Creamy butternut squash pasta sauce recipe

This creamy butternut squash pasta sauce is a healthy hack to make a luxuriously creamy pasta dish that is much lower in calories. Blended cooked squash has such a smooth and velvety texture that you’d never believe this butternut squash pasta sauce is low fat and suitable for vegans! Cooking the squash in stock then adding in sweet shallots, garlic, and a pinch of paprika and chilli makes it so tasty. We’ve served out creamy butternut squash pasta sauce with linguini, but you can experiment with any other pasta you like. Crispy sage adds a punch of flavour and refined feel to this simple pasta dish. We’ve used a little olive oil, but if you want to make a more indulgent version you can fry the sage in butter and then stir the infused butter through the sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
• 1ltr veg stock
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• ½ tsp paprika
• 300g fettucine or linguini
• handful sage leaves

Method

1. Heat the stock in a pan, add the squash (topping up with water to cover the squash if needed) and boil for 12-15 mins until softened.
2. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and cook the shallots and garlic for a few mins until softened. Add the paprika and chilli and cook for another min, then transfer to a food processor with the cooked squash. Blend until smooth and season to taste.
3. Cook the pasta according to package instructions, about 8 mins. Meanwhile, lightly fry the sage leaves in olive oil until crisp.
4. Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water, and return to the pan with the squash puree. Coat the pasta in the sauce, divide between bowls and top with sage to serve.