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Creamy butternut squash pasta made with roasted butternut squash, garlic and parmesan. The thick and creamy sauce (that’s pretty hard not to eat straight from the bowl) is tossed with penne pasta for a quick and incredibly delicious Fall dinner the whole family will enjoy!
I give you the easiest, creamiest butternut squash pasta!
This butternut squash pasta is the perfect comfort food for me. It’s almost like mac and cheese with a thick, creamy and very moreish sauce but healthy.
The difference with this recipe is that the creaminess doesn’t come from a cheese sauce is comes from roasted butternut squash and garlic.
Once they are blitzed up with a little splash of cream and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
It creates the most delicious thick sauce that’s not only great for pasta but can be used in so many different ways. It’s the perfect comfort food for Fall.
Step by step photos and recipe instructions
Cut the squash – First, cut the skin off the butternut squash and cut it into medium-sized cubes.
Roast it – Place on a baking tray and sprinkle over the oregano, red pepper flakes, paprika and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the garlic cloves and drizzle with olive oil (photo1).
Make sure everything is coated with the spices and olive oil then roast in the oven for around 30 minutes until soft (photo 2).
Tip: When the squash is almost ready, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItBlitz the sauce – When the butternut squash is ready, add it to a blender or food processor.
Remove the garlic from their skins and add that too then blitz until silky smooth. Add the cream and parmesan and blitz again until smooth and creamy (photos 4 & 5).
Toss with pasta – Drain the pasta then add it back into the pot you boiled it in, pour over the sauce and toss to coat (photos 6-9).
Important tip: Always reserve a cup of pasta water before draining the pasta. If the consistency of the sauce is too thick dilute it a little with some pasta water (not too much).
Recipe tips and FAQs
- Choose a good squash – When buying the squash make sure to choose one without any blemishes.
- How to cut it – Squash isn’t as hard as you think to cut if you have a sharp knife ( see the video for how we do it ) alternatively you can buy pre-cut squash.
Make sure to reserve 1-2 cups of pasta water to thin out the sauce to reach the desired consistency. You can also add a touch more cream.
This sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Yes, you can freeze the sauce for up to 3 months. Let it defrost fully before reheating.
Why you need to reserve the pasta water
Using pasta water to emulsify sauces is a great way to add extra flavour to the pasta.
The reason it’s important with this butternut squash pasta is that the sauce can have a thick consistency depending on how much water is in the actual squash naturally (everyone is different).
If after blitzing the butternut squash it’s really thick like mashed potatoes don’t worry just add reserved pasta water to thin it out!
More ways to use the creamy butternut squash sauce
- Pour over chicken (heat the sauce gently and add cooked chicken or pour over to serve)
- It would also be delicious served with breaded chicken cutlets
- Toss with pasta, add mozzarella and bake it in the oven until golden and bubbling.
More comfort food recipes you might like
- Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage and Brown Butter Sauce
- Butternut Squash Risotto With Thyme
- Butternut Squash Lasagna – Sage, Prosciutto & Goats Cheese
- Eggplant Parmigiana (Parmigiana di Melanzane)
- Penne with Creamy Gorgonzola Sauce
- Mushroom Ravioli with Parmesan Cream Sauce
This recipe has been one of my most popular recipes for a long time now so I thought I’d update this post with better photos and a great step by step guide.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do and found all the tips helpful.
More squash and pumpkin recipes to try
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Step By Step Photos Above
Most of our recipes come with step by step photos, helpful tips and tricks to make it perfectly first time and even video!
Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta
Ingredients
- 14 oz (400g) penne pasta
- 1 lb (500g) butternut squash
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes, plus extra for garnish ( if desired)
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp heavy cream, (double cream)
- 1/4 cup (20g) freshly grated parmesan
- salt and pepper, , to season
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- small handful of basil, , to garnish
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350F/gas mark 4.
- Cut the skin off the butternut squash and cut into medium-sized cubes. Place on a baking tray with the garlic cloves (skin still on). Sprinkle over the oregano, red pepper flakes, paprika and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Add the olive oil and rub over the squash with your hands so the squash and garlic are evenly coated in the spices. Roast in the oven for around 30 minutes until the squash and garlic are soft, toss halfway through.
- After 20 minutes of roasting the squash bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the penne and cook according to instructions until al dente, drain. Tip: Reserve 1-2 cups of pasta water before draining, see notes.
- Once the squash is cooked, place in a food processor. Squeeze the garlic out of their skins and add that to the squash with the cream and parmesan. Blitz until smooth and creamy. Add extra salt if required.
- Add the sauce to the drained pot you cooked the pasta in or a clean skillet and add 1 cup pasta water, stir to combine to thin out the sauce. If it's still too thick add more until you reach the desired consistency.
- Add the cooked penne and toss until evenly coated in the sauce. Serve with torn basil leaves.
Video
Notes
- Choose a good squash – When buying the squash make sure to choose one without any blemishes.
- How to cut it – Squash isn’t as hard as you think to cut if you have a sharp knife ( see the video for how we do it ) alternatively you can buy pre-cut squash.
- Emulsify the sauce – Always reserve 1-2 cups of pasta water before draining the pasta. If the consistency of the sauce is too thick dilute it a little with some pasta water (not too much).
- Prepare ahead of time – This sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Freezing – You can also freeze the butternut squash sauce on its own without pasta.
- More ways to use the sauce – Pour over chicken (heat the sauce gently and add cooked chicken or pour over to serve)
- It would also be delicious served with breaded chicken cutlets
- Use as pizza sauce (because it’s sweeter than tomato sauce go for toppings such as sausage, capers, salami and onion. Something that’ll cut through the sweetness.)
Helpful Info for All Recipes
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise
- When I use canned or jarred tomatoes of any kind I always use Cirio or Mutti brands for the best results and flavour.
- All vegetables are medium sized unless stated otherwise
- All recipes are tested and developed using a fan (convection) oven
- Find out more about how nutrition is calculated.
- Check out our must have Italian Pantry Staples.
- You can also find all our Essential Kitchen Tools for Italian Cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I loved this recipe. I don’t consider myself a cook, so I ended up buying too much squash. I doubled the recipe, then tasted. I’m not into hot spices, so I roasted the final (3rd pound) of squash without any additional spices on the same sheet and just let it absorb whatever was already there. When I finished cooking the pasta, I ran the cooked pasta over the sheet pan to pick up any remaining spice bits. I did have to add quite a bit of pasta water, but I do like a thick sauce. Finally, I added some thawed cooked, frozen shrimp for protein. It was great! I have enough to freeze for additional meals.
This was so yummy! This was my first time cooking with butternut squash so I appreciated the cutting tips, and it turned out so well – I will definitely be making this recipe again. The puréeing was a bit challenging because I also had a super thick texture like some other reviewers experienced (closer to mashed potatoes), but in the end I added some extra cream and watered it down with 1 1/2 cups of pasta water and it turned out great. I reheated leftovers the next day and I felt like it had the same consistency and comfort of Mac and Cheese but it’s certainly a lot healthier 🙂
Excellent recipe for vegans!
Halved, seeded and roasted the squash. Sautéed onion in olive oil. Added hot pepper flakes, paprika and basil. Boiled chickpea penne. Squash, onions, flax milk went into VitaMix. Added a bit of the penne water.
When smooth, mixed with chickpea penne, salt, pepper. Was remarkably delicious!
One more thing: I sprinkled a bit of nutritional yeast into the sauce.
Try it!
So happy you enjoyed it, thank you for your tips for making it vegan friendly!
I cooked the squash in my crockpot on high for 3 hours instead of roasting, and subbed whole milk for heavy cream. Had lots of fresh basil that tasted great with the pasta. Was pretty liberal with the parmesan and fresh garlic. Husband and kids liked it, I loved it. Thanks for this different, easy recipe!
Great idea to use your crockpot, so happy you enjoyed it!
I know a very easy method for dealing with the butternut before you can roast it. Just put it in the microwave for between 5-10 minutes,depending on the size then when it’s cool enough to handle you can peel it easily and then cut it into cubes
That’s so helpful, thanks so much for the tip!
I added extra garlic powder and grated cheese because this was pretty sweet tasting. Not sure if it should be like that since I don’t butternut squash often. Also had to add 3-4 cups of pasta water because it was soo thick even though I followed the instructions.
Hi Brianna, butternut squash is quite sweet so adding in extra cheese etc to taste is a great idea. The water really depends on the individual squash aswell so sometimes you need more than others. Thank you!
What can you use instead of Parmesan? I have to be dairy free while breastfeeding my son.
Thanks!
Hi Melanie, I’d just leave it out or replace it with a dairy free/vegan hard cheese.
What could you replace heavy cream with, if anything? Whole milk?
Hi Cari, you could try a spoonful of mascarpone or sour cream.
Have you added any veggies to this?
Hey! I haven’t added in any additional veggies to this but you can easily adapt it by adding in any you like.
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Hi Vanessa, the sauce will keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days!