Sage and Butternut Squash Pasta
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This sage and butternut squash pasta is perfect for when a comfort food craving hits. The combination of flavors are a perfect way to have a cozy meal on a crisp, fall or winter day.
Roasted squash, with its sweet and caramelized flavors, goes so perfectly with the earthiness of sage. Add in freshly grated Parmesan and you have a perfect fall dinner recipe.
Pasta night is my favorite night of the week. While I love traditional pasta like baked spaghetti or macaroni and cheese, adding vegetables and fresh herbs to my pasta recipes always makes me so excited for dinner.
Ingredients for Sage Butternut Squash Pasta
- Pasta – I usually choose a short cut pasta like penne or ziti. You could definitely substitute a longer pasta like spaghetti or bucatini.
- Butternut Squash – I usually buy a whole butternut squash and cut it up myself. If you want to take a short cut, you can buy pre-cut squash and save some prep time.
- Pancetta – Pancetta is an Italian pork product that is similar to bacon. Unlike bacon, though, it is not typically smoked. If you can’t find pancetta, you can substitute with bacon but it will change the flavor slightly.
- Aromatics – This recipe uses onion and garlic to help add flavor to the dish.
- Fresh Sage – Sage adds an earthy component to the dish that pairs so well with the other flavors.
- Butter – I prefer salted butter in most of my savory recipes but feel free to use unsalted and tailor the seasoning to your preference.
- Parmesan – Grab a wedge of fresh Parmesan and grate it for the best results. Pecorino would also work in the recipe.
Variations for Sage and Butternut Squash Pasta:
- Make browned butter sage butternut squash pasta. You can substitute the regular butter with browned butter and create an even earthier and rich tasting pasta dish.
- Make it vegetarian. You can leave out the pancetta and focus on the vegetable and herb components of the dish instead. Just be sure to choose a vegetarian friendly Parmesan.
- Change the vegetable. You could substitute another fall squash like acorn squash or delicata squash for the butternut squash. You would need to change the roasting times accordingly based on the squash you select.
Essential items for this easy pasta dinner
- Large baking sheet
- Large pot
- Sauté pan
- Pasta utensil
- Paper towels
How to Make Butternut Squash Pasta with Bacon
Making the pasta is super easy! The most time consuming part is roasting the butternut squash but you can gather and prep all the other ingredients while the squash roasts.
- Prepare and roast the butternut squash.
- Cook the pasta.
- Sauté the onion and pancetta.
- Combine all the ingredients and finish the dish.
What to Serve with Butternut Squash Pasta:
- A fresh salad like a shaved Brussels sprouts salad would be delicious as a side.
- Roasted broccoli is always a great pairing with pasta dishes.
- Garlic bread is the perfect bread to go along with this fall pasta recipe.
More Tasty Pasta Recipes
If you love this sage butternut squash pasta recipe, be sure to check out these other delicious recipes for pasta night:
- One Pot Pizza Pasta
- Roasted Asparagus Carbonara
- Lemon Garlic Pasta or Lemon Garlic Zoodles
- Date Night Rigatoni
Sage Butternut Squash Pasta
Grab a bowl and fill it with this pure comfort food of butternut squash pasta.
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Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 16 Penne pasta
- 1 medium Butternut Squash peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup Pancetta diced
- 1 small Onion diced
- 2 cloves Garlic thinly sliced
- 12 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 12 Sage Leaves
- 3/4 teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper
- 1 cup Reserved Pasta Water
- 1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese plus more for garnish if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Toss cubed butternut squash with 3 tablespoons of olive oil.1 medium Butternut Squash, 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- Spread butternut squash on a rimmed baking sheet and season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until fork tender.
- Cook pasta according to the package directions, subtracting 2 minutes from the al dente cooking time. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.16 Penne pasta, 1 cup Reserved Pasta Water
- Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large sauté pan. Add pancetta and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until crisp. Remove from pan and drain on a paper towel.Â1/2 cup Pancetta, 12 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- Add onion and garlic to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and add to pancetta.1 small Onion, 2 cloves Garlic
- Melt remaining butter in sauté pan over medium heat. Add sage leaves and toast for 1-2 minutes or until crisp.12 Sage Leaves
- Ladle in reserved pasta water; stir well and then simmer for 5 minutes. Grind in 1/2 tsp black pepper.3/4 teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper
- Add pasta, squash, pancetta and onion mixture to the pan. Toss to coat and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese.1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
Nutrition
Calories: 487kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 42g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 88mg | Sodium: 431mg | Potassium: 544mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 14139IU | Vitamin C: 27mg | Calcium: 221mg | Iron: 1mg
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a comment below, snap a photo and tag it #MySuburbanKitchen on Instagram, or pin it to your Pinterest account!
Looks delicious! Pinned The pics are really nice.
Thanks so much! The pasta was really good.
WOW, that looks amazing… YUMMY
Thanks!
This looks great!! There’s no better combination than butternut squash and sage 🙂 and I LOVE pasta!
We love butternut squash with sage too! It just has such a great fall flavor to it.
This looks so good! I haven’t tried squash with my husband or kids in years–maybe this will win them over.
The squash is super yummy with the pasta. I hope they like it!
perfect colors and comfort foods for fall!!!
Thanks! It definitely is a good comfort food dish.
This looks absolutely delightful, and I’m not even a fan of butternut squash. I love how you incorporated the Pancetta and the Sage. Yummmmm!
Thanks! The pancetta goes great with the sage.
This looks simple and amazing!!!
Thank you so much.
This looks super delicious! I know I’m trying your recipe. I love Barilla pastas too & use them all the time. The whole wheat pasta is great.
We are a huge fan of Barilla. It just cooks so perfectly.
Whoa, that looks crazy delicious. I love how you incorporated the squash into a pasta dish! YUMMY!
I love trying to add in vegetables whenever I can.
I love pasta too and this recipe looks dreamy!! Yum!
Thanks so much!
That looks and sounds delicious, and your photos are perfection!
Thank you so much!
I have tried Penne but I think I would like this spruced up version better.
Thanks. I am rarely a fan of just plain pasta with spaghetti sauce.
Yum! I have seen a ton of delicious squash recipes around the internet lately. I am planning on trying them all.
Oh, I love using squash this time of year.
I love parmesan cheese and Barilla products are the best! Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
Barilla products really are the best!
YUMMM..this is my kind of dish and I love pasta… we still have some butternut squash so I know what will be in my future soon… Thanks for a great recipe, can’t wait to try it
Looking forward to hearing what you think about the dish.
I love the colors in this dish!! It looks so pretty for fall!! May have to give this a try this weekend!!
Thanks so much!
We don’t eat pasta every night, but we do eat it often. Pasta is such a great meal! This butternut dish looks great.
Haha…we try to limit it to once per week but, with two kids, it can be hard because they love pasta.
Looks totally delicious~I must make it!
Thanks so much!
Yum, this sounds delicious. This is the 4 the squash recipe in a row I’ve looked at tonight
You must really be craving squash 😉
So much butternut squash lately… I think it must be a sign and this looks divine.
I love butternut squash. It is so tasty.
I love pasta and this look delicious although I’d probably have to adapt slightly because I don’t like onions. Otherwise, yum!
Oh, you could take the onions out.
drooling on the keyboard at the moment. That looks amazing!
Thanks.
Yes! I really love the taste of butternut squash and pasta together!
I love butternut squash in pasta too.
This looks really delicious! 🙂
Thanks!
that looks delicious, I love the freshness of the ingredients you chose.
Thanks! I try to cook with fresh ingredients whenever I can.
It looks DELISH! I will have to try this one! Thanks for sharing.
I hope you like it!
Each fall I threaten to make a squash recipe but always shy away from it. This is the fall I will boldly squash forward.
Oh, get cooking! Squash is so delicious.
Your photos are absolutely gorgeous! I’m totally a pasta nut too. As soon as I warm up to squash, I’ll be sure to give your recipe a whirl. Thanks for staying awesome Shannah!
Thanks so much!
This looks amazing! I have pinned it to my Fall recipes board to try later. Thanks for sharing on the DBB.
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
No we don’t have a specific pasta night.. If we want pasta then its made if not something else is made.. but my favorite pasta is just Spaghetti…
I don’t know how we ended up into a pasta night routine. My family just loves pasta so it seemed natural.
Yum! What a great, hearty fall meal!
Thanks! It is definitely full of fall flavors.
That’s a very tasty looking dish!
Thanks! It went fast.
This is the perfect bowl of comfort food for crisp, fall days. The earthy sage matches with the butternut squash for delicious flavors from simple, fresh ingredients.
This is such a great meal for fall and winter. I love the sage with the natural sweetness of the butternut squash.
This pasta is amazing! I couldn’t find pancetta so I subbed bacon, but otherwise didn’t change a thing. Fantastic with bread and a salad!
I can’t get over how delicious this was! The roasted butternut squash added the perfect sweetness, and the sage brought so much warmth. I’ll be making this again very soon!
The aroma from this dish is heavenly! Sage with butternut squash is one of my favorite pairings
The entire family loved this recipe! It was easy to prepare and turned out perfect. I can’t wait to make it again,,,YUM!!!