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A quick and simple pasta dish that is cheesy and made with a seasonal ingredient– butternut squash! A healthier alternative that the family will love!
Hey everyone!! How was your Thanksgiving?! I hope it was filled with lots of great food and family/friends!
Today I’ve got a great pasta to make this weekend while you are (hopefully) relaxing and enjoying some leftovers or trying to keep things simple in the kitchen! This pasta dish is very simple and quick to make using a great seasonal ingredient — butternut squash!
To cut down on prep even more, you could buy a pre-peeled and chopped butternut squash. Then this dish would come together even quicker. Once that squash is all prepped, you just boil the squash until tender and then blend it with a few ingredients, toss it with cooked noodles, and voila: a healthy and delicious dinner in a flash!
Enjoy!!
More dinner recipes from Chelsea’s Messy Apron:
Cheesy Butternut Squash Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 and ½ cups macaroni noodles uncooked
- 3-4 cups cubed butternut squash peeled and de-seeded
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 3/4 cup 1% milk
- 1 and ¼ cup cheese I used sharp cheddar
- Salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- Optional: fresh parsley
Instructions
- Cook the macaroni according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Heat the butter in a skillet over medium low heat.
- Meanwhile, peel the butternut squash and remove the seeds. Cut into large chunks.
- Boil the squash until completely tender and then drain. Place the squash in the blender with the butter, lots of salt, pepper, broth, paprika, and milk.
- Pulse until smooth.
- Pour the sauce over the cooked noodles and add the cheese. Stir until melted.
- Add more salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with parsley if desired.
Nutrition
Serves: 4
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
Would the flavours work with an acorn squash?
Could I use canned squash? How much would I use? Thanks
Im not the biggest fan of squash..hows the taste of this? is it neutral with the cheese?
I have made this many times, it is a slightly sweet taste, but not overpowering. The squash goes very well with cheddar. It’s very good!
I make a recipe very similar to this, but I use the frozen squash puree. It works quite well. For anyone not a fan of squash, no one I have ever served this to has noticed any squash flavor.
This is a great recipe that I will make again. The butternut squash can be very bland though, so sharp/old cheese is a must! I opted to partially microwave my squash first, to make it easier to cube, and I cooked the squash in a skillet rather than boiling it.
Made the cheesy butternut squash pasta, i loved it. Used gluten free penne pasta and coconut milk and kosher salt. Completely satisfying. Will definitely make again
This was absolutely delicious! I held about half a cup of the puree back because I thought the consistency was perfect. I was pleasantly surprised at its silky, smooth texture. Using extra sharp Cabot cheddar made the squash totally undetectable. Thanks for another great recipe!
This recipe WILL definitely be making a recurring appearance at our home! Even my very picky son thought it was tasty! I used a corn/quinoa pasta, cashew milk, and also held back some of the sauce as the consistency was perfect. The extra “sauce” is now a single serving of butternut squash soup! Thank you so much for sharing!
Planning on making this for a potluck. How many servings does it make?
Thanks!
How many does this serve? Can I serve as a main dish? I have a family of 3. It just seems like 1.5 cups of pasta won’t make very much. I could always double the recipe if need be.
1 cup of uncooked pasta should yield about 2 cups cooked, so I would expect it to be about 3 cups. As a main dish, I’d say that only serves two people. As a side dish, probably four people.
Does this sauce freeze well?
Yes ! I make a big back and freeze half of it. Easy and quick to heat up throw fresh elbows noodles on top
How many lbs is 3-4 cups cubed butternut squash.
Made this a week ago for family and lots of little ones. We all loved it and wanted more. We will definitely make this again.
The flavor of this mac and cheese was really good! My boys who won’t touch butternut squash came back for seconds and thirds. My only complaint was that the sauce was so thin nearly watery, I ended up having to add more macaroni. Next time, I think I will leave out the vegetable broth.
Too bland even with sharp cheddar cheese.
I found this to be a tad bland. Adding 1 Tbsp cinnamon and dash of nutmeg really helped brighten the flavors.
Thanks for sharing!! I like the addition of nutmeg and cinnamon! Great idea!
I left out the veggie broth and just added milk to get the right texture. I also grated in a glove of garlic. This was amazing! Will definitely be making this again!!
That sounds great! I am glad you were able to make this recipe your own. Thanks so much for sharing! XOXO
Any ideas a for making this without be cheese? My husband and son have an allergy.
Hi! Do you think you could substitute pumpkin for the squash and still get a similar flavor?
That sounds delicious! I haven’t tried it with pumpkin but that sounds like a great substitution! Let me know what you think! XOXO
Made you squash with pasta this morning. It was delicious and hubb6 loved it, too!
YAY! That is great to hear! I am so glad that you both enjoyed it! Thank you so much for sharing and following along with me! XOXO
I am on a Low Fodmap diet from my doctor and this recipe is already low fodmap which was great and an easy way for me to get my veggies in. I subbed for gluten-free Brailla elbow noodles and used lactose-free milk. Also, I added some garlic infused olive oil to the butternut squash puree before putting it into the noodles. I added some more veggies to make it more of a complete meal with zucchini, green onion tops, and kale. Man is this dish delicious. I have really been missing some foods and was so happy to come across a recipe that I didn’t have to substitute much to make low fodmap.
That is SO great to hear! I am happy that it all worked out for you and you could make it your own. Thanks so much for sharing! XOXO
Just made it for lunch for myself and my two teens kids…they love it!! I added with the sharp cheddar some Mexican cheese…so gooey and cheesy.
That is great to hear! Thank you so much for sharing! I am so glad that everyone loved it! Way to go. XOXO
This recipe is amazing with Trader Joe’s cinnamon dusted cheese they sell in October. I love this dish so much!
This tasted great! Unfortunately I was planning to make it ahead and warm it in the oven after we all got home from swimming, but the texture doesn’t it lend itself to that well – it’s definitely best when it’s freshly made. I did 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp onion powder since my family is used to onion and garlic in our mac and cheese but left everything else as is. It also made extra sauce, so I’ve saved some for another time 🙂 Thanks!
Can this be made ahead of time and then warmed in the oven?
Yes, that should work great! Enjoy! XOXO
Great with brown rice pasta.
I Love this recipe! I roasted the squash and added a panko breadcrumb topping.
A fall favorite for sure.
I’ve made this recipe numerous times and my family loves it. My kids hate squash but actually request this dish. We usually add some smoked turkey sausage to make it a meal. Very good!
Love this recipe. We’re making it tonight for the third time. We add cut up chicken sausage for a little something extra.
This was fantastic! We used one medium-small butternut squash and added peas. We would definitely make this again!