I can't think of a cozier Fall dinner than this Butternut Squash Penne with Sage and Toasted Walnuts. This pasta is full of flavor, a little spicy, savory, and salty topped with Pecorino Cheese. Simple and really delicious! It can be made vegan too! Just substitute the Pecorino for nutritional yeast.
I actually came up with this recipe accidentally one day when I had too much butternut squash leftover from making this Butternut Squash Curry Soup with Red Lentils I posted last week. The best kind of accident if you ask me. I used sage and thyme in this recipe and they work so well with the walnuts and the butternut squash. Sage is such an underappreciated herb in my opinion. I've been putting it on everything lately and I love frying it in butter, either vegan or regular. I know it's not the healthiest so you can skip it if you'd like but I think it takes the dish to a whole another level. It's that little something that takes it from great to amazing.
Now that it's colder, warm, hearty meals are all I'm looking for and this Butternut Squash Penne is just that! It's super easy to make. It may seem like there are a lot of steps but you do everything simultaneously so it only takes about 30 minutes.
There are four steps. First, you roast the nuts, that only takes about 5 minutes. Second, you roast the squash with fresh thyme and sage. Third, you cook the onion, sage, thyme, garlic, dry white wine, and navy beans. That only takes about 15 minutes so it's done by the time the butternut squash is ready. The last step is to cook the pasta and reserve some of the cooking water. I like to mix everything together in the pan I cooked the onions in. Sprinkle in some Pecorino cheese or nutritional yeast and gently toss. Serve sprinkled with some more cheese (because everything's better with more cheese, right?) and enjoy!
Like I mentioned, if you want to make this dish vegan, use vegan butter instead of regular butter and use nutritional yeast instead of the Pecorino sheep cheese.
Hope you enjoy this recipe and let me know if you make it! Tag me on instagram @thehealthfulideas or comment below. I love seeing you make my recipes!
Print📖 Recipe
Butternut Squash Penne with Sage and Toasted Walnuts
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Roasting
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Easy 30-minute penne with roasted butternut squash, sage, thyme, pecorino, and toasted walnuts. The perfect fall/winter pasta recipe! (GF)
Ingredients
- ½ cup walnuts
- 2 tbsp avocado oil (divided)
- Sea salt
- 4 cups chopped butternut squash
- 4-5 strings of thyme
- 10 sage leaves (plus more for garnish if desired)
- Sea salt, pepper
- 1 Tsp Garlic powder
- 1 Tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp chopped sage leaves
- 2 tbsp thyme leaves
- 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 1 cup navy beans, (from a can) drained and rinsed (or sub any other white beans)
- 200g gluten-free penne pasta
- ¼ cup pecorino cheese (sub parmesan or 2 tbsp nutritional yeast if vegan) plus more for serving
Instructions
- Start with the walnuts. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Add the walnuts to a baking sheet, drizzle with 1 teaspoon of the avocado oil and sprinkle with some sea salt. Roast for 5-7 minutes or until fragrant and crunchy. Take them out of the oven and set aside until ready to serve.
- Bring the temperature of the oven up to 450°F (230°C).
- Onto a sheet pan add the butternut squash, 2 teaspoon avocado oil, 5 strings of thyme, sage leaves, sea salt and pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder and toss to combine and coat well. Roast the squash for 20-25 minutes or until soft. While that’s roasting, cook the onion, and pasta.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of avocado oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of sea salt. Cook for 10 minutes, add the chopped sage leaves, thyme leaves, minced garlic and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Slowly pour in the wine and stir with a wooden spoon scraping the bottom of the pan to make sure nothing is sticking. Let that cook for a couple minutes until the wine reduces. Add the beans and toss. Take off heat.
- Cook your pasta according to package instructions and reserve ½ cup of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the beans along with the roasted squash and toss gently. Pour in about ¼ of the cooking water and sprinkle with ¼ cup of the pecorino. Toss, taste, and add more water if needed, cheese, or salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with more pecorino and enjoy!
Notes
Make it vegan: substitute the pecorino cheese for 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
Keywords: pasta, butternut squash, sage, thyme, pecorino, vegetarian
Sharon
This squash penne pasta dish is the perfect fall comfort food dinner for meatless Mondays.
Nina
I wouldn’t have ever thought about putting pasta with squash but this sounds and looks like a super yummy combination!!
Reese Woods
I feel like some of the most creative recipes come from trying to repurpose leftovers in a new way sometimes! This looks great!
Christie
Your recipes always make me hungry! This looks amazing!
Amanda
This is the perfect fall pasta! It was so cozy, and I just love butternut squash and fresh sage together. They made such a great flavor combo. Can't wait to make this one again!
RusticSun
Question , how well would this transfer to a crock pot to stay warm for a dish to pass ?
Veronika | thehealthfulideas
Pasta dishes are tricky because the longer they sit the more sauce the pasta absorbs and it all starts to stick together if the pasta is already cooked well before that.
I don't have a crockpot so I can't be sure but if you're serving it right away and just want to keep it warm it should work.
If you're planning to have it sit for more than 30 minutes, I recommend cooking the pasta to just al-dente and adding more pasta water to make it more "saucy". This way, the pasta absorbs the sauce as it sits in the pot and finishes cooking that way.
Debra
Totally lived up to the "cozy fall dinner" headline. I have a container of sage growing in my window and saw it as a sign that I should make this. Perfect spices and the recipe was so easy to follow. A definite keeper.
Jenny
Could not ask for a most perfect comfort food right now. Had all the ingredients and made it last night. It was glorious, we all had seconds and my family made me promise to make it again. Of course I will keep my promise because I really loved your butternut squash pasta. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.
Aleta
Wow, this dish is a winning combination of flavours and textures - the butternut squash with the walnuts and beans? SO good. Throw in the sage and thyme and wow, crazy delicious fall meal!
Paula Montenegro
It looks like the perfect pasta recipe to add to my collection! I eat so much butternut squash it's insane. Great flavors and I totally get you with the fried sage, I love it too. Thanks for sharing!
Denise
This looks and sounds absolutely amazing! I am adding the ingredients to my shopping list, I can't wait to try it.
Kushigalu
Love the combination of flavors in this pasta dish. Perfect fall comfort food. Making this for dinner tonight.
Tammy
This dish is a perfect welcome to the fall season. I love butternut squash and sage...such a delicious combination. This is total comfort food to me. Saving for later <3
Rebecca Blackwell
I made this for dinner tonight and my whole family loved it! I especially love the use of avocado oil. And the addition of navy beans and cheese is brilliant! Thanks for a great recipe!