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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:

close up photo of toasted butternut squash for pasta sauce recipe
  • Roasted Butternut Squash
    • If you're looking to save time, you can buy precut butternut squash – but just note this usually comes in a plastic container
    • Additionally, I recommend prepping this a day before to save you more time in preparation
  • Ricotta Cheese
    • Ricotta cheese is the backbone of this dish. It adds creamy dairy notes and a nice fluffy texture when it's blended with the squash. Ricotta cheese by itself doesn't have much flavor, mkaing it the perfect canvas for a sauce. Whole milk ricotta will add more body, but if you're being health-conscious, part-skim will do just fine.
  • Pasta
    • Make sure you select a pasta shape that's capable of holding a lot of sauce. I like cavatapi, radditori, or ziti for this dish. If you can't find these, elbows will do just fine.

​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

Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Course: Main Course

Equipment

  • Vitamix or other High Speed Blender

Ingredients

  • 1 box pasta cooked
  • 1 butternut squash roasted
  • 2 cups of ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
  • 1 Lemon Juiced
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste
  • optional ingredients: Sage

Instructions

  • Place Your Cooked Butternut Squash in your blender
  • Add in Ricotta Cheese
  • Blend on high and adjust consistency with water as needed
  • In a separate pan, add olive oil and garlic. If using Sage, add it now.
  • Then add cooked pasta
  • Add the butternut squash sauce
  • Mix in Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper to taste.
  • Serve hot and enjoy!

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.

​Storage

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

Other Butternut Squash Recipes You Can Try

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

to make sure the consistency is just right. When it's finished, it should look something like this. You can make this sauce ahead of time, but one thing I definitely recommend is sauteing some garlic in a pan beforehand. And then make sure you're adding up cooked pasta that has a lot of capability for holding sauce. I'm using radiatori here. I'm just adding the sauce directly into the pasta and heating it all up. The consistency gives it a nice luscious sauce that's super indulgent, but really

healthy. It's a great way to sneak in veggies if you're feeling comfort food. With the addition of a few simple ingredients like salt, pepper, and olive oil, this simple sauce turns into something delicious. For a little bit more tang, I like to add a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. I'm just using what I have here and then mix it together so it feels like you're eating mac and cheese. Grab a fork and eat it right out of the pan. Follow along for more simple ways to use up your leftovers and eat healthy.


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