Slow cooker butternut squash pasta
Butternut squash, onion and garlic simmer in the slow cooker until they fall apart, then get mashed into a silky, sage-scented sauce for pasta.
- 380 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $3.09 a serving
- 550 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
- 1 lb 4 oz cubed butternut squash, one package
- 1½ cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- 12 oz gluten-free pasta, short shape; regular pasta works too
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, plus 1 tsp
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 550 calories, 13 g protein, 92 g carbs and 16 g fat, and costs about $3.09 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No cubed butternut squash? Butternut squash works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, the garlic and chop the sage.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Put the squash, onion, garlic, sage, broth, 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper in a slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or high for 3, until the squash falls apart when you poke it.
Timer: 360 min
Mash everything with a potato masher until smooth, then stir in the cream and parmesan.
Dolly’s tip: An immersion blender makes it silky, but a masher and a little elbow grease get you there.Bring a large pot of water with 1 tablespoon salt over high heat and cook the pasta until , tasting 2 minutes early. Scoop out 1 cup of , then .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Al dente. Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”: pasta cooked until tender but with a slight firm bite in the center. It holds up in sauce and keeps softening a little after you drain it.
How you’ll know: Bite a piece a minute before the package time: tender, with a slight firm bite in the middle and no crunch.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 10 min
the pasta with as much sauce as you like, loosening with until it’s silky.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Dolly’s tip: Extra sauce keeps 4 days in the fridge, and it’s lovely stirred into rice or spread on toast.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Slow cooker mushroom bolognese
480 min
Slow cooker marinara sauce
510 min
Slow cooker minestrone
460 min
Slow cooker spaghetti squash with marinara and white beans
265 min
Vegetarian dinners ›Cozy comfort food ›What to make with pasta and parmesan ›