Easy & Cheesy Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce Recipe

One of my favorite ways to sneak in vegetables is by adding them to a pasta sauce. And when you blend veggues with ricotta cheese, you get protein and fiber in one. Like this simple butternut squash pasta sauce recipe. All you need are a couple of ingredients like roasted butternut squash, a few scoops of ricotta cheese, some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and of course salt and pepper, and a little olive oil and you get a creamy sauce that’s sure to please. 

Ingredient Tips:

​Reducing Your Environmental Impact 

​A typical cheese sauce is predominantly composed of dairy ingredients like milk, cheese, heavy cream, and butter. A hybrid of vegetables and cheese is a sure way to reduce your carbon footprint. Because this recipe is a hybrid of vegetables and cheese, you achieve a carbon reduction of 50%.

Ingredient Seasonality:

Butternut squash comes into season in the late fall, but because this is squash, it has a long shelf life to use throughout the winter. If you’re looking to make this at any other time of the year, butternut squash is usually available in the freezer section of your grocery store.

All other ingredients should be available year round.

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce Recipe

​Butternut Squash Sauce Flavor Enhancements:

If you’re looking to amplify your chefing in the kitchen, here are a few things you can do to really enhance the flavor:

• Add a few cloves of garlic to your butternut squash while roasting. Roasted garlic will add a natural sweetness and be complimentary to the nutty squash. If you do this, I would omit the garlic to the skillet when sauteeing the garlic.
• Use chicken stock or vegetable stock to thin the sauce or deglaze the pan instead of water
• If you like a little heat, you can add some roasted red pepper flakes on the butternut squash sauce

Butternut Squash Pasta Recipe Pairings:

Serve this butternut squash pasta recipe by itself or pair it with our caramelized onions and green beans or BBQ pulled jackfruit.

Ingredient Substituions:

Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan cheese is expensive. You can use a Romano, an Asiago, or a blend to help save on the cost. Additionally, you would want to swap the Parmesan Cheese for nutritional yeast if you want to remove dairy.

If you’re looking to make this a vegan recipe, you can swap out ricotta cheese for cashew cream.

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce Recipe Storage

When you’re done, store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Be sure to eat it within the week!

The butternut squash when roasted should freeze well. The sauce should also freeze well.

Other Butternut Squash Recipes You Can Try

• Butternut Squash Soup
• Squash + Lentils

Enjoy This Butternut Squash Pasta Recipe

It’s a great way to sneak in veggies if you’re feeling comfort food. With the addition of a few simple ingredients like squash, ricotta, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and olive oil, this simple sauce turns into something delicious. Grab a fork and eat it right out of the pan. Follow along for more simple ways to use up your leftovers and eat!