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Top down view of a bowl of pasta mixed with sauce, roasted butternut squash and red pepper flakes.

Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.7 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Catherine Perez
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings 1x
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Stove Top
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan

Description

A creamy, richly flavored butternut squash pasta recipe infused with roasted garlic and sage. Easy to make with simple vegan ingredients.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into small 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1/2 medium red onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 small head of garlic
  • 12 tbsp olive oil
  • 10 fresh sage leaves, sliced
  • 16 oz of pasta, I used orecchiette
  • 1/2 tsp dry thyme
  • Half a bouillon cube or 1 tbsp soy sauce or 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or shelf stable soy milk
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Juice of half a lemon

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 425F then line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Cut the top of your garlic head off and then add your cubed butternut squash, onion, sage, and garlic bulb to the baking sheet. Drizzle your vegetables with your olive oil along with the sliced sage, a pinch of salt and pepper and toss to coat. Drizzle some of the olive oil on top of the cut garlic and then place the pan in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes or until the butternut squash is cooked through.
  3. Bring a pot of water to a boil, generously salt and then cook your pasta according to the package and reserve 3/4 cup of pasta water for your sauce before draining the pasta and placing back in the pot.
  4. To a blender, add your sunflower seeds, thyme, the roasted garlic cloves removed from their skin, your bouillon cube milk, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water. Now blend until completely smooth and if too thick, add the remaining 1/4 cup of pasta water and blend again.
  5. To the pot with the pasta, add your sauce and then the roasted vegetables and sage along with a squeeze of lemon juice. Give everything a big stir to combine and then adjust salt and pepper to your liking before serving.

Notes

Make sure to reserve pasta water for your sauce. The starch in the pasta water does two things. It helps thicken the sauce and it also helps the sauce to stick to the pasta.

If using soy milk for your plant milk, use shelf stable unsweetened soy milk. I have tried this recipe with the regular refrigerated cartons you see in store, and it has a slightly sweet taste, which I do not like. The cartons you find on the shelf for some reason don’t have that sweet taste.

Cook your pasta in salted water. Your pasta will taste bland if you don’t salt your water. The salt will penetrate into the pasta as it cooks, which will enhance the overall flavor of the dish. 

I love garnishing this dish with extra vegan parmesan. It just gives this dish additional depth of flavor and pairs so well with the roasted squash.