Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

5 from 2 votes

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I’ve gotten hooked onto another tv show on Netflix.

I love Netflix.

First is was Monk. Then it was Dawson’s Creek. Then to was Felicity. Then it was Friday Night Lights {omg, so GOOD!} and now……are you ready for this? I’m officially obsessed with Dr.90210. Yes, it’s a plastic surgery show. Yes, it’s bad tv. Yes it’s slightly gory. But it’s like Dawson’s Creek–>it’s so bad it’s good. You want to look away, but you just can’t!

And can I just say that Dr. Rey is so ridiculous it’s HI.LAR.I.OUS.

I’ve only watched the first four episodes {because I have no time these days} but I’m trying to pencil in more 20 minute intervals in my day to watch more. So far, I watch it while I’m on the treadmill at the gym {from my phone} and while I’m doing dishes every night {kill me} from the iPad.

I live an exciting life, let me tell you.

ANYWAYS, besides my slight addiction to Netflix, I thought I’d share with you an amazing and fast pasta sauce that isn’t the normal meat sauce. Or Brown Butter Alfredo Sauce {drool}. This sauce is made from sweet butternut squash and makes my heart *and tummy* happy. It’s cheesy, creamy and the texture is velvety smooth. Plus, I love the taste of the squash with the parmesan cheese. It’s salty but sweet….and with all that extra pepper–PUH-LEASE. I’m a goner.

If you have 30 minutes or so to spare, make this for dinner tonight. You will lurve it.

Here’s how you do it:

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Start by chopping up half a large onion. If you store these in the fridge, then you don’t cry as much when you chop 🙂 You’re welcome for that life changing tip.

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Also, chop up some gah-lick.

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Also dice some sweet golden nuggets of sunshine. Butternut squash, yo.

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In a deep skillet or pot, heat up a little olive oil and brown your onions in that dark hole of a kitchen you have. Wait, what? Your kitchen isn’t a dark hole like mine? Please disregard that last sentence. And please excuse these next few photos. Womp womp.

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Once your onions are brown, stir in the garlic and squash. Give this a few more minutes in the pan before we start turning this into sauce.

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Now, stir in thyme, salt, pepper a bay leaf and some chicken stock. Cover the pan, bring to boil, reduce to simmer and cook 8-10 minutes or until the squash is fork tender. This would be a good time to cook some pasta!

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Once the squash is tender, remove the bay leaf and puree the whole shebang until really really smooth. If you want it particularly creamy and velvety {which you DO}, stir in some parmesan cheese and heavy cream.

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Drain your pasta and toss in as much sauce as you’d like.

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Top it with more cheese and pepper and dig in!

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Mmm…..hello, lovah. I want to eat you all up. #carbs4ever

If you think you don’t like squash, try pureeing it with cream and cheese and serving it over pasta. Odds are you’ll soon LOVE it. Try this recipe out this week 🙂

Here’s the printable. Enjoy, friends!

butternut squash pasta
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5 from 2 votes

Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce is a creamy cheese sauce, and is the perfect fall topper for your favorite pasta!
servings 4 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup onion diced
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 4 heaping cups butternut squash peeled and diced
  • 2 cups chicken stock vegetable broth
  • 1/8 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2/3 lb pasta cooked to al dente

Instructions

  • Heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onion until browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and squash and cook another 3 minutes.
  • Pour in chicken stock, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook 8-10 minutes or until squash is tender.
  • Remove bay leaf and puree until completely smooth. Stir in cheese and cream. Toss with cooked pasta and serve with extra cheese and pepper, if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 467kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 279mg | Potassium: 364mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 379IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 110mg | Iron: 1mg
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

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Recipe Rating




34 Responses
  1. Linda Russell

    5 stars
    This was insanely delicious! I halved the recipe and used sage, otherwise followed pretty closely and this is my new hands-down favorite pasta sauce. I can’t wait to make this for the next family get together. Thank you for sharing! 😊

  2. Hisako

    5 stars
    Thank you for the great butternut squash recipe.
    I had been interested in a butternut squash since I found it in vegan cookbook. But I had never seen it here in Japan. Finally, I could get the Butternut squash last week and I tried this recipe. I’m falling in love with it. I will stock this sauce!

  3. Andrea

    OH EM GEE! This is so so yummy. My little guy is just about a week older than your sweet Ed, and he thought it was tasty too. Thanks for another amazing recipe!

  4. Heather

    Hmmmmm. I want to try to make this into a lasagne-esque dish. The sausage idea sounds inspiring! Trying to think what other veggies I could dice up in here to give it some more lasagne-like texture….

  5. Stephanie

    Just made this tonight and it’s fantastic! We didn’t have any heavy cream so I used some 2% milk and it came out great. We will use the leftovers as soup tomorrow– great recipe!

  6. K

    Totally subbed Daisy’s light sour cream for the heavy cream and veggie stock for the chicken stock – definitely a winning recipe! 🙂

  7. Janice Iovino Friedman

    I was looking for a butternut squash sauce and found your recipe. I made it today. Simply delicious. Just a wonderfully healthy and satisfying dish. Perfect for autumn. I topped with a little fresh ricotta and wow! A nice extra but certainly not necessary. Thanks for posting. This will be a keeper for me.

  8. Sharon

    I love your blog. Thanks for the recipe. My husband can’t eat dairy or tomatoe products so I’ve been searching for pasta recipes with no success. Hopefully this will work without the cream and cheese.

  9. Andi

    I’m thinking I might make this and serve it over spaghetti squash instead of actual pasta. Any thoughts?
    (no picky kids in my house, but medium-picky friends who THINK they don’t like things)

    1. Andi

      Made this today with spaghetti squash and it was delightful. A little extra chicken-y because I used homemade chicken stock and didn’t have quite 4 cups of squash. (okay, I actually had barely 3 cups of squash) but it was a big hit. And now we’re considering how many other things we could use the sauce with.
      Top of the list so far: mashed potatoes (as gravy) and pizza (as sauce)

  10. Ashley

    I just tried Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce last night for the first time last night. I completely fell in love – I must have it all the time! But…it’s $10 a jar. This looks amazingly delicious. Not to mention way cheaper, and almost as easy, as the store bought kind. Can’t wait to try it!!

    Hang in there with the black hole kitchen!! I had a dark, miserable, tiny kitchen for the last several years. We’re just finishing up our kitchen reno, and it’s so big, bright, and shiny now!

  11. Michelle

    This looks so delicious.

    Do you have any tips on cubing the butternut? I do it often, but love hearing what other people like to do!

  12. Susan D. Wolpert

    Hi Lauren, Our kitchen, like yours, is very dark. We have one small window and the kitchen is in the center of the house. We have painted the dark paneling eggshell white and put up a border and what not to brighten it a bit. I can’t wait to try this recipe. My husband is excited also. Thank you for sharing with us. It is greatly appreciated.

  13. Ona Farina

    This was delish and kind of exotic as a pasta sauce! Reading your directions as I cooked kept me laughing. I used quie a bit more gah-lick then you, but, I do that with everything! It was a bit too sweet….I’m blaming it on my perfect organic butternut-squash, I suppose. We added kosher salt, (the only salt in this house), & more pepper at the table, helped tremendously….knocked that “super-sweet” down a few notches, which made for a better sauce. I wouldn’t have done that if we ate it as soup. By the way: your recipe makes the most wonderful soup too! I say this because we had leftover “sauce” and ate it as “soup” with foccia bread the next day for lunch. Sooooooo good. This is a keeper recipe for me! We are growing butter-nut & winter squash right now in the garden. Bottom line…. I can’t wait to make it again! Brava!!

      1. Ki

        I subbed Greek yogurt and it was great!! I didn’t find it tangy at all but I love Greek yo. I also used delicata squash instead of butternut and added golden beets. This recipe was my inspiration and the meal turned out delicious!

  14. Jenny @ BAKE

    I am obsessed with Netflix! it has such a good range, and I’ve had a brilliant week with it, I’d read about two movies that I liked the sound of and they were both on there! I love butternut squash I can’t wait to try this pasta!

  15. StacyM

    Just finished eating this for supper…was sublime. I added a little sausage and cheese to my very picky kid’s bowl and he ate it right down!

  16. Laurel Mode

    Lauren, I just love your blog. And remember, carbs aren’t the enemy. We mayb have gotten out of control with them over the years, but they are a good and wholesome food, when incorporated with lots of veggies/fruit and high quality protein.

    Enjoy!!

  17. Ali | Gimme Some Oven

    Ha, what did we all do before Netflix?!?!? I’m catching up on “New Girl” on there right now, although FNL will always be my fav.

    This sauce looks absolutely heavenly too. Pinned!

  18. Taylor @ FoodFaithFitness

    Oh gosh now I totally wanna watch Dr.90210! I don’t have much time between my other trashy tv shows that I love, but i’ll try to make it happen!
    The one things that I do know is going to happen is this pasta sauce! I am addicted to all things squash….and then add cheese? Hello food that I want to eat everyday for the rest of my life.

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