A fall twist on an Italian classic, Butternut Squash Carbonara with Bacon and Sage is made creamy and decadent with pureed, roasted squash.
Crispy bacon. Fresh, melty parmesan cheese. Luscious sauce that is slightly sweet and warmed with fall spices. Sold yet?
an impressive fall dish
Once colder weather hits, it feels so good to start incorporating the soups and casseroles that we couldn’t even think about touching during the summer heat. Sometimes, that means that more complex, simple flavors take a back seat to rich, dense dishes.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but I want to honor the changing seasons while still thinking about how some simple ingredients and cooking technique can make an equally decadent dish without tons of canned soups and dried toppings.
Pasta year-round, please!
Pasta is my all-time favorite food. It’s kind of in my Italian DNA to choose a pasta dish over anything else on a restaurant menu.
If you’ve read the blog for a while, you probably already know this. I have tons of pasta recipes on here. Some reader favorites are my Penne alla Vodka and One Pot Baked Ziti.
I have yet to share an authentic Carbonara recipe with you, which is honestly one of my favorite Italian dishes. Like most great food, it’s simple yet bursting with flavor–and it’s all about technique.
Some day I’ll share that one with you, but for now, I’ll give you a simplified version that is perfect for this season. The butternut squash sauce make the egg/cheese sauce much easier to cook up without curdling. This is a great beginner recipe if you’re intimated by the carbonara process.
The simplicity of Butternut Squash Carbonara with Bacon and Sage
When you first read the recipe card, there may seem to be a lot of steps. I feat this is my professorly side getting in the way. I want to over-explain everything to avoid confusion.
Believe me, this is an easy recipe!
Just know that there are three moving parts here: prepping the sauce, cooking the pasta, and cooking the sauce. Each step is easy, but it can get time consuming of you can’t balance them all at the same time.
If you follow the directions just as written, with how I suggest you complete the next step while the previous one is completing, this will take you about 30-40 minutes, tops.
Don’t worry. Even if you complete each step separately, it will still take you under an hour to make a gourmet-tasting dinner!
Dietary alternatives
Gluten Free: Just use your favorite gluten-free pasta, and you’ll be fine. It doesn’t have to be linguini. Any pasta shape will work. You will probably want to use less pasta water than the recipe indicates, since gluten-free pastas create thicker pasta water.
Vegan: Use a plant-based bacon, and add in 1 tbsp of oil in place of the bacon grease. Use a vegan parmesan cheese, or just omit the cheese altogether and add a few tbsp of nutritional yeast instead. Use Just Egg in place of the real egg.
I’d love to hear from you if you make this recipe! Leaving a starred review and comment below helps my blog grow. I’m always grateful when you can take the time to do that!
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Butternut Squash Carbonara with Bacon and Sage
Ingredients
- 12 ounces butternut squash, peeled and cubed unto 1" cubes (about 4 cups)
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- 1/2 tsp dried sage
- 8 ounces dried whole wheat linguini
- 1 1/2 cups reserved cooking
- 6 slices center cut bacon, sliced into thin strips.
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp kosher salt, divided
- 1 tsp ground black pepper, divided
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- fresh sage, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
ROAST THE SQUASH
- Preheat oven to 400F. Spritz a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Add squash to baking sheet, spritz with a bit more cooking spray, and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/2 tsp dried sage. Toss to coat the squash evenly with the spices.
- Add peeled garlic cloves to the seasoned squash and roast for 10-20 minutes, or until the squash is soft and starting to brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
PREPARE THE PASTA
- While the squash is roasting, bring a stock pot of water to a boil. Add some large pinches of salt to the water, then add in pasta and stir.
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions, but undercook by about a minute.
- IMPORTANT: Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the pasta water before you drain it. I can't tell you how many times I've forgotten to do this!
- Drain pasta and set aside.
MAKE THE SAUCE
- While the pasta boils, sprinkle bacon pieces evenly in a large skillet. Turn heat on to medium-high and cook until bacon is browned and most fat has rendered.
- Remove bacon to drain on a paper towel. Remove skillet from heat and drain bacon fat, keeping 1 tablespoon of fat in the skillet.
- In a food processor or high-speed blender, add the butternut squash, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, and 1 cup of pasta water.
- Blend until sauce is smooth and creamy, scraping down sides and reblending until squash is pretty much pureed. Add in egg and pulse a few times until egg is integrated into the sauce.
- Return skillet with bacon grease to medium-low heat. Add in cooked pasta and about 1 tablespoon of remaining pasta water. Toss with tongs until pasta is heated through.
- Turn heat to lowest setting. Add in butternut squash sauce and toss with pasta for about a minute, until the pasta starts to soak up some of the sauce.
- Remove skillet from heat. Stir in parmesan and most of the bacon. Add in more pasta water if the sauce is too thick.
- Garnish with the remaining bacon and lots of extra freshly cracked pepper. Add fresh sage, if desired.
I just made this and it was fabulous. It was so good that I got up and got more out of the fridge twice and had a little more!! Recipe is very forgiving too. I had already baked a squash so I just sautéed some garlic and onion in olive oil and then added the squash to warm it up and give the squash a little flavor. Wonderful recipe!!
This is great news, Kathy! Thank you for sharing!