | Copyright Information | Terms of Service/Privacy Policy | Accessibility | Design & Tech Support by Klong Designs



Copyright © 2025 · 5 Dollar Dinners Genesis Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in