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I felt slightly like a squash-hoarder yesterday…
Growing my own squash wasn’t in the cards for me this year, but that doesn’t mean we’re skipping the squash altogether… No way. So I paid a visit to our local farm store yesterday and loaded up on butternut, spaghetti squash, and beautiful pie pumpkins.
My cart was full as I pushed it to the check-out, and you can bet I’ll be going back for more.
Does anyone else get slightly giddy when they buy local veggies, or is it just me? In this part of Wyoming, it’s not easy to find much of anything that’s locally grown, so I’m infinitely thankful our local garden store started carrying produce this year. Although I still shop at a regular grocery store, it makes me so darn happy to have at least one other option this year.
Anyway, back to the squash. Prairie Husband and Prairie Children aren’t always as squash-happy as I am, at least when squash is presented in it’s unadulterated squashy-glory. However, they have been known to be raving squash-fans when it’s served in, uh, “creative” ways. (Or when I smother it in maple syrup and butter. That works too.)
This butternut Alfredo sauce recipe totally fits the bill if you’re looking for creative. It’s wholesome and non-fussy, but still creamy and smooth. The butternut imparts aslightly sweet flavor that’ll turn the head of even the staunchest squash-hater.
Calories? Did someone say calories? Yeah, I’m sure this butternut versionhas far less than traditional Alfredo sauce, but I couldn’t remotely begin to tell you the difference in the numbers. I’ve never been a calorie counter… If it tastes good, and is made from mostly whole-food ingredients, I just eat it… Sorry.
You can top it with sliced chicken if you like to turn it into a main dish. Or serve it as a side alongside your pan-fried pork chops or similar meat. Just make it y’all– that’s all I have left to say.
Butternut Alfredo Sauce Recipe
- 1 pound bacon, chopped*
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, minced
- 1.5 cups chicken or beef stock (how to make your own stock)
- 3 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes (approximately 1/2 of one normal-size butternut)
- 1 cup whole milk (if you want it even creamier, I like to use cream or half-n-half instead)
- Salt and pepper to taste (I use Redmond Salt)
- 1 lb dried pasta or homemade pasta (how to make your own pasta)
*Not into bacon? Omit it completely and substitute in 4 tablespoons of butter instead.
Instructions:
Place the bacon pieces into a medium pot and fry until crispy.
Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the bacon fat in the pot. (If the bacon left a large amount of fat, you can remove some of it. Shoot for leaving around 4 tablespoons in the pot– you need it for the sautéing.)
Add the diced onion to the bacon fat (or butter, if you’re not using bacon) and sauté until softened. Add in the sage, garlic, and butternut cubes. Sauté for 1-2 more minutes to brown the cubes slightly and bring out more flavor.
Pour in the stock, cover with a lid, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the butternut cubes are soft enough to smash. At this time, you’ll want to start cooking your pasta, if you haven’t already.
Remove the squash mixture from the heat, and add in the milk. Use an immersion blender to puree it all together until nice and smooth. You can use a food processor or regular blender here too, but an immersion blender is far easier.
Taste the sauce and add salt/pepper if needed. Add the cooked pasta into your pot and mix to coat.
Serve with the bacon bits on top.
Butternut Alfredo Sauce Notes
- If I were a good blogger, I would have made my homemade pasta for this recipe so you could see that in the pics… But as it stood, I had one night to make this and take photos, and that day only afforded enough time for store-bought pasta. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. 😉
- I’ve tried this with pre-baked butternut squash, and it works just fine too. If you’re working with butternut puree instead of raw butternut chunks, simply add the puree in with the broth, give it 5-10 minutes to heat and mingle, then mix in the milk and proceed as usual.
- I personally LOVE sage in this recipe, but fresh rosemary and/or thyme will be delish as well. And of course, dried herbs will work in a pinch.
- You can TOTALLY make a double batch of this and freeze it– it should freeze beautifully!
- I can’t believe I said the words, “Not into bacon?” above…
Butternut Alfredo Sauce Recipe
- Author: The Prairie Homestead
- Yield: Roughly 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main-Dish
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon, chopped*
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, minced
- 1.5 cups chicken or beef stock
- 3 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes (approximately 1/2 of one normal-size butternut)
- 1 cup whole milk (if you want it even creamier, I like to use cream or half-n-half instead)
- Salt and pepper to taste (I use Redmond Salt)
- 1 lb dried pasta or homemade pasta
Instructions
- Place the bacon pieces into a medium pot and fry until crispy.
- Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. (If the bacon left a large amount of fat, you can remove some of it. Shoot for leaving around 4 tablespoons in the pan– you need it for the sautéing.
- Add the diced onion to the bacon fat (or butter, if you’re not using bacon) and sauté until softened. Add in the sage, garlic, and butternut cubes. Sauté for 1-2 more minutes to brown the cubes slightly and bring out more flavor.
- Pour in the stock, cover with a lid, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the butternut cubes are soft enough to smash. At this time, you’ll want to start cooking your pasta, if you haven’t already.
- Remove from the heat, and add in the milk. Use an immersion blender to puree it all together. You can use a food processor or regular blender here too, but an immersion blender is far easier.
- Taste the sauce and add salt/pepper if needed. Add the cooked pasta into your pot and mix to coat.
- Serve with the bacon bits on top.
