This Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta transforms simple, wholesome ingredients into a rich and creamy, dairy free pasta sauce. Roast the veggies until tender and caramelized to unlock their full flavor potential, then blend with veggie stock and nutritional yeast until smooth and creamy. Serve with the crispy, fried chickpeas and pepitas for a delicious meal that’s healthy and satisfying! | Gluten Free + Vegan
⭐Recipe highlights⭐
A few things to love about this pasta dish:
- Crunchy topping: The crispy fried chickpeas and pepitas add a satisfying crunch to the creamy pasta sauce taking an already delicious pasta up a notch!
- Dairy free, but super creamy: No heavy cream, coconut milk, tofu or blended nuts needed to create a creamy sauce! Simply dice and roast some butternut squash with a few ingredients then blend until smooth.
- Healthy and filling: It’s not just veggie packed, but full of dietary fiber and protein which will help you feel not just satisfied when eating, but satiated for longer in between meals.
How to Make Roast Butternut Squash Pasta
Roast the Vegetables
- Add cubed butternut squash, onion, garlic and sun dried tomatoes to a large baking sheet or roasting dish. Toss in seasoning and a drizzle of olive oil.
- Roast the squash until it’s fork tender and starting to caramelize.
Fry Chickpeas & Pepitas
Do this while the veggies are roasting:
- Warm oil in a large pan (use the oil from the sun dried tomato jar).
- Fry chickpeas and seasoning for about 5 minutes.
- Add pepitas and fry another few minutes until they start to pop.
- Turn off the heat and transfer the fried bits to a separate bowl or plate.
Blend & Combine
- Add roasted ingredients to a blender or food processor along with the vegetable stock, nutritional yeast and reserved pasta water.
- Blend until smooth. Taste and season if needed.
- Add cooked pasta to the same pot used to fry the chickpeas. Pour roasted butternut squash pasta sauce on top.
- Mix together until combined.
- Top with the fried chickpea mixture. Save about 1/4 of the mixture to serve as a side to top individual portions, if desired.
Why Save the Pasta Water?
Before you drain the pasta, save some of the cooking water to add to the sauce. Pasta water is salty and starchy making it a great addition to most pasta sauces. Not only will it improve the flavor of your sauce; it will make the sauce thicker and silkier too!
Substitutions, Additions & Variations
- Fusilli >> Other Pasta Types
- I recommend a pasta shape with a lot of little nooks and crannies for the creamy sauce to get lost in. Anything with twists, curves, tubes and texture work well here. Think shelled pastas like (conchiglie) and macaroni, penne pasta, casarecce etc.
- Vegetable Broth >> Chicken Broth
- Instead of veggie broth, feel free to use 1 cup of chicken broth instead.
- Nutritional Yeast >> Parmesan Cheese
- If you don’t need this to be dairy free, you can swap the nutritional yeast for grated parmesan OR leave it out altogether.
- If you need to keep this vegetarian friendly (not dairy free) make sure to choose a vegetarian friendly parmesan because parmigiano reggiano is not vegetarian.
- If you don’t need this to be dairy free, you can swap the nutritional yeast for grated parmesan OR leave it out altogether.
- Pepitas >> Nuts
- Instead of pumpkin seeds try this with sliced almonds, pecans or walnuts.
- Add Cheese
- Make it cheesy by mixing in some crumbled feta or ricotta cheese for an extra rich and creamy flavor.
More Dairy Free Pasta & Noodle Recipes
- Creamy Cashew Tomato Pasta
- One Pot Ground Turkey Pasta
- Leek and Mushroom Pasta
- Carrot and Cabbage Noodle Stir Fry
- Red Pesto Pasta with Chili Kale
- Vegan Sun Dried Tomato Alfredo
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta recipe! I’d love to hear what you made with it and how it turned out! Please leave a comment and review with your thoughts and suggestions for me and future readers.
Recipe
Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta
Yield:
6 servings
Prep Time:
15 minutes
Cook Time:
40 minutes
Total Time:
40 minutes
Butternut squash and aromatics roasted until tender and slightly carmelized then blended into a creamy pasta sauce mixed into gluten free pasta and topped with crispy fried chickpeas and pumpkin seeds.
Ingredients
- 1 lb gluten free fusilli
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups or 1.5lb)
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 3 large cloves garlic, whole & unpeeled
- 8 sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, (100g | 3.5oz)
- 4 tbsp oil from the sundried tomato jar (60ml), divided
- 1 tsp dried oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh leaves
- 1 cup vegetable stock (240ml)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (15g)
- 1 can (15 oz | 400g) chickpeas, drained, rinsed & patted dry
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper, each to more to taste
- 1/4 cup hulled pumpkin seeds/ pepitas (40g)
Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.
Instructions
- Oven Prep: Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Lightly grease a large, rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan.
- Roast Vegetables: Add the butternut squash, onion, garlic (peel still on), sun-dried tomatoes and oregano to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil from the sun dried tomato jar. Use your hands to mix everything together. Place in the middle of the oven for about 30-35 minutes until the squash is fork tender. The smaller your butternut squash pieces are the faster they will roast.
- Boil Pasta: While the squash roasts, cook pasta according to package instructions. Before draining, scoop out 1/2 cup of pasta water (120ml) and set aside.
- Fry Chickpeas: Place a large, heavy-bottomed pot over a medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the sun-dried tomato oil. When the oil is hot, add the chickpeas, Italian seasoning, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Stir well with a wooden spoon until evenly coated in oil and spice.
- Fry Pepitas: Switch to a medium heat, then add the pepitas. Cook another 3-5 minutes, stirring often until you hear the pepitas start to pop then turn the heat off. Transfer the fried chickpeas and pepitas to a separate bowl or plate for now. Wipe down the pan to remove any burnt on bits if needed and return it to the hot burner.
- Blend Sauce: After roasting, add the contents of the roasting pan to a large high-speed blender along with vegetable stock, pasta water and nutritional yeast. Make sure to remove the garlic peel first. Cover and blend on high until completely smooth. Taste and season the sauce with more salt if needed.
- Combine: Add the cooked pasta to the large pot over a low heat. Pour the blended sauce over the top and mix together well. Finally, add about 3/4 of fried chickpeas & pepitas mixture and combined.
- Enjoy: Taste and season the paste, adding more salt if needed. Serve the remaining fried topping mixture on the side to add more to individual servings as desired and enjoy.
Notes
- Leftovers: Store in an airtight container in the fridge 3-4 days.
- A Note on Blending: Be careful not to fill the blender more than halfway full when working with hot ingredients/liquids. Blend in batches if needed. Also make sure to open the lid away from your face so the steam doesn't hit you.
- Garlic: Leave the peel on the garlic cloves when roasting to prevent it from burning. After roasting, the garlic cloves should easily pop out of the peel when you squeeze from the bottom of the clove.
- Nutritional Yeast: You can sub with grated parmesan cheese if you don't need this to be vegan OR leave it out altogether.
- Chickpeas: Instead of canned chickpeas you can use 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas.
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Leave a Review!