excellent fall meal It serves as a Thanksgiving side dish in our family. Vegetarian options are available by omitting the bacon and using veggie stock instead of chicken stock.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Total Time: | 55 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 4 cups |
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ⅓ cup onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ⅓ cup milk
- ⅓ cup Italian cheese blend (Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano)
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the squash into a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer the squash until very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain excess water. Cooked squash should equal 2 cups.
- Heat olive oil and butter in a skillet over medium-low heat, and cook the onion, garlic, and apple, stirring frequently, until softened and brown, about 15 minutes. Add butternut squash and chicken broth, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat just to a simmer, and stir in the milk and cheese blend. Stir until the cheese has melted and the sauce has reached desired thickness, 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 102 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 10 g |
| Cholesterol | 11 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 77 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Good, but you can simplify that first step: Cut your squash in half and remove the seeds, then cut into chunks small enough to fit into a microwaveable bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and nuke for 14 minutes. Rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Now peel. I agree with some others that it’s already bordering on too sweet even before adding some apple. Leaving it out (and maybe adding some crumbled bacon at the end) makes it more savory. A little m.s.g. is good too (don’t get your panties in a wad, it’s made from mushrooms!)
This recipe is insanely good. I didn’t have those cheeses, and I’m lactose intolerant so: Instead of butter I used more olive oil (like an extra teaspoon maybe, didn’t need much), then almond milk in place of normal milk microwaved with a combination of marble cheese and aged Balderson cheddar and a dollop of Tziki (from Costco). I didn’t add any salt or pepper to this, it tasted amazing on its own. This is a fantastic recipe but I think the instructions are lacking on how to get the butternut squash to be creamy; I put half my sauce in a bowl and mashed it with a fork for a while to get my sauce to be *saucy*. Afterwards, I poured/spread it over big noodles and slices of pre-cooked chicken breast, and then baked it at 350F for 20 minutes. Turned out amazing!
Perfect pasta. Added spinach but followed it precisely. I used squash from my garden!
For people who are lactose intolerant this recipe tastes just as good without any cheese. I made it without cheese and my mom loved it. This sauce also works well for homemade pizzas because the squash counteracts the cheese from blocking you.
Excellent recipe to get away from tomato based sauce. I paired it with the Hellman’s Mayo Parmesan Chicken recipe. Absolutely delicious!
This is delicious!!!
Like many other reviewers, I roasted the squash in the oven instead of steaming or boiling. In the last step I mashed everything with a potato masher. The recipe turned out fine
A little sweet for my taste, but I should have seen that coming. Great texture and bold color. Cutting the apple and adding something more savory could make it more appealing to me.
This was very good. I roasted the entire butternut squash in the oven at 425 for 90 minutes as cutting and peeling a squash is a pain. Roasting it adds extra flavor and is very simple to scoop out the seeds and the flesh. I pureed the squash and broth ( I did end up using 1.5 cups of broth but I never measured the squash). I left the apples chunky in the sauce. I used pizza blend cheese. This was a great dish and I will make it again.
I didn’t change anything to this recipe except for steaming the diced squash for 10 minutes. I read some people said it was lumpy so I put it in my magic bullet to cream it out fast, then put it in the pan with the other ingredients. If you think it’s too thick then add some cream or more chicken stock. I would even have this as a soup. Maybe add more apple, that was a nice flavor.
Just made this for my kids. Simple and delicious. We just put it over whole wheat pasta. Made a batch and will freeze it!,
I did garlic powder instead of garlic cloves
Thank you for this awesome recipe! Followed it exactly. The only different thing that I did was add in a little cinnamon and ginger just for extra flavor. Great pasta sauce for people who cannot tolerate tomato sauce.
Flavor was good. Garlic should go in shortly before stock, as mine was burning. Next time I will skip the skillet and use a small pot so I can puree in the pot. I added the 1/4 cup brown sugar. Did not need as much cook time as written.
Sauce was great. I would use a whole apple next time to even out the garlic. Also used a stick mixer to make a smooth even sauce
So good! I made this as a sauce last week. I followed the directions, except I roasted the squash at 400 for 25 minutes instead of boiling it. I also added mushrooms and sage based on other reviews. This week, I turned into a soup by increasing some of the ingredients (2/3 of a 3 lb squash, 6 cups broth, 1 cup milk, 1.5 gala apples, leeks instead of onions, and 4 ounces shiitake mushrooms). So So good!
Very nice! I made the recipe as written, except used almond milk because that’s what we prefer. I “mashed” the cooked squash with the back of a wooden spoon so the resulting sauce was rustic. Next time I will try the immersion blender to puree. The picture shows small pieces of carrots and peas. I will try those in a future dish. Served over handmade basil and garlic flavored shells that we bought at the Bethlehem (CT) Garlic Festival. So tasty!
Gosh this was delicious. I cooked it down a tad more and added about double the cheeses and just had it as a side dish without being over pasta or rice.
I thought this was pretty good It was not as flavorful as I hoped Def needs a bit of tweaking but overal it was a good way for me to use up some of the squash i have! My only changes were to roast my squash ….
We really enjoy the flavor of this sauce. The only thing I do differently from the recipe is to puree it with my immersion blender to make a nice, smooth sauce.
I made a number of changes based on the reviews to add flavor, and with those changes I’d give it 5 stars! I used 1/2 onion, 1/2 apple, 4 cloves garlic, rosemary, and a mixed Italian herb seasoning. Roasted squash in oven first with olive oil & seasonings instead of steaming to add flavor. Also blended with an immersion blender just before adding the cheese. It’s delicious!!! Wish I made more! Next time I think I’ll add frozen peas at the end as well. FYI – 2.5 cups is almost 1 lb fresh butternut squash