Creamy (vegan!) Butternut Squash Linguine with Fried Sage
Spiced and creamy (yet cream-less) butternut squash sauce tossed with whole grain linguine. Top with fried sage for a healthy, comforting meal.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
My dog, Cookie, and I have been visiting the vet three times a week lately. We don’t mind the excursion. The girls behind the desk are fun to be around and Cookie loves the attention. She has quickly become a staff favorite (of course!). It’s also a prime spot for people watching. I always feel like I’m experiencing that 101 Dalmations scene where all of the dogs match their owners, remember that one?
The manly men bring in their 80-pound manly-man breeds who shake their heads like lions. Eccentrically dressed older ladies wait with their dachshunds and shaggy little dogs. A beautiful, elegant blond woman picks up her equally elegant and blond mystery breed. The lady with a high-pitched voice and nervous laugh tells me about her rat terrier. I suppose Cookie and I match, too. I will shamelessly admit that we both have great hair, and it doesn’t hurt that I’m always dressed in black or gray.
During the more dull moments, I’ve spent a fair amount of time flipping through Instagram photos and glancing at the heart worm brochures on the side table. I grabbed the February issue of Bon Appetit before I left for our last appointment so I would have something to read while I waited. I’m glad I did, because I was reminded of the butternut squash carbonara that I had dog-eared earlier.
How to Make Vegan Butternut Squash Linguine
Bon Appetit’s recipe called for pancetta and chicken broth, but I knew I could easily make it vegetarian and amp up the flavor with spices. The cooking technique is what really caught my eye—basically, you make a butternut purée while you cook pasta, then marry the two together in a warm pan with the help of some starchy reserved pasta cooking water. Genius, right? It’s even easier to make than the béchamel that I made for my pumpkin fettuccine alfredo.
The best part is that the puréed squash is rich and luxuriously creamy without any cream at all. I also used whole grain pasta, which further prevented the steamroller after-effects of eating a giant bowl of creamy carbs. Make this before the weather warms up! If you’re in the market for more lightened-up, creamy pasta recipes, be sure to check out my cookbook.
Watch How to Make Creamy Butternut Squash Linguine
Creamy (vegan!) Butternut Squash Linguine with Fried Sage
Spiced and creamy (yet cream-less) butternut squash sauce tossed with whole grain linguine. Top with fried sage for a healthy, comforting main dish. Serve with salad or roasted vegetables to further lighten up the meal. Recipe yields 4 large servings.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
- 2 pound butternut or kabocha squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into small ½-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed or chopped
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes (up to ¼ teaspoon for spicier pasta sauce)
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 12 ounces whole grain linguine or fettucine
- Optional additional garnishes: shaved Parmesan or Pecorino and/or smoked salt
Instructions
- Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the sage and toss to coat. Let the sage get crispy before transferring it to a small bowl. Sprinkle it lightly with salt and set the bowl aside.
- Add the squash, onion, garlic and red pepper flakes to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the squash is soft and the liquid is reduced by half, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente according to package directions, stirring occasionally. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining.
- Once the squash mixture is done cooking, remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly. Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender, but keep the skillet handy. Purée the mixture until smooth (beware of hot steam escaping from the top of the blender), then season with salt and pepper until the flavors sing.
- In the reserved skillet, combine the pasta, squash purée and ¼ cup cooking liquid. Cook over medium heat, tossing and adding more pasta cooking water as needed, until the sauce coats the pasta, about 2 minutes. Season with more salt and pepper if necessary.
- Serve the pasta in individual bowls topped with fried sage, more black pepper and shaved Parmesan/Pecorino and/or smoked salt, if desired.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit’s Winter Squash Carbonara with Pancetta and Sage (February 2014).
Make it vegan: Skip the cheese garnish.
Make it gluten-free: Use gluten-free pasta. Commenter Jenn recommends corn and quinoa blended gluten-free pasta, which is firmer than brown rice pasta.
Change it up: The squash purée is a killer bisque, which you could thin with vegetable broth if you’d like. You could also stir it into risotto at the end of cooking.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was delicious, even with dried sage instead of fresh. I used butternut squash soup stock instead of veg broth and added some nutritional yeast after it was cooked. It was great. My guy recommends trying it with maple syrup too! Thanks for the recipe!
That’s great, Samantha! Glad you enjoyed it! I bet maple is delicious with the sweet squash.
I love making creamy pasta sauce with cauliflower, so this sounds like a genius way to reinvent it!
This came out way better than I thought it would. I added a few splashes of heavy cream at the end to add some richness and blend the flavors. This was delicious! I am definitely making it again.
Thanks, Manda! Glad you enjoyed it.
This looks SO delicious!! I can’t believe it’s vegan…I want to just dive into a big bowl of it :)
Had this for dinner last night – my husband and I loved it. Thanks! Next time we’ll try adding some broccoli. I couldn’t help but dream of it drenched in that creamy butternut sauce :)
Kaitlin, glad you both enjoyed it! Broccoli sounds like a delicious addition.
Just made this today for dinner and everyone loved it!! Great use of butternut squash to make the pasta creamy without the cream. Will definitely make again and again and again! :)
That’s great to hear! Thank you, Kari.
This was absolutely delicious! I actually let the squash and vegetable broth sit and simmer covered on the stove all afternoon. Came home from a busy afternoon and simply pureed the squash and tossed it with the pasta. The flavor was excellent and I really appreciate this meatless meal! Thanks Kate!
Dawn, I’m so glad you loved the pasta! Great idea to let it cook all day.
Help a newbie out-
I made this today and my sauce was not creamy. It was full of tiny bits. The taste was still good but the texture was weird with the pasta. Add more moisture? Help.
Hey Jenn, I’m sorry your sauce didn’t turn out just right. If there were little bits in it, it sounds like the sauce just didn’t get blended well enough. Possible solutions include blending for a longer period of time, maybe in a better blender. I usually have better luck with my stand blender than my immersion blender, but that’s probably because I have a pretty fancy stand blender. If the sauce is too thick to blend well at first, add a little more broth or water so it can blend well.
I do not have a blender at hand at the moment so my sauce didn’t turn out as creamy as I would have liked – however, just finished the bowl and have to say its really really good! Thank you, this was my very first attempt at marrying squash and pasta :)
Sam
Sam, I’m glad you enjoyed the dish, even without a blender! :)
Just made this for the second time and I love it!
Thank you, Astrid!
Made this last night for dinner and it was delicious! Even better today for lunch! Everyone especially LOVED the crispy sage garnish. We had a whole discussion about how they should be the next snack rage!! Thanks for a new recipe to add to the collection.
Woohoo! Glad you enjoyed the pasta and fried sage, Amanda!
I absolutely loved this recipe! But I could do without the fried sage. It really didn’t add that much to me.
Thanks, Tiffany! Funny that you didn’t love the fried sage. The commenter before you loves it so much that she wants to eat fried sage for a snack!
this sauce is AMAZING!!!! I tripled the red pepper flakes and used about half pasta noodles and half zucchini noodles. This dish is the best replacement for comfort foods!! kind of reminds me of creamy mac and cheese :)
Thanks, Ashley! I’m so glad you love the sauce! Your spicy zucchini noodle version sounds awesome!
Made this last night (because I’m on a kick with your recipes and mildly obsessed with your blog). SO GOOD. I may try throwing some pine nuts in the blender along with the sauce to make it a little bit nuttier, but it was pretty much perfect.
Thanks for the recipe!!
Yay! Thanks, Mia! :D
How long would you say the sauce lasts for? I’m planning to make it ahead of time. Also, do you think it would make a significant difference if I skipped the sage? Thanks!
Hi Ankeeta, I think it lasts for a few days. The sage adds an herbal note and crispy texture, which I found to be pretty essential!
Hi there Kate,
I just made this for dinner last night and it was wonderful! Thank you for sharing. As a lactose-intolerant vegetarian I don’t get to have “creamy” stuff too often and this was great!
Oh hooray! Thank you for commenting, Jessica. I’m glad you enjoyed this creamy dish.
I made this for dinner tonight. A perfect Autumn dinner. I added white beans and kale for extra color and nutrition. Delicious. I will make this again soon.
Thanks, Bev! So glad you enjoyed it!
This was my first time ever cooking butternut squash. I was really nervous, but it turned out beautifully. This will be a new staple in my diet, seriously. Love love love!
Excellent! Glad you loved it, Michelle!
This is a pretty easy recipe but definitely go with the cheese to top it off. It’s pretty bland if you opt out.
I have fresh sage growing right outside my kitchen and it is the most hardiest of plants. Here it is Halloween and it still thrives even though we have had some hard freezes. I also have aobut 50 butternut squash from my summer garden that are stored out in my garage. I imagine I will be trying this recipe soon along with any others I can find and Pin over the next few weeks.
So delicious as are all of your recipes Kate. I added coconut milk plus water instead of veggie broth and some Thai chili paste. Loved the fried sage leaves. The perfect meal for a cool fall afternoon.
First time visiting your blog and came across this recipe. I didn’t deviate and it came out awesome! Cream, easy and very flavorful! The only thing i suggest is more sage, it really compliments the sauce. Thanks so much for sharing i love when vegan recipes are easy and delicious!
Thanks, Courtney! Glad you enjoyed the dish! I agree, the more sage, the better!
What can I say, all 6 kids LOVED this and that’s a first for meat free night in my house. Thank you!
I made this for dinner this evening and was hands down absolutely fabulous! I love a hearty tomato based spaghetti, but this version has me wanting to forgo it and just stick with this from now on. It is such a hearty dish. The crispy sage……YUMMMMM!
Thanks, Kara! So glad you loved this one.
Kate
I made this last night and it was exceptional!! The butternut was so delicious and the flavors blended together beautifully!! I have a whole list of recipes I want to make. My only question is my husband wants meat…. What are the best recipes that you have thT blend with meats or chicken?
Brooke, I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner! I’m a vegetarian so it’s kind of hard for me to say which recipes go well with meat. I suspect that most of the salads would go well with chicken or fish. I’ve heard that a lot of meat lovers enjoy my butternut chili, so that might over well as is!
This looks so divine! I love that it’s vegan. Perfect for the new year, especially with the whole wheat pasta. I’ve never tried fried sage – can’t wait to see what it’s like!
Thanks for another great recipe Kate! This is super tasty& filling without leaving you with that heavy pasta belly feeling. The carnivore hubby really likes it too and he isn’t one to eat squash. The one change I made was to roast the squash in the oven (for an hour on 400) before adding it. I just love the flavor of squash roasted best and thought it would be easier than cutting up the squash while it was raw. It worked great!
During the work week I make dinners the night before because of my work schedule and because I’m a really slow cook. Even simple dinners seem to take me a long time to make so I like to be able to just heat things up on weeknights. Just in case anyone else is in the same position, for this recipe, I made the sauce last night and then all I had to do tonight was heat it up and toss it with the pasta and pasta water. While the water was boiling I made the sage (oh my gosh don’t skip the sage, it is delicious!) It is a great make ahead meal this way – done in about 20 minutes. Can’t wait to have the leftovers for dinner tomorrow.
Thank you! Glad you both enjoyed this dish. I bet it is even tastier with roasted squash.
Since you roasted the squash, did you use the same amount of broth in the recipe, which was to be reduced by half while cooking raw squash, or less broth?
I used the same amount of broth and just cooked it all together until it had reduced by half. I think you could reduce both the broth and cooking time and still get a good result.
Made this last night and my family devoured it! Used some sprinkled bacon on top as well as the sage and it was delicious. Thanks :)
Glad to hear it! Thanks, Loren!
Discovered your blog yesterday and I’m so glad I did.
I made this recipe for lunch: AMAZING ! I didn’t have sage so instead I added a little bit of baby spinach at the end.
Thank you !
Hooray! Welcome, Camille. So glad you enjoyed this pasta.
Made this morning and eaten for lunch and dinner, it was lovely! I pureed half the squash mix and left the rest as gooey chunks.
Tip for uk readers is that sainsburys sells packs of chopped squash, onion and chilli (it’s called butternut soup mix) mix which is perfect for a lazy cook :-)
Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Amy! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Kate !
Not having a blender has prevented me from making this wonderful-looking pasta for a long time, but now that we do have one, nothing stands in my way anymore, and i’ll make this as soon as i can (for some reason the boyfriend doesn’t share my passion for all kinds of winter squash, so with each recipe i must convince him that squash season will be over soon and so we HAVE to eat some now, but i’m more than ready to have this conversation again for this pasta’s sake.) I have a question though, because i cook for 2 and am not sure i’ll manage to find a small butternut squash : would the squash purée freeze well ? (the “you could stir it is risotto” nota bene wasn’t lost on me, and i’ll be sure to do just that if it does freeze.)
Thank you !
Hi Aimelle! Congrats on the new blender. Yes, I think the purée will freeze beautifully!
I made this last night (and burnt my first batch of sage which was very sad, but i didn’t let it happen to the second batch) and it all turned out perfect ! This sauce is fantastic, thank you for sharing it !
Sorry to hear about your burnt sage fiasco! Glad you enjoyed the dish after all, though.
Just made it for my family and everybody liked it, thanks a lot! :)
Awesome! Thanks, Karoline!
Made it for dinner and we adored it. Haven’t been so wowed by a dish in a long time!
We have a rescue, too :) Had not heard of two of Cookie’s three breeds, so looked them up. Interesting!
Thank you, Anna! Delighted to hear that you enjoyed this dish so much. Cookie says hello to your pup!
Max says hi back. My daughter says Cookie looks like cookies and cream ice cream. But smart. I can’t seem to copy a photo of Max here.
Tonight we try your black bean and avocado chili. Looking forward to it :)
Hope you loved the chili, Anna! Cookie came with her name but I suspect she earned it because she looks like cookies and cream… or because she’s one smart cookie… your daughter is right on point! :)
This is a fantastic recipe. I made it for a meatless dish for Lent, and we all (including three kids) LOVED it! I failed at frying sage (I have never fried anything before), but I added chopped sage with the broth. Delicious!
Thanks, Nicole! So glad you all enjoyed it!
Think i can replace the butternut squash for sweet potatoes ?
Yes, I bet so! Please let me know if you try it!
Hi Kate. Planning to make this tonight. Do you know if it’s okay to freeze the sauce minus the sage?
Hi Vicky, I’m so sorry for my delay. Yes, I think so!
I’m giving this two stars because my toddler ate it and my husband’s friend ate most of the leftovers. But my husband and I did not like this at all. The texture reminded us of squash baby food and it didn’t have much of a flavor. It wasn’t disgusting, but it wasn’t good either.
I’m so sorry you didn’t love this dish, Anastasia. I wonder if your squash needed more time in the blender and maybe some more salt, too. Bummed that it wasn’t a hit!
I am about to make this again tonight. I first made it on New Year’s Eve. My sister and I both thoroughly enjoy it each time. I still haven’t quite gotten the knack of frying the sage, but that’s on me. Sad that I won’t be able to have it again until the fall/winter, but as I’m not a fan of cold, it will be something to look forward to.
Kathryn, hope the sage worked out better this time! Glad you’re enjoying the linguine.
I made this tonight and it was super tasty!
My flat mate just finished off a second bowl of it :)
The sauce itself was a little bland (but I did use water instead of stock so that may be why), but once you add the cheese… Wow! is all I can say :)
It was creamy and delicious and made all my dreams come true haha :D
Added some roasted cauliflower which gave it a more diverse texture, I think you could add just about any veg to this and it would be delicious :)
Thanks for another amazing recipe, perfect score for all the dishes I’ve tried so far- I’m starting to believe that you are magic haha :)
Thank you so much, Jadzia! :)
Okay so I have started using vegetable stock, which really does make a big difference!
I’ve also gone vegan so am using a vegan parmesan and this tastes AMAZING!
Just thought I would update, since I no longer have any complaints with this recipe haha :)
Tried your butternut squash and sage recipe and have to say it’s fantastic. Never thought you could get so much creamy smoothness from these ingredients. Bravo!
Yay, thanks Deb!
I made this for dinner and it was really good! I ate mine vegan and for the carnivores I served an Itallian sausage and shaved parmesian in the side. I pove recipes like this since I am the lone vegan among three male carnivores so recipes like this make life easier since I don’t have to make two seperate meals!!!
Thank you, Dani! So glad this one worked well for you!
Yum! Thank you, we just had this for dinner and I couldn’t find any butternut squash since it’s not in season, so I used frozen, and it was delicious. My picky 4 year old ate *some* so that was great! And the one year old loved it :)
So glad you all enjoyed it! Your kids are much more adventurous than I was at their ages!
This recipe wasn’t too bad, the sauce on it’s own is essentially butternut squash soup. I’m not a fan of spicy foods, but without red pepper flakes the sauce is very bland and one-dimensional. Squash, onion, and garlic by themselves don’t lend much flavor to this dish even when browned up. Fried sage added a little flavor and was an interesting addition.
My 11 month old son gobbled this up!! As did my husband, and he thinks ‘vegan’ is a dirty word :) Thanks for this truly family friendly, satisfying, healthy meal.
Thank you, Mary!
Cookie & Kate –
This was the 3rd? Er, 4th time we made this ? And each time it gets better & better.
We used fresh sage from our garden tonight which was really delicious – and I added a little more red pepper, than I / we have in the past. My wife didn’t complain a bit, and I enjoyed the little bit of heat in the background.
We had a considerable amount of leftover sauce & pasta – and being a glutton for leftovers I am already done with planning for lunch tomorrow.
We have so many great recipes from your site that we end-up missing out on the ones we find and say, “Oh, we gotta’ try that…”
Don’t worry. We know where to come for ‘standards’ AND for recipes for, ‘Exploring.’
– Todd & Susan
Thank you, Todd and Susan! Always so nice to hear from you. So glad you’re enjoying my recipes!
My husband and I just finished our meal. Glad I followed your recipe exact because it turned out wonderful! You are a very talented young lady! Looking forward to seeing more posts!
Thank you so much, Annette! :)
SO0o0O0o0Oo delicious!!!
Definitely one of my new favorite recipes!
Hooray, thanks Cya!
Made this tonight and it was just perfect. I sprinkled a bit of “vegan parmesan” (raw cashews and nutritional yeast ground into powder) on top, and I highly recommend that for a bit of umami. The fried sage is so delicious, I think I’ll be topping more pastas with fried herbs. Beautiful flavor and texture, and gives a lovely bit of contrasting color to the dish.
Thanks, Evie! Love that you added vegan parm.
Hi Kate! I made this today subbing coconut oil making the dish ‘Pegan.’ For myself, I’ll serve it with ‘zoodles’ for a true Paleo option. I did use my immersion blender but after reading the comments, I blended for a longer amount of time and found the sauce to be perfectly smooth. Thank you for this recipe. :)
Hi VRK! So glad you enjoyed this one!
We made this last night – soooo good!! Our son gobbled this down and asked us to make it again – sure sign of a hit! Love how easy this is and not too sweet. Awesome recipe!!
Hooray, thank you!