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Butternut Squash & Sausage Stuffed Pasta with Crispy Sage

When the fall weather starts getting a little colder, does anyone else just crave a comforting meal? I love a hot meal filled with fall ingredients – like butternut squash, sausage, cheese, and crispy sage. This Butternut Squash & Sausage Stuffed Pasta with Crispy Sage has it all.

First you roast your butternut squash with shallots – once they are roasted you puree them with some chicken stock and fresh parmesan.

Then you’ll cook the pasta and meanwhile prep the sausage filling – the filling is savory and cheesy. The sausage is cooked with sage and garlic, then combined with ricotta and fresh parmesan. You’ll stuff the pasta with the cheesy mixture and place it in a pan with the creamy butternut squash sauce. It has so much flavor! And you know how much I love pasta.

My favorite part of this Butternut Squash & Sausage Stuffed Pasta with Crispy Sage is the combination of flavors. The butternut squash sauce is smooth and sweet, the sausage is rich and savory, the cheese is creamy, and the crispy sage adds that perfect freshness and fall flavor to the top.

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Butternut Squash & Sausage Stuffed Pasta with Crispy Sage

You'll love this perfect fall meal! Creamy and sweet butternut squash, savory sausage, creamy and rich cheese, topped off with fresh sage.

Ingredients

Butternut Squash Puree

1 butternut squash, cubed into 1/2" pieces
2 shallots, cut into 1 inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream (can sub milk)
1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Sausage + Cheese Mixture

1 lb. pork sausage
1/4 cup sage, chopped
3 tablespoons garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese
15 oz. ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 lb. jumbo shells pasta
additional fresh parmesan cheese for topping

Crispy Sage

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup sage, chopped roughly

Instructions

Butternut Squash Puree

Begin by prepping your butternut squash. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Cube your butternut squash into 1/2" pieces. The smaller your pieces are, the faster they'll cook.
Cut shallots roughly into 1/2" sections.
Place ingredients onto a large rimmed baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Toss to coat, and arrange them evenly on the pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until squash is very soft. Test with a fork. (If your pieces are larger it could take a couple extra minutes).
Turn oven temperature down to 350°F when done, so it's ready to bake the pasta dish.
Once done baking, add squash and shallots to a blender or food processor, along with chicken broth and cream. Blend on high until smooth.
Depending on the size of your butternut squash size, you may need to add a little more chicken broth to get this to puree smoothly. Add a little extra if your blender is having a hard time mixing it.
Once smooth, add the fresh parmesan and garlic salt, and blend again. Once smoothly blended, set aside.

Pasta

Cook your pasta shells in a large pot of water, with a little salt added. Try to cook the pasta Al Dente- so the pasta so it's not mushy when you go to fill it.
Once the pasta is done, strain it and coat with a little olive oil so they don't stick together. Set aside to cool until ready to stuff.

Sausage + Cheese Filling

Once the pasta is cooking, place your sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the sausage through until browned. Then add the garlic and chopped sage. Continue cooking until fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic. Once cooked, remove from heat and set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the ricotta, fresh paremsan cheese, and garlic salt.
Once the sausage is done, add to the cheese mixture. Mix to combine.

Assembly

Pour the butternut squash puree into a large baking dish (9×13" or larger works too).
Spoon the cheese/sausage mixture into the shells. Place shells into the butternut squash mixture, in the baking dish.
Top with additional fresh parmesan cheese.
Place baking dish into 350°F oven, and bake until cheese is melted.

Crispy Sage

While dish is baking, fry up your sage.
In a small pan, pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Heat over medium-high heat.
Add rough chopped sage and heat until it's slightly brown, and crispy. Remove from pan and set aside until pasta dish comes out of the oven.
Once it's out, top dish with cripsy sage and serve. Be sure to scoop lots of the butternut squash puree onto every serving. Enjoy!

Another thing I love about this dish is how the pasta shells keep the cheesy mixture separate from the squash mixture. If it was all mixed together it’d be hard to taste the separate and distinct flavors, but but separating them they complement each other so nicely.

This really is the perfect fall meal! I hope you get a chance to try this Butternut Squash & Sausage Stuffed Pasta with Crispy Sage – it’s delicious. Be sure to check out my other fall recipes here, and tag me me @plumstreetcollective when you make any of my recipes! Love to see what you’re cooking. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash & Sausage Stuffed Pasta with Crispy Sage