You are going to flip for this creamy and dreamy vegan butternut squash rigatoni pasta! Boosted with browned bits of plant-based sausage and crispy fried sage leaves on top, this is a hearty vegan pasta dinner that will satisfy all types of eaters. No cream is needed with our luscious butternut squash pasta sauce that gets silky smooth in an upright blender with the help of some raw cashews and walnuts. Perfect for a cozy dinner at home, and ready in about 40 minutes.
This recipe is based on one that I developed for a winery a few years ago. I’ve been refining it in my kitchen ever since. This vegan butternut squash pasta sauce is so luscious. Its slight sweetness is a perfect foil for some cooked bits of spicy veggie sausage.
I have you fry sage leaves first, which will be used as garnish. In that sage-infused oil, you’ll fry up diced veggie sausages–I prefer the Hot Italian ones by Beyond Meat for this. Once those are done, you’ll start building the sauce for the butternut squash vegan pasta. Onions and garlic ate sautéed until soft. Then you’ll add diced butternut or honeynut squash, walnuts (please see the recipe note about this), cashews, and a hint of nutmeg. Vegetable stock goes on top and we let that simmer until everything is completely soft.
Then I have you simply blend the sauce with some lemon for acidity and miso for umami depth. Voila, the silkiest, most truly delectable plant-based pasta sauce! The nutmeg gives me slight 90’s fettuccine Alfredo vibes, which is incredibly satisfying and a bit nostalgic. I also just adore the nutty walnut flavour with the squash. The whole dish screams cozy fall night at home. It’s comforting, wholesome, and it just feels nice to tuck into at the end of a cold day.
I like to plate up portions of the pasta with the browned bits of sausage on top. Then follow with the sage leaves. A drizzle of chili oil on top would be delightful if you like some extra spice!
Hope you love this one! I would serve this vegan butternut squash pasta with my arugula fennel salad or this apple kale salad.
Creamy Vegan Butternut Squash Pasta with Veggie Sausage & Fried Sage
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh sage leaves
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 vegan veggie sausages, diced into small pieces
- 1 lb (454 grams) dry rigatoni pasta
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 ½ cups diced butternut/honeynut squash
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅓ cup walnut halves (see recipe notes)
- ⅓ cup raw cashews
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, plus. more to taste
- 1 tablespoon light miso
Equipment
Notes
- Beyond Meat’s Hot Italian sausages are my favourite here because the level of spice works perfectly with the slightly sweet squash sauce. It also crumbles nicely in the pan. I really do recommend them over other brans with this recipe in particular.
- After receiving some feedback and having the recipe re-tested, it’s worth mentioning that the walnuts in the sauce may taste a touch bitter/strong for some folks. If you’re hesitant and suspect it might be too much for you, I would omit the walnuts and instead, increase the amount of raw cashews to ⅔ cup.
- In my photos, I placed the cooked veggie sausage bits on top of the pasta because the presentation is a bit prettier. For practicality’s sake, I instruct you to just stir it in with the pasta and sauce. You can take this in whichever direction works best for you!
- 1 large Honeynut squash will conveniently give you the right amount of squash here! If it’s available at your local grocery store, pre-chopped butternut squash makes this recipe go even faster
Instructions
- Set a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Pour in the olive oil and swirl it around. Once the oil is hot, add the sage leaves and fry until crispy, about 10 seconds. Remove the sage leaves to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and sprinkle with salt. Set aside.
- To the skillet, add the diced veggie sausages. Stir and sauté until sausage pieces are cooked through and a bit brown on the edges. Remove to a plate and set aside.
- In a separate pot, cook your rigatoni pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining the pasta and setting it aside.
- To the skillet, add the diced onion. Sauté the onion until very soft and translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the diced butternut squash and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir it up. Add the walnuts, cashews, and vegetable stock. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer, covered, until the squash is tender and breaking apart, about 12-15 minutes.
- Transfer everything in the skillet (squash, nuts, stock and all) to an upright blender. To the blender, add the miso and lemon juice. Blend on high until creamy and completely smooth. Check the sauce for seasoning and adjust if necessary (more salt, pepper, lemon etc).
- Combine the cooked veggie sausage, cooked pasta, and butternut squash sauce in the deep skillet over low heat. Keep stirring until everything is hot. If you find that the sauce needs to be loosened up slightly, add splashes of the reserved pasta cooking water. Check the pasta for seasoning (more salt, lemon etc) and adjust if necessary.
- Serve the pasta hot with fried sage leaves on top!
My husband said it was better than a vegan cacio e pepe pasta we ate at a restaurant the other day, and that is a huge compliment. Amazing dish here. I used 1 1/2 cups of broth and just under 2 cups of B squash, I like the sauce to be on the thicker side. I also let the cashews sit in water all day to soften them up, which made it really creamy. This is a dynamite dish! One to make that will impress guests, especially ones who are meat eaters!
Thanks for this kind review with notes on your adjustments, Lauren! So glad that you enjoyed it.
-L
Super delicious! Used just cashews and it was easier than expected and tasted great.
I made this dish tonight . I adjusted it a bit to what I had in my panty . I added 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds and 2/3 hemp seeds . Turned out great !
Great recipe. :)
Similar to Alicia, I made this recipe twice and the color is brown and the flavor is fine, but not enough to try it again. The first time I made it I thought Iʼd done something wrong. I got fresh ingredients and tried again and decreased the onion a bit, increased the butternut squash a bit, and made sure not to overcook things. It still came out brown and the flavor is just okay. I wish Iʼd had the same experience other seems to- from face value this recipe seems like it should be stellar.
I’ve been salivating over this recipe since it was posted and due to trying to use up a big butternut squash I’ve made it twice in row! It is both divine AND a joy to make. The way each step builds on the one before is really meditative and simmering everything including the nuts at the end has really satisfying vegan witchcraft energy. I also usually disregard rigatoni but it is the perfect vehicle for the sauce.
Both times I served it with roasted Brussels sprouts and ended up stirring them in, the flavors and textures went super well together.
Cooking note: the first time I made this, I accidentally used pecans instead of walnuts and that was great too!
Leftovers note: This reheated well on the stove top with a splash of water.
100% will be making again. This is the perfect antidote to missing summer produce and getting hyped about winter veggies. Thank you!
I was so excited for this recipe, but it just came out really acidic and brown! No clue what went wrong, but it’s nothing like what everyone else is describing as delicious! Help!! I wanted to like it, but it’s falling really flat.
Hi Alicia,
I’m sorry that the recipe didn’t work out for you. A few things could contribute here.
-What type of veggie sausages did you use? Some brands brown up a lot nicer than others. Is it possible that yours browned a bit too much and left a ton of bits in the pan? Depending on which type you used, this could account for the brown color and the final flavor of the pasta.
-The butternut squashes that I used in test rounds for this recipe were all nice and sweet, which played off of the acid in the lemon nicely. Sometimes you get a dud squash that isn’t particularly flavorful, but since it is peak squash season I find that doubtful.
-It’s also possible that 2 tablespoons of lemon juice was just too much acid for your personal taste. I prefer an edge of acid in most foods and tend to communicate that in my recipe write ups, but didn’t do that here.
Barring any possible changes made to the recipe, these are the only things I can think of off the top of my head. Apologies again! I know how frustrating it is to follow a recipe and not have it work out the way you imagined. Thank you for your feedback.
-L
Looking forward to making this, but I can’t eat tree nuts. Do you have a replacement suggestion? Thanks!
Hi Gabby!
To swap out the nuts and still get that creaminess, there’s a couple things you can do:
-One option is to cut the vegetable stock down to 1/2 cup and add 1 cup of an unsweetened non-dairy cream/creamer (Califia, Nutpods and Belsoy all make great ones). You’ll pour in both liquids in the vegetable stock step. Then you’ll just proceed with blending the sauce all together as directed!
-Another option is to replace the nuts with an equal amount of soft tofu. The flavour will be a bit different/not quite as rich. If you’re not a tofu person, this may not be the solution for you.
-Some folks suggest replacing soaked nuts with hemp seeds/soaked sunflower seeds, but I find that they never fully purée in the blender and sometimes sunflower seeds can have a slightly rancid oil taste to them. But if you can find fresh ones and don’t mind a hint of texture in the sauce, this can work!
Hope this helps!
-L
This was DIVINE. Cooked this with my husband for date night. Sometimes we make new recipes just try something new but we don’t think we’d make it again: this one, we will make again!
Great flavors! The dish is delicious. Definitely a keeper!
I would add more sausage for the volume (1 lb) pasta or add another vegetable.
Thanks for this kind review and feedback Amanda!
-L
This was super yummy and comforting!!! I didn’t have walnuts on hand so just doubled the amount of cashews. The fried sage was an elegant and delicious touch. Thank you!
This was delicious, the crispy sage was such a nice touch!!
Would you consider putting the ingredients in grams as well for people outside of North America? :)
SO delicious, cozy fall flavours and it comes together easily, will definitely be making again. Even my super picky son loved it!!!
My family loved loved loved this last night. I added some pan-fried chopped radicchio for pops of contrasting bitterness (and a classic with pumpkin) and it worked a treat. This will become a staple!
Ooooh radicchio would be SO good in this pasta! Thanks for the tip. And so pleased that you loved the recipe!
-L
Quick, easy, and so delicious! I only had roasted, unsalted cashews on hand, but they worked well nonetheless. Thank you for another beautiful autumn meal.
Thanks for letting us know that roasted cashews worked in this butternut squash pasta! So glad that you enjoyed it too :)
-L
Such a fantastic fall pasta dish. Subbed the cashews for some tofu in the sauce to up the protein a bit more and it worked perfectly. Thanks Laura!
Such a genius move with the tofu! Thanks for this tip, Erin :D
-L
I made this tonight and it was really delicious :) as are all of your recipes!
Thank you so much, Selina! :)
-L
Just made this one for work tomorrow. I adore your pasta recipes! I love the flavour profile in this one. Thank you!
Thanks so much for this kind comment and review! Glad you enjoyed ♥️
-L