October is National Pasta Month! Celebrate one of the world’s favorite forms of carbs with this creamy and decadent tasting Butternut Squash Caulfredo. Made from a creamy blend of cauliflower and butternut squash, it’s the ultimate comfort food for those cool fall nights.
Q: What do you call a pasta sauce that tastes like Alfredo but is secretly filled with vegetables…?
A: An IMPASTA! * Ba-dum-tsshhhhh *
I’ll be here all night, folks.
But seriously… this right here is the impasta of all impastas. It’s creamy, dreamy and full of fettuccine. And best of all, it’s made almost entirely out of VEGETABLES. Impastable, you say? I’m alfredo not.
I could keep going with the food puns, but something tells me I butternut.
Oops, there I go again. Can’t stop, won’t stop.
If you’ve ever tried cauliflower “Alfredo” sauce in the past, then you know just how magical it is. And if you haven’t, then prepare to be amazed. According to my #1 taste tester (aka Kyle), “it tastes like Alfredo sauce…”. And that’s coming from the guy who absolutely loves Fettuccine Alfredo. Just saying.
Since I’m currently crushing on all things autumn, it was only natural that I put a fall twist on one of my favorite pasta sauces. And I’m so glad I did. This Butternut Squash “Caulfredo” sauce is downright delicious… and highly addictive. As in, don’t be surprised if when you find yourself repeatedly reaching for spoonfuls while waiting for your pasta to cook (just be sure to leave enough for your pasta).
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Oh, and did I mention that this sauce can be thrown together in about 30 minutes? (Okay, maybe a little more depending on how long it takes you to chop up your butternut squash.) Who needs canned sauce?!
Go ahead and toss this sauce with with your favorite pasta or use it as a base for pizza… the PASTABILITIES are endless! But no matter how you choose to use it, I guarantee that this sauce will squash all of your comfort food cravings on those cool fall nights.
- 1/4 cup onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 medium cauliflower, chopped (approx. 2 cups)
- 2 cups butternut squash, cubed
- 1/4 cup parmesan, freshly grated
- 3 tbsp milk
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- pinch of nutmeg
- salt to taste (optional)
- 12 oz. whole wheat fettuccine (or other type of noodle)
- In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add the onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and cook an additional minute, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Bring about 1" of water to a boil in a large pot. Place cauliflower and squash in a steamer basket, set over boiling water, cover, and steam until veggies are very soft (about 15 min).* Remove from heat and set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package. Drain and set aside.
- Transfer cauliflower, squash, onions and garlic to a high-speed blender (depending on the size of your blender, you may have to do this step in batches). Add parmesan cheese, milk, black pepper and nutmeg. Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Serve hot over pasta. If sauce starts to dry out, add a few drops of water, milk, or olive oil. Optional: top pasta with chicken and/or broccoli.
- * If you don't have a steamer basket, you can steam the veggies in a large frying pan filled with about 1/4" of water (covered) until soft.
- Makes 2 1/2 cups of sauce. Depending on how much sauce you prefer on your pasta, you may end up with leftovers.
- This sauce also works great as a base for pizza or on top of vegetables!
This looks delicious and you’re hilarious! Love all your pasta jokes!
Thanks Jessica! Glad someone else found my lame pasta jokes amusing! Gotta love foodie/nutrition humor 🙂
Wow! This looks amazing – will definitely be giving this a try soon. I love my pasta so I celebrate it year round 🙂
That’s what I’m saying! Thanks Cara, let me know what you think!
This sound so great! I am pinning it for later!!!
Thanks Bethany! I hope you’ll give it a try!
This is so creative! I love that you paired the cauliflower and the butternut squash! I have pinned it for this weekend 🙂
Woohoo! Can’t wait to hear what you think!
OMG you’re hilarious. Loving the food puns. And this recipe. Pinning!
Haha thanks Allie! Glad someone finds my ridiculous sense of humor amusing 😉 Let me know what you think if you give it a try!
The perfect Fall pasta- YUM!
Thanks, Diana!
Brilliant. and the pasta looks pretty decent too 😀
Thanks Susie! It doesn’t take much to make pasta look good 😉
Girl you crack me up! I haven’t tried caulfredo sauce, but now I am going to! I will make this and not tell the bf what is in it haha!!
Haha “guess the secret ingredient” is a game we play quite often around here! But only after the boyfriend has already eaten it, of course 😉
Love this! This recipe looks incredible. 🙂
Thank you so much, Edwina! It’s definitely a favorite of ours 🙂
So I made this last night and I wanted to give folks who have never made a “Caulfredo” sauce a little advice:
1) Cut the Squash and Cauliflower in quite small bits. Mine were not small enough and I needed them to cook more and be softer.
2) I also found 3 TB of milk was not enough to make it sauce-like. I ended up using about 5 TB to get it to a point where it could blend easily.
3) Speaking of which, I ended up having to add the milk to the veggie mixture to be blended and to get it as smooth as possible.
All in all, it was EXTREMELY tasty and I am glad to have added this to my recipe box.
Thanks for sharing, Kate! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!