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.
Made this tonight and It. Is. So. Good. that after dinner I had to come right here and comment about how good it is! Sage has never been all that much on my radar, but that fried sage is amazing! I want to find ways to incorporate it into everything savory. The whole recipe was amazing! My meat-loving boyfriend loved it as well. I will definitely be making this again.
Thank you, Alison! So glad you both enjoyed this one. I love fried sage, too! Fresh sage, though… nope.
I just made this and it was a huge hit!
Once I tasted the fried sage, I immediately cooked up some more! I ended up using about double what the recipe calls for because it was so delicious.
I also added some hot sauce since I love spicy food.
Amazing! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Jenn! Glad you loved it!
Oh em gee and wowie wow. This is crazy good. I have made this twice already. I usually add a small amount of half and half to mine in place of the stock and I have been caramelizing the onions and garlic. I was going to do the sage but the store was picked over and it looked bad already. This is one of Chris’s fave dinners now, restaurant quality and very simple to make. THANK YOU for sharing!
Thanks, Shannon! So glad you’re loving it!
This was a great success. The best thing about it was all the vegetables were harvested right from my garden. I used pearl onions because they are nice & sweet. Thanks a bunch.
Thank you, Fraces! I bet your home-grown version was extra amazing!
This looks fantastic and I’ll be making it tonight! Will post a photo on Instagram. Thanks so much for sharing! I’m always looking for interesting, healthy, veggie inspired dishes to try! :)
Thank you, Julie!
Kate,
I made this last night and it absolutely blew me away. It was divine. I used your suggestion and actually turned this into a Bisque. I added a tiny amount of cream and it was absolutely delicious! Will make again soon. This is going into the permanent rotation for Fall! Thank you so much!
Thank you, Lisa! Delighted to hear it. :)
I made this recipe for New Year’s Eve because one of my dinner guests is vegan and I could also cut this up for my toddler. Everyone LOVED it! I served it with salad and it was very filling. I will definitely make this again.
This dish looks amazing! I’m a vegetarian and my husband is a meat eater and he is excited to help me make this meal this week. I’ve made your recipes before and they’re all been delish! Thanks!
Katie
Thank you, Katie! Hope it turned out great!
This was truly delicious! I didn’t have fresh sage on hand so I used dried sage instead, and it was just as good! We had leftover butternut squash sauce that we enjoyed as a soup the next day :) Thank you thank you!
Yay! Thank you, Sharon! :)
This was fantastic. Family ate it all. I have no clue how you come up with all these awesome recipes !!!
I made this tonight! Outstanding! I doubled the recipe for my family of four and it worked perfect for us. Wow! This is so tasty it will become a regular dish in my house.
Thank you, Karen! Happy to hear it!
Just made this… IT’S SO AMAZING. My family wasn’t too sure about what it would taste like because it’s vegetarian, but they all loved it! The spiciness was just perfect and it didn’t even take that long to make! Will definitely be making this again.
Vegan??? Pasta is made with eggs.
not all pasta is made with eggs. I can usually find cheap varieties that are vegan especially spaghetti
I roasted the squash for an hour, in its skin, to avoid chopping the squash raw, which I find tricky. I also used 1tsp of dried sage in the sauce, as I had no fresh. Besides this it was as per the recipe. We loved it! Creamy, spicy, not overly sweet, a real winner!
So I had a lot of leftover sauce.. Not sure if anyone else did. And it took a lot longer than 15-20 minutes to soften the squash in the pan. I think next time I’d like to roast the squash, double the sage (because I didn’t even taste it) and then definitely blend it longer in my food processer. Also maybe add a cup or so of coconut milk. I felt like I processed it a long time, but it still wasn’t super creamy. All in all, I will make it again but will definitely make some changes. My 2 and 4 year old ate it up tho!! Thanks Kate
This is such a delicious recipe! I just made it and can’t wait to enjoy it with my family tonight. It’s so nice to find tasty AND healthy recipes.
Love the combination of flavors! The fried sage is just perfect in this dish!!
Thank you for sharing!!
I make this recipe once in 2 months which doesn’t sound like much but is a lot in a 2 person household where my husband hates both pasta and squash. I love it! The key seems to be simmering the squash for a decent amount of time and once in another similar recipe, I didn’t, it was terrible. I add shredded kale and peas to amp up the vegetables from time to time.
I love all your recipes they look wonderful! I only wish they had the nutritional value. I am on a strict diet and need to know.
This is SO GOOD! I love the combination of flavors…. simple and delicious!
Hi. Do you know how many calories this is per serving?
Okay, 16 years old, new to this whole ‘using a stove’ thing, and I couldn’t be more impressed with the turnout of this recipe. Seriously, I’m the worst in the kitchen. This was amazingly easy for even the most novice chef, honestly a monkey with a frying pan could accomplish this. AND on top of that, I actually did a good job, typically something goes wrong for me but I ACTUALLY recreated this successfully. This recipe is a new fave! So filling, so delicious, and most importantly, so easy.
Wow, this is so delicious. Thank you for this recipe! I was skeptical about whole wheat pasta but with the puree and sage it’s just divine.
Delicious! My husband and I loved this dish and I will make it part of my rotation of entrees.
Holy guacamole! I just made this for dinner tonight. It was the first time I ever tried butternut squash and I have been missing out! My husband liked this recipe too! I just recently discovered your blog and have tried out a few recipes and all of them have been absolutely fantastic! Your website gives people unique options so veggie lovers dont have to eat the same things over and over again. Thank you so much for making vegetarian meals accessible and delicious! :)
Great recipe, made it last night. However mine turned out more starchy than creamy, not sure where I went wrong, although I’m thinking it was because I used a bit more pasta than required. Anyway, the butternut squash and sage combination was golden :)
I have a plate of this pasta sitting in front of me, and for my first attempt at vegan butternut squash pasta it came out amazing! So good. I know it’s the dead of summer but I couldn’t resist trying. Thanks!
Awesome! I’m so glad. Thanks for letting me know, Silvee.
Turned out lovely! I skipped the sage, added in some lobster mushrooms and nutritional yeast on top. So fancy and warm, thank you xx
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks, Julia.
thank you for such an wonderful dinner idea, i’m in Sri Lanka at the moment and was trying to think of an vegetarian dish that didn’t involve RICE. my friend and i will cook this tonight. :-)
Perfect! Hope you loved it!
I have a winter squash. May I use that? This is my first time making a squash recipe
Make. This. Pasta. It is gorgeous! Thank you!
Thank you, Christina!
Oh yes!! Definitely a winner. My sauce came out too thick (my bad), so I made a note to use some of the pasta water to thin the pureed mixture (or more veggie stock?). I also left some of the squash and onion in the pan whole. It added a nice texture to the dish. The flavor was wonderful! Husband gave it 2 thumbs up! Will definitely be making this again! Thanks!!
Thanks, Suzy! Those both sound like good ideas for thinning the sauce. You might be able to avoid the problem by buying a smaller squash next time.
This one didn’t work out for me. The sauce came out way too thin and was lacking in flavor overall. Maybe it was just me, I’d try it again
I’m sorry to hear that, Katie. Are you sure you used a large enough squash? I just heard from someone else that their sauce was too thick (which could easily be thinned), and I suspect it comes down to the size of the squash.
Kate, I have been cooking and baking recipes from your blog for about a month now and I have loved everything! Your blog brings me so much joy in the kitchen! Thank you! Thank you!
These look so inviting, love creamy pasta! I’ll definitely give them a try, looks delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Looks good
I was looking for a great Butternut Squash Soup recipe and found your site. It is just great and I can’t wait to make a lot of your recipes. It is wonderful how you include Cookie. I love dogs, too and have 3 of them. Wish I was younger and rich, I would love to have another restaurant and cook with your influence. I will be visiting your website often for recipes and inspiration.
Would love it if you could include nutrition info with your recipes.
This recipe was BOMB. I swapped arrowroot for potato starch but everything else was 100% this blog and delicious. TY!
Do you think this would work with cooked butternut squash as well?
Possibly! Depends on how it’s been cooked and you would need to adjust the cooking method accordingly, since the recipe instructs you to cook the butternut in the skillet.
how many calories are within this delicious looking meal?
I made this recipe for the first time yesterday, but it will certainly not be the last! :) It tasted very creamy indeed. We added some extra goat cheese on top in the end, which made it taste even more heavenly! Thanks!
This was yummy!! I am an Indian living in the US for a very long time and my idea of Italian was related to what I had at Olive Garden. Plus I am vegetarian. This recipe showed me that Italian food can be spicy. Easy to make and yummy yummy yummy. Thank you!!
Is it possible to get the nutrition info with each recipe ????
I’m working on a solution for that, but it will be another month or so!
This looks amazing! I plan on making this sometime soon!
This was awesome! I used gluten free spaghetti and added more sage. Everyone, even the pickiest eaters asked for seconds. Super easy too.
I just made this dish tonight! It was delicious. I made it a bit more simple since I have some picky eaters in the house. No sage or red pepper flakes. It was still creamy and flavorful. I would definitely recommend this dish!
This sounds lovely! can I make it ahead and freeze it (sauce only) for later use?
Thanks
I believe so! I haven’t tried doing that with this sauce, but my butternut soup recipe is similar and freezes/defrosts well.
thankyou!
How many calories are in this?
Hi, Shannon. Unfortunately, I don’t have nutritional info available for my recipes just yet. I’m looking for a solution, and will update about it once I find one. Thanks!
Hi Kate ! I’m so glad I found you! Reading your blog is so much better than looking through my book of 1000 vegan recipes. I’m glad Cookie is feeling better. I am a dog lover and pet sitter.
Do you have nutrition information on this meal?
Never mind, I just noticed one of your previous comments that answered my question! Thank you though!
Hi, Ashley– Unfortunately, I don’t have nutritional info available for my recipes just yet. I’m looking for a solution, and will update about it once I find one. Thanks!