Baked Butternut Squash, Sausage and Spinach Pasta.
We adore this baked butternut squash sausage pasta! It’s such a cozy comforting dish for the fall months with tons of flavor. Satisfying, easy to make and feeds a crowd. The best!
I have baked fall in a pan!
This squash, sausage and spinach baked pasta is so cheesy, savory, hearty and satisfying that it will become a repeat meal in your kitchen each autumn. Leftovers are great, it feeds a crowd and has a little bit of everything.
If you’re looking for something different to serve on Halloween before heading out to trick or treat, let this be it!
Traditionally, we do a chili bar on Halloween but I am very very tempted to serve this pasta. Or even serve it on the side of the chili. Ha!
It has so much flavor – sweetness from the squash, some heat from the italian sausage, melty and gooey cheese and the tender pasta. I can’t even stand how delicious it is!
There is nothing better than a dish of cheesy baked pasta. It’s cozy, comforting and can be served for almost anything. Weeknight dinner? Check. Game day meal? Perfect. Date night? Serve it with a salad. Meal prep for lunches? Even better.
You can’t go wrong with this one.
This is one of those meals that my family craves, asks for or just all around gets excited about when they know it’s for dinner. Especially if I serve it with a house salad and some garlic bread. It just tastes like home. Or better yet, an autumn home!
This is how I make it!
First up, I boil the pasta and drain it. Easy.
Next, while the pasta is boiling, I brown the sausage. I’ve never loved sausage but the browner the better here. Those crispy bits are perfect. I prefer to use a spicy italian sausage for this recipe, but a sweet sausage would also work!
Once the sausage is browned, I transfer it out of the pan but leave all those little brown bits. Aka, flavor! And I use that flavor to build the rest of the meal.
Into the same pan goes a diced onion, lots of garlic and some cubed butternut squash. I also like to add some sage to this combo. I saute those veggies until softened, especially the squash. Make sure the chunks are small enough so they cook within 10 to 12 minutes.
You want them tender so they are enjoyable to eat!
Then, I toss in the spinach. An entire bag, which cooks down to basically nothing. You know the deal. But it gives us some greenery! I also add the spinach back into the pan.
The pasta is hanging out in a large baking dish. I pour the whole mixture on top of the pasta and then toss it well until it’s really combined.
Finally, I add some shredded cheese and toss that in too. There is nothing better than melty cheese pulls in baked pasta.
I bake it for 30ish minutes and serve with some grated parm on top.
It tastes AMAZING.
A must try!
Baked Butternut Squash, Sausage and Spinach Pasta
Baked Butternut Squash, Spicy Sausage and Spinach Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound short cut pasta, like rotini
- 1 pound italian sausage
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 cups cubed butternut squash
- kosher salt and pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 6 ounce bag of fresh spinach
- 8 ounces freshly grated mozzarella or provolone cheese
- ¼ cup parmesan, plus more for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and boil the pasta according to the directions. When it’s finished, drain and place the pasta in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
- While the pasta is boiling, brown the sausage. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the sausage. Break it apart with a wooden spoon until it is in small crumbles and browns completely. Transfer the sausage to a plate.
- To the same skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions, garlic, squash and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Add in the sage and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the squash is tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Once the squash is tender, stir in the spinach. Cook until the spinach wilts. Transfer that whole mixture - the squash and spinach - to the dish with the pasta. Add the sausage back in. Toss it with the pasta until it’s fully combined.
- Stir in half of the cheese until it’s mixed in with the pasta. Stir in the parmesan. Top the pasta with the rest of the cheese.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bubbly and golden.
- Remove and sprinkle with more parmesan before serving.
Did you make this recipe?
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Cheesy goodness!
16 Comments on “Baked Butternut Squash, Sausage and Spinach Pasta.”
Looks delicious. How much spinach did you use? It’s not in ingredients list.
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to make it, but I don’t see the amount of spinach to add. You mention adding the whole bag, but I can buy spinach in bags from 5 oz all the way up to 16 oz.
ah thank you!!! i use a 6 oz bag. i put it in there!
Hi, you don’t have spinach in your ingredient list. :) Making this today though! Looks amazing
ahh thank you! it’s 6 oz – i fixed it!!
Do you have any tips for cutting butternut squash? I like it, but rarely have it at home because it’s such a struggle to cut. I always feel like I am going to lose a thumb when I tackle one.
Can you freeze this for leftovers?
This recipe feels like the perfect blend of warmth and comfort the mix of butternut squash, sausage, and spinach sounds like a true autumn hug in a dish. I love how the balance of color and texture brings such visual appeal too; it reminds me how, in creative work like food photography or image retouching at Clipping Expert Asia, details like this make all the difference.
Clipping Expert Asia
Good flavors. I did have to cook the butternut squash in the pan way longer than what the recipe called for. If you don’t cook it until its soft it wont soften up in the oven. Also, I felt it was a little dry overall. – Next time I would also put a cover on the dish when baking so the noodles don’t get crunchy. I’d make this again with a few changes. Thank you!
This was delicious, but could have used a bit more “sauce.” I used rosemary instead of sage because it’s all I had. One everything was assembled in the pan, I ended up sprinkling some chicken broth on it for more liquid and covering it with foil to bake.
I also froze an unbaked tray, so we’ll see how it well it reheats from frozen.
Yummm!
I didn’t have sage on hand it was still delish.
I roasted the butternut squash in the oven and then I simply added it to the onion sausage mixture, that way I controlled the consistency of the squash (I feel like sauteeing it in the pan would take a while . Roasting in the pan gives you time to prep the sausage as the same time).
Because of the previous comments, I reserved 1/2 cup of pasta liquid , and added it to the pasta mixture before I put it in the oven, and it was very …I’m gonna say it … moist.
I will definitely be making this again.
Yum. The sausage goes where? I think you left it on the plate.
Does the sausage go in before baking? I don’t see what to do after setting aside on a plate. Thanks!
First, I’ve read the instructions several times, and it doesn’t say when to add the cooked sausage. Second, it takes longer than 8-10 minutes to cook the squash. Third, it doesn’t need 30-ish minutes in the oven. Since there’s no sauce, the pasta gets a bit crispy.
Overall, the flavors are good. I did add some pasta water and heavy cream to better blend the ingredients.
Made this for dinner last night and it’s one of the best things I’ve eaten lately. The flavors just go so well together! Definity saving in my repeat folder.
The squash took longer to cook but I imagine that comes down to how big or small your cubes are. I made the recipe as written and we thought it was fine, but missing something as there was nothing to tie it all together. We had leftovers the next night and added Trader Joe’s autumn spaghetti sauce that has pumpkin and butternut in it and thought it made it much better – and this is coming from someone who generally prefers no/less tomato based sauce!