Serves 4
Total time: 1 hour (plus cashew soak. 30 minutes if using canned butternut.)
Active time: 20 minutes
Whether you’re lugging them home from the farmer’s market, or plucking them out of your backyard garden, October means it’s time for butternut everything. If you’re a butternut maniac like I am, then this is good news. But perhaps in your zealous lust for the creamy orange flesh you’ve come down with a severe case of Butternut Burnout ™.
Yes, butternut in your breakfast, soup, muffins and in your salads…it has taken its toll. No more sweet gingery autumnal goodness, you say. No more spicy warm cinnamon goosebumps. Butternut Burnout ™ means a steady diet of kale and chocolate forever more or at least until Spring.
However, there is a way to combat BB. And that’s by treating it with savory elements, rather than sweet. This Roasted Butternut Alfredo is sure to combat all of the damage done to you by those butternut waffles. The squash is roasted first, and then pureed with cashew cream to make a thick, autumnal sauce, that is lush, creamy and most importantly, savory. White wine, some sauteed onions and garlic…oh yes, keep it coming. Butternut forever! Butternut for life!
Notes
~ An average butternut weighs like 3 lbs. You don’t need that whole 3 lbs for this recipe, but you should roast the entire thing anyway. To roast, Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a large chef’s knife, cut the the round part of the butternut from the long part. Slice the round part in half and scoop out the seeds. Brush or spray parchment lightly with oil and place squash pieces, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until squash is very tender. When cool enough to handle, scoop out the squash needed for this recipe. Save the rest for whatever you like: soup, muffins, or just mashed up with some ginger, maple syrup and cinnamon.
~ You can make this with a can of butternut or pumpkin puree, too. Of course you won’t have the roasted squash to put on top, but them’s the breaks. It will still be yum.
~ You can also make this with any winter squash, I’d imagine. Pumpkin, delicata, acorn, kabocha….all good choices.
~ I like to have extra sauce to serve with veggies and stuff. If you have no such need, then this sauce will probably be sufficient for an entire pound of pasta.
~ I would have loved to use fettuccine or linguine here, but I didn’t have any. I ended up using strozzapretti, but that’s a bit hard to find. Fusilli would be a great choice, or a smaller pasta like orecchiette. I can see penne working, too! What I’m trying to say, I think, is that this is a great sauce for any kind of pasta.
~ As always, you can soak cashews overnight. Or soak em all day. Just try to remember to soak ‘em in advance so that you’re not waiting for the cashews to make the recipe. If you have a Vitamix or Blendtec type million dollar blender, well, luck you! You can skip the soaking step.
Ingredients
1/2 pound pasta (see note)
Sauce:
1/2 cup cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups roasted butternut squash (see note)
2 tablespoons mellow white miso
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
For the rest:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, quartered and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dry rubbed sage
3/4 cup dry white wine
Several dashes fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
For garnish:
Extra roasted squash
Pepitas, or chopped pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts
Directions
Once the squash has roasted, bring a salted pot of water to boil for the pasta. When boiling, cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, drain the cashews and place them in a blender with the vegetable broth. Blend until very smooth. Rub sauce between your finger and when hardly any grittiness remains, add the roasted butternut, miso, nutritional yeast (if using) and lemon juice. Puree until smooth, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to make sure you get everything.
While the sauce is blending, start the onions. Preheat a large cast iron pan over medium heat, saute onions in olive oil and a pinch of salt for about 7 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so, just until fragrant. Mix in the sage and pepper. Then add the wine and salt and turn the heat up to bring wine to a boil. Let boil for about two minutes, to reduce a little.
Turn down the heat to medium low. Now add the butternut cream to the pan, and stir to incorporate the onions and everything. Heat through, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. The sauce should thicken a bit. Taste for salt and seasonings.
Oooh, creamy!!!!
Set aside some of the sauce (you can reserve a cup or so for veggies if you’d like to throw some on top.) Add the pasta, and toss to coat. Serve topped with additional roasted squash and a sprinkle of nuts.
I made this without the wine (and no substitute) and it turned out fantastic. I had to stop myself from eating it before adding the pasta! Thanks for another great recipe!
Wow!! This was sooooo delicious!
Hi. I’m planning on bringing this to Christmas dinner for the vegans. Should I bring it imixed together (sauce & pasta) in crockpot and keep on warm? Or keep sauce seperate? It will probably be a couple hours before it is eaten. Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks!!
I loved it! Hubby loved it! Kids loved it! Yum! 🙂
I cannot wait to try this out! It looks amazing! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I just made this to take to my mom’s Christmas dinner. I have to say I was expecting the same let down I’ve experienced every time I’ve tried to make a “creamy” sauce. This recipe is amazing! It is really, really good. The only substitution I made was spinach fettuccine for the pasta. Thank you Isa, now I have something special to eat while they chow down on the prime rib!
Best vegan pasta dish I’ve ever made! I brought this delicious nom to Christmas dinner and all my non-vegan relatives loved it. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
added some yellow and red bell pepper to the onion stuff, delicious!
I just had to add to the other 177 comments! This is AWESOME!! I made it exactly as directed (minus the sage because I didn’t have any). I will definitely be making this again and again! Thank you, Isa!!
This is an awesome recipe! It is even great without the onions and white wine. I keep roasting different vegetables and putting the sauce on top of them. It goes very well with broccoli : )
Just tried this tonight and we all LOVED the flavor. The guys didn’t even notice I used gluten-free penne pasta ; ) Thank you for a nice rendition of my usual butternut squash pasta.
I just made this after wanting to try it for a while and it was amazing. It does look like a lot of steps at first, but I managed to whip it up fairly easily even after a long day of school while fighting a brain-fogging cold. It was terrific, I’d have no idea it didn’t have dairy in it if I hadn’t made it myself.
It also makes a good amount of sauce for later if you’re cooking for one.
Absolutely love this recipe! I’m making it again tonight for dinner – it’s one of my husband’s faves too. Thanks for sharing your yummy creativity!
So delicious. Making for the second time tonight! Can’t get enough of this stuff. Thanks Isa you’re my hero 😉
Oh STOP! Thank you 🙂
Made it today, was amazing !!!! Thanks
Just finished making this and mine turned out very, very thick unlike your picture. Perhaps I cooked my wine too much when I got to that part. I also suppose I could have added more sauce to my pasta at the end instead of saving so much for another meal.
Having said all that… this was divine! So scrumptious. I was a bit surprised by how sweet it seemed at first but my tastebuds quickly adjusted and settled right into the meal. Definitely will be making this one again and often. 🙂
Isa, this is incredible! I just started experimenting with vegan foods in the new year, and I’m so pleased with how easy this recipe was to follow and how delicious the dish turned out! I brought it to a potluck and even the meat eaters couldn’t get enough 😉
One quick question though – I made a very large batch and thus have leftovers. I noticed that the next day, my pasta and sauce had turned a little purple where they had been in contact with the walnuts I added on top. Is this okay?
This was amazing. Very light and healthy alternative to cheesy alfredo. It was creamy and delicious. My non vegan friend liked it too!
Thank you for this recipe! I loved Alfredo sauce and now I know how to get it vegan!! I’ll try it soon…
I just made this and it is delicious. As a new vegan with basic cooking skills (but will improve with time I am sure!) I used Dastony’s cashew butter rather than trying to make it from scratch. I also realized I didn’t have sage too long into the cooking to run out and get it so I used Herbs de Provence. Now I have lunches for the start of the week…and even my 16 year old picky eater vegan loved this!
Just wanted to say, I made this the other night for a bunch of people and everyone LOVED it. One person commented that they were shocked at how something without dairy could be so creamy! With your help, I am slowly converting people to loving vegan food 😀
This was wonderful and I was amazed how creamy it turned out! Although I’m not vegan, I am currently going dairy free for breastfeeding reasons and my first vegan recipe ever was excellent! Even my husband loved it and asked that I make it again. Thank you!
Oh my gosh!!!! I have been wanting to makes this pasta ever since I saw your recipe, and finally made it today! It is even better than I expected! I really needed a lift today, and this was comfort food at its best! Thank you!
Made this last week as directed and it came out so well! So creamy and delicious.
I made this tonight and it turned out excellently. I didn’t have wine on hand, so I used apple juice instead. I think this made the sauce a little sweet, but it was still good. Next time I’ll be making it with wine. And with half as much onions 🙂
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for this recipe.
post punk kitchen…i thought you would be sXe! haha, it doesnt matter. this recipe is absolutely foodgasmic! its the third recipe ive used from this site and so far theyre all hits. i really appreciate the sharing.
so having said that…a good substitute for wine would be…vinegar? or would that be too strong? this website makes me sooooo happy that i ditched my 1950s diet of death. thanks <3
For anyone who is considering making this but doesnt have nutritional yeast or miso paste, DO IT! It is seriously delicious! I was too lazy to go to whole foods to buy these ingredients so I just left them out. I did use a little bit of mustard instead. just one teaspoon did the trick.
I also used an acorn squash because they didnt have butternut squash at trader joes.
I topped it with some broccoli and kale (because i need greens in every meal)
Make this, you wont regret it.
This IS absolutely the best squash recipe evah! The fact that it’s savory and NOT sweet is the best part. It does not taste like EVERY OTHER squash recipe… let’s face it, they all pretty much taste the same. This one is amazingly different, rich, and totally magical. You barely know it’s squash! (Not that there is anything wrong with squash, of course.) In response to someone who suggested adding cooking sherry instead of the wine…. On my 3rd or 4th time making this, I tried sherry, and it resulted in the same-old same-old sweet squash taste. I’d stay away from any substitutions that are even mildly sweet.
Perfect recipe!!! Thank you!
This is my favourite recipe ever! Since discovering a dairy allergy I have been craving a creamy sauce and this is the best! Your site is fantastic and we have made nearly every recipe on it – keep the tasty awesomeness coming!
I can’t get over how delicious this is. Out of this world!!
I made this for the first time tonight…LOVED IT! The recipe is so simple and the cashew cream was super easy to make. Very tasty!
This is very likely the best dish I have EVER made. EVER. Vegan or otherwise. I subbed 3/4 cup of vegetable broth and a splash of balsamic vinegar for the white wine, as you suggested, and it was so delicious. Mine turned out a bit more orange than yours, but made for a gorgeous dish, especially topped with cubed squash, chopped pecans, and sprinkled with sage. I served it over whole wheat linguine, and even my picky carnivore husband ate every bite, and declared it to be delicious. It made enough sauce for four large servings. I had leftovers twice! Next time I will double the sage, as I thought it was delicious and made the sauce so savory. I believe I was fairly generous with the salt as well. Fantastic! Thank you so much for this!!!
My husband and I made this. Had some sort of pumpkin and cooked it in the pressure cooker on the wood stove. Forgot to soak the cashews. Then tried microwaving them and discovered they were roasted and not raw. Didn’t have white miso so we used what we had. You know how it goes. Anyway this had a very different flavor than anything we’d ever made. Very sophisticated in a way. My husband first said that this was something he’d like maybe once a year and then after his third helping decided he really loved it.
Isa, this is the most amazing thing I have ever made with butternut squash. OMG it was like a food orgasm in my mouth.
This is excellent with roasted cauliflower on top!
i made this last night for myself and my meat-eating family and EVERYONE loved it!!! thanks for such a great recipe!
REALLY delicious!! Made it tonight and even the Husband slammed it 🙂
I couldn’t find White Miso and I neglected to check the advice you gave before running to the store…classic…so I used two tablespoons of soft tofu and a 1/2 tsp of instant miso soup mix. I’ll have to find White Miso and compare eventually, but this recipe is FAB.
All righty. I made the sauce exactly as recipe directs and am keeping it warm until husband comes home. It tastes wonderful. My question is: could I use all the sauce for 1 lb of pasta instead of a 1/2 lb.? In looking at the amount of sauce it seems it would work out in proportion to a whole pound of pasta. Has anyone tried this? Looking forward to pigging out on this dish after all the shoveling this last weekend (Blizzard 2013).
Can I use almonds instead? I have developed an allergy to cashews and pistachios. 🙁
Yes, they don’t get as smooth and I would recommend toasting them first!
Do you have the nutritional facts on this meal? So yummy!!!
I’ve made this sauce about four times. I even wrote down the recipe just in case my computer explodes, so I’ll always have it. I’ve taken to making the sauce and sticking it in the fridge to put on top of everything. I just had it on top of some black bean-quinoa enchiladas, and it was amazing. Thanks! I really love this site and just got a couple of your books. Cooking is fun again.
I can’t believe I waited until now to try this. My toddler LOVES it. The blended sauce alone (without onions, wine, etc) tastes like boxed Kraft Mac & Cheese. Killer.
Ok…just made baked ziti n used the tofu ricotta from Veganomicon mixed w tomato Basil sauce from TJ ‘s topped w this Alfredo n sprinkle TJ vegan mozz…the shizz my friends…