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!
Equipment
Blender
Recipe Notes
Beyond Meat's Hot Italian sausages are my favorite here because the level of spice works perfectly with the slightly sweet squash sauce. It also crumbles nicely in the pan. I recommend them over other brands 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.
If your sauce turns out more brown than golden-orange, a few things tend to be behind it: the veggie sausage or onions browning a bit too much before blending, using a less-sweet squash, or too much lemon acidity for your taste. None of these affect food safety, just color and flavor balance, start with a bit less lemon and taste as you go if you'd like to play it safer.
This vegan butternut squash pasta gets its silky sauce from a quick blend of squash, cashews, and walnuts, then gets tossed with rigatoni, browned veggie sausage, and crispy fried sage. Ready in about 45 minutes.