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.
So good and so filling. Will definitely make again.
Great to hear, Allie! Thanks so much for your review.
This was amazing. I am planning to make it again and thin it out to soup consistency. The flavour was perfect.
Love that, Jaimi!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! It is my favorite fall recipe this year, comfort food at its best! (and possibly healthiest?)
Thanks for making another recipe, Taija!
Thanks for a terrific vegan pasta recipie I worried it would be too sweet but the pepper flakes are perfect
You’re welcome, Jennifer!
I would love to prepare this dish for Thanksgiving. I do plan on making as much as possible in advance so my question is, can I make the butternut squash the day before and store in the fridge until ready to use? Even if means having to add more stock or milk to it to make it creamy?
Hi! I haven’t tried it, sorry. I don’t know if the sauce would quite come together right.
I would have given this 4 stars but after one day in the fridge the sauce goops up and its no longer creamy. I should have saved more pasta water to add to it the next day when reheating leftovers.
I am a fan of your recipes usually. Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks for sharing! I’m sorry to hear it wasn’t as good the next day.
I haven’t made this yet, but it seems like you could add a splash of almond or coconut milk when you reheat it.
Making this now. I’d imagine you could add a little broth to cream it up again. It smells divine when it’s cooking!
I made the butternut squash with the organic durum wheat noodles. I would recommend adding more sage in the recipe, more garlic. Im allergic to red pepper so I was thinking about supplementing with organic cilantro. I felt like the food was too heavy in my stomach. My bf. is lactose tolerant. Do you have any suggestions about using different noodles that would be lighter on the stomach?
Hi Mary, I’m sorry you don’t love this one. You can always try a different noodle as there are a lot of different options out there. It may change the flavor and texture some, but I bet still give you a delicious result with the sauce.
I also noticed how quickly filling this was, but my first thoughts were to try the sauce on zucchini noodles, baked potatoes, or broccoli, if I didn’t want to eat it next time on traditional pasta. The sauce feels so much like a cheese sauce to me, but so much healthier, and the flavor is incredible, so I know it’ll be a staple in my fall/winter dishes the rest of this season. I’d also suggest people use elbow noodles if they really love mac n cheese, since this has such a luxurious creamy likeness to cheese sauce.
you need to gently reheat and add a bit of fat to hold it togeter- so maybe coconut milk or the cream of it…OR silk half half…and re-whisk / buzz it
that will take care of it
I discovered today that I do NOT like roasted butternut squash… but I have a whole lot of it, cubed, in my freezer. I’m planning to make this tonight!
Was considering swapping smoked paprika for the red pepper (mostly because I have everything but the red pepper flakes and it seems silly to leave just for that). Obviously it won’t be spicy, but maybe balance out the sweetness? I’d love to hear your thoughts! :) Cannot wait to try this!
Hi Ryan! I do love smoked paprika, but I’m not sure without trying it. You could just leave out the red pepper flakes all together. Let me know what you think!
Hi Kate! Just made this butternut squash fettuccine, and WOW! You hit the jackpot again! As usual, I added more garlic and a little thyme too. But I’ll be making this one again! P.S. Hope Cookie’s doing well! She’s a cutie! I’m also a dog and animal lover in general!
I’m so glad you loved it, Lynne! Cookie is doing great. I will be sure to give her some love!
Little bit spicy for my taste but still very good great vegan dish
I’m glad you still enjoyed it! You can always decrease the amount of red pepper to meet your tastes. Thanks for sharing, Keaton!
Overall I was disappointed and found the pasta be be bland for the amount of time it takes to prepare. Kids and husband didn’t have anything to say about it. Just ok. One tip: It must be served immediately! After just a few minutes it was extremely dry so I added more broth.
I had the same problem I found that adding some hot sauce helps add some more flavour and I think I’m just going to cut out pasta all together… an amazing alternative that adds a flavourful crunch is raw zucchini noodles that are extremely easy to make with a Spiralizer!! Delicious!
Fantastic! Perfect for my five kids (and me)! Perhaps for my husband, too, if he catches any leftovers! Thank you for sharing!
I love it! Family favorite, that’s great. Thanks for your review!
It was delicious thank you! I added two large tbsp of plain full cream yoghurt into the squash and added more sage in the beginning and end. Will definitely make it again!
Great to hear, Hannah! Thank you for the review.
Delicious, and super easy to make! Can’t wait to try more!
Thanks, Josh!
My 13 month old absolutely loves this puree, but the rest of us weren’t gaga. But we don’t care for butternut squash or pumpkin soups, either, so I was just trying to expand our repertoire. :) Thank you so much for sharing your recipes so that we can find things that work for our families. I’m really excited to have something my baby will chow down on this week!
I’m glad you kiddo loved it! Sorry you were disappointed. Thanks so much for sharing. I appreciate the review!
This was amazing!! It fooled my kids who thought it was a cheese based sauce. And it was so easy. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Liz!
Pretty tasty. I had never tried fried sage before. Anice touch.
My new favourite dinner! Easy to make, vegan, warm and delicious. This is such a fabulous recipe and I am so grateful that I am now introduced to fried sage – what a treat!
Love it, Nick!
Lovely recipe I’m new to vegan cooking so it’s good to stick to some familiar pasta I added some extra spices and it was perfect
I’m happy you liked i, Maddisen!
So delicious and creamy! Thank you for this great recipe. I made a different butternut pasta recipe, and it was a total fail. I am so happy with how this came out. I added my own little twist— I doubled the garlic, used shallots instead of yellow onion, added greek yogurt and used GF pasta. And for my carnivore fiance, I add crumbled chicken sausage to top it off.
You’re welcome! I’m glad your twist tasted great for you. Thanks for the review, Tiffany!
Holy cow. This was so delicious!! I made it just for myself and thought I’d have a few leftover meals. Nope, it was gone by the next day, that good! Thanks so much for another amazing recipe.
I’m happy to hear that, Erin! Thanks for your review.
I was hesitant about trying this because I’m not a big fan of squash but, this is my FAVORITE vegan meal that I’ve made so far. Have made it twice now and the second time I doubled the fried sage topping because it is so yummy with the sauce/pasta. I also added a bit of dried basil & marjoram.
I’m so happy to hear that, Alana!
I’m eating this right now and I’m crying because it’s so delicious
I’m glad they are happy tears, Alan! Thank your for your review.
I’ve been making this recipe for years now and is pretty much the only way I eat butternut squash. I dislike butternut squash otherwise.
I add lightly sautéed kale and carrots. The kale adds a bitterness which complements the sweetness well. Thank you so much for this recipe.
I’m happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing.
Adding toasted pine nuts at the end along with the sage elevates this dish to a whole ‘nother level.
Pine nuts would be nice! Thanks for sharing, Tim.
How much protein does a serving have?
Hi Heather, the nutritional information is below the notes section of the recipe. Make sure you allow cookies in your browser settings. I hope this helps!
Does this work ok with other kinds of pasta or is linguine better? I have bowtie and macaroni for other dishes but I don’t know enough about cooking to be confident about substitutions.
Linguine works best, but you can use other pasta. That should be fine! I would suggest bowtie over macaroni.
Creamy Butternut Squash Linguine recipe – The amount of sauce covered two full packages of pasta. We were eating this for a week, which was OK because it was yummy!
Happy to hear you loved it, Anne!
Add a generous squeeze of lemon! I’ve made this recipe a few times and always felt it was missing something to really brighten up the flavor — acid! A very generous squeeze of 1 1/2 lemons really did the trick!!
To be honest I thought this tasted odd at first — like pasta tossed in a creamy butternut squash bisque, which it kinda is haha. I tweaked it a bit and it worked much better for me! I took the advice of another comment to add lemon and that extra acidity really boosted the flavors. My lemon wasn’t very juicy, but a few dashes of tangy hot sauce before serving did the trick (and added a nice smokiness). I stirred in a package of sauteed cremini mushrooms and served the puree over Trader Joe’s yellow lentil spaghetti along with vegan parm and extra fried sage. Also, at least with the spaghetti I used, it held up very well in the fridge, even after 5 days. The sauce does get drier and clumpy the longer it sat, but a splash of some reserved pasta water right before reheating transformed it back to a perfectly creamy state.
I’m sorry you weren’t sold at first, but then were able to enjoy it!
Can this be made ahead?
I prefer this right away, but you can reheat it.
I added a little heavy cream while blending in my Vitamix and made it into soup! Friends loved it! The biggest compliment was “It was so good.. is like a hug in a soup!” I like to drink it chilled on a hot day too!
Thanks for sharing, Bonnie!
Hi there was nutirtonal value does the dish have..
Many thanks
Hi Nicole! Unfortunately, I’m having issues with my nutritional plug-in. I’m working with my web team to fix right away. I apologize for any inconvenience!
This is so delicious! Was tempted to skip the fried sage (not a huge fan, usually), but so glad I didn’t! It just gave that contrast of texture and flavour. Even my 3 year old son said “Mummy, I like dinner”. Will be making again!
I’m glad you didn’t skip it! So good. Thanks for your review.
2 year old (and mama) approved! Instead of boiling down in the pan, I roasted all the squash with salt and pepper in the oven for the same amount of time suggested, then added it to sautéed onion, garlic, and sage before popping into the blender. (I didn’t think Small would be down for decorative herbs.) But dang! Secret veg for the win. So glad I have extras to freeze!
Decided to try something new… and this is bad! No flavor at all… no matter what I try nothing… added extra of this herb added a little extra of that herb… no flavor…no matter what I did! This is the 1st time I’ve made something and my hubby and I take 2 bites and throw it away… bunch of left overs… thrown away… both my hubby and I have a lot of experience with cooking! The 2nd thing I decided to try that was new tonight were these curry sweet potato french fries with this amazing miso gravy and black beans! Those were the bees knees! Sorry tho… this was an epic bland fail!
I’m sorry you didn’t love this one! Thanks for your feedback.
Hey so I just tried out this recipe with a kabocha squash and loved it. I didn’t have sage or a blender unfortunately but everything still smooshed down perfectly. I used it over non dairy mushroom ravioli so I can’t wait to try it with linguine. Also did you know you can eat the skins of the kabocha?
I’m not quite sure, Kay. Sorry!
New follower here! my boys (almost 1, 2 1/2 and 33 year old husband lol) LOVED this! I sprinkled nutritional yeast “cheese” on top (both little ones have cows milk allergy) and were so excited! Trying the west African peanut soup later this week! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Vanessa!
Absolutely delicious. I added grilled asparagus just for fun on top! Labor intensive but oh so worth it!
I’m happy you thought it was worth it, Renee!
Great recipe! Taste great and looks good. I made it for my daughter in law and son after their baby girl was born. She’s vegan and finding a good recipe for her just got easier! Thank you. Hi Cookie!
This recipe is simple and elegant. I left the sauce on the thicker side which was a perfect texture and accompaniment for the butternut squash pasta I picked up at Trader Joe’s. I roasted up the remaining butternut squash, as I bought a ginormous squash, and topped the dish with the sage and roasted squash. Holy cow this is a keeper as everyone in the family loved it! Perfect fall flavors. Thank you.i
Thank you, Linnea!
Tried this recipe, it’s so simple yet so delicious! When I fried the sage, I also fried the pumpkin seeds till they started to pop like popcorn. I added the seeds (without peeling) as garnish to the pasta together with the sage. It adds a lot of flavor and texture. Love it!!
I followed this pro tip, I must say it does add a lot of extra with little extra efforts!
I followed this pro tip, I must say it does add a lot of extra with little extra efforts!
Btw, who do new comments appear last? Isn’t it more logical to let them appear on the top?
Thanks for your comment, Tze!
This recipe is OUTSTANDING! …And with one serving of pasta each , my partner and I got to eat the leftover ‘sauce’ as a delicious soup the next day!
This butternut squash was too sweet for the pasta. The only redeeming factor was the crispy sage. I will not make this again.
I’m sorry you didn’t love this one! Thanks for your feedback, Valerie.
Could I use this sauce using lasagne noodles instead of the other?
Arg. I agree with people here that the dish was a tad bland; at least compared to other butternut sauces with dairy! Just cant beat dairy! I still think for what its worth, it wasnt bad. I’m cookiing for a vegetarian and a lactose intolerant person, so thought this might do it, but alsa, back to the drawing board.
Thanks though!
I’m sorry to hear that! Thanks for sharing.
Yummy! Yummy! The noodle was a perfect conveyer of the deep flavors that you have here. I love the squash texture mixed in with the sage. We served it along side some season root veggies on Christmas Eve and everyone loved it up here in chilly Minneapolis. Thanks Much!
Thanks for sharing, Benjamin!
Excellent dish, thank you! Healthy, simple, delicious, and warms you up nicely on a chilly evening. I’ll be making this one again!
You’re welcome, Alex!
aggressively bland. super disappointing because it takes a while to make and it quite laborious. the consistency is that of baby food. :(
I’m sorry you didn’t love this one, Valerie.
This was super yummy! I would never have thought to use this as a sauce for linguine, but I really liked it! Thanks Kate! I added mushroom, which added a nice flavor as well.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, I made this because my husband and I just became plant based vegans. On paper and in the picture it looks great. It tasted good and the flavour was good and the hot peppers added a nice zing. Only problem was it tasted like butternut squash soup over pasta. The fried sage was the best. Unfortunately a lot of work for it to taste like butternut squash soup over pasta. Sorry, I won’t be making this again.
I’m sorry you didn’t love this one, Karen. I appreciate your review!
Wow!!! creamy and flavorful! I made this for my family and they claimed “best pasta” hands down. I followed the recipes measurements except I used GF linguine, I substituted dried thyme for the sage and added a bit of mustard seed. Towards the end I added red bell peppers, spinach and topped with vegan parm. I will be cooking this one again and again! Next time crispy kale and sautéed mushrooms to switch it up :)
Thank you for sharing, Kryn. I’m happy you loved it!