These creamy and dreamy Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese are so delicious! It contains less cheese and more fiber and vitamins than the norm.
Welcome to our new favorite way to use butternut squash in a recipe. Musky Squash Macaroni Cheese Skillet! Why add this mighty pumpkin to your favorite pasta? Well, three reasons. The first is simply to have an excuse to use this fall ingredient in your kitchen! Butternut squash also allows you to use less cheese and adds fiber to this traditionally starchy dish. But most of all… it’s fair yummy. The pumpkin adds a sweet touch to the cheese sauce and makes it extraordinarily creamy. Ready to start?
Butternut squash mac and cheese ingredients
First off, this butternut squash has mac and cheese in it. Yes, it’s designed to use less cheese: no cheese at all. If you’re looking for a vegan mac and cheese, check out our Vegan Green Chilli Mac we wrote for the Washington Post! It’s incredibly delicious. But if you opt for the version with less cheese and more fiber: there you go! Here are the ingredients you will need:
- Butternut Squash: Fresh is best: because it has the best flavor and texture!
- Pasta: Any short form works!
- olive oil
- vegetable soup
- Spices: Chili powder, nutmeg, salt and pepper
- milk
- Cheese: there are different possibilities: see below!
3 Benefits of Making Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese!
What Do You Get When You Add Butternut Squash to Mac and Cheese? So much kindness! Here are the details for this Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese:
- Reduces the standard recipe by over 1000 calories! Compared to a regular homemade mac and cheese, this recipe cuts out half the cheese, all the butter and flour, and 1 cup milk. That’s a savings of over 1000 calories (or 125 calories per serving for 8 servings).
- Add fiber. 1 cup of butternut squash contains 7 grams of fiber (source), so each serving provides about 12% of your daily requirement.
- Adds vitamin A, vitamin C and other vitamins. 1 cup of butternut squash provides 457% of your daily vitamin A intake and 52% of your daily vitamin C intake (source). You get half of it in every serving of this Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese!
How to Cut Butternut Squash: A Few Tips!
Now we know: Slicing a butternut squash can be daunting. It’s for us too! But over the years we’ve developed best practices that make this a lot less painful. Here are some tips on how to cut the squash for this butternut squash mac and cheese:
- Watch the video: First, watch this short video on how to cut butternut squash.
- Use a serrated peeler: A serrated blade makes peeling tough skins easier than a regular vegetable peeler that slides easily. Here it is We use a serrated vegetable peeler.
- Cut off the neck and chop separately from the bottom: Don’t cut up the whole squash. Cut off the neck, peel and cut into squares! Do the same for the base.
Can you substitute frozen butternut squash in the mac and cheese?
Technically yes, but we don’t recommend it. You can use 4 cups of frozen butternut squash instead of fresh in this recipe. However, the fresh taste is so much better that we don’t recommend frozen. Here’s what you need to know:
- The taste is much better when fresh. When it comes to fresh or frozen squash, fresh is always better. Frozen is not quite as tasty: but it works in a pinch!
- Make these changes with frozen if you must: Use only 1 ½ cups vegetable broth to simmer and simmer 5 minutes, until squash is tender. leave out milk. Add additional kosher salt to taste. But instead of frozen butternut squash, we recommend this one…
Meal Prep Tip: Peel and cut the pumpkin beforehand!
If you want to speed up this recipe: don’t use frozen squash. Just peel and slice the butternut squash beforehand! You can place it in an airtight container and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days until ready to make the recipe. It makes the recipe so much easier!
Which cheese to use
There are many options for cheese in this Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese! Here are some options, in order of our preferences:
- Smoked Gouda. It’s unique, but it adds a smoky undertone to the flavor and makes it taste full irresistible.
- Strong cheddar. This is the classic mac and cheese choice. It’s always delicious and you can combine it with the following two cheeses.
- Monterey Jack (with cheddar): Monterey Jack is a great choice to mix with cheddar: it adds just the right amount of coziness. Go half cheddar and half Monterey Jack.
Variant: make it gluten-free!
The added bonus of Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese: It’s easy to make gluten-free. Many macaroni and cheese recipes use flour and butter to make a Ginger, a way to thicken a cheese sauce. This results in a wonderfully creamy sauce, but it contains flour. This recipe is easily made gluten-free with a simple pasta swap. You can use:
- Gluten free pasta from gluten-free flour
- Pasta with legumes made from lentil or chickpea flour. This type of pasta alternative is easy to find at your local grocery store.
Ways to serve with butternut squash mac and cheese
Prepare the pasta, prepare the sauce and bam: you have a delicious and healthy dinner idea! How do I complete the meal? We recommend adding a quick and easy vegetable to add even more fiber and nutrients. Some serving suggestions for the Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese:
This Butternut Squash Macaroni Cheese Recipe is…
Vegetarian. For gluten-free pasta, use gluten-free pasta or pasta with legumes.
The description
These creamy and dreamy Butternut Squash Macaroni and Cheese are so delicious! It contains less cheese and more fiber and vitamins than the norm.
- 1 Pound small noodle shells* (gluTen free pasta or legumes of your choice)
- 4 cups peeled and diced butternut squash** (approx. 1 Medium Pumpkin: not frozen!)
- 3 Garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
- 2 cups vegetable soup
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup 2% milk
- 2 cups (8 ounces) grated smoked Gouda cheese (or sharp cheddar cheese or equal parts cheddar and Monterrey Jack)
- Seasoned Italian breadcrumbs or plain breadcrumbs, optional
- Prepare pumpkin and garlic: Peel and dice butternut squash. Chop the garlic.
- Cook pasta: Boil a pot of well-salted water. Cook the noodles almost al dente. Start tasting a few minutes before the packaging recommends it: you want it to be tender but still a bit firm inside; usually around 7-8 minutes. Drain noodles. (If it’s done before the sauce, return it to the pan with a drizzle of olive oil to keep it from sticking.)
- Prepare sauce: In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat; Add garlic and sauté 1-2 minutes, or until garlic is fragrant but not browned. Carefully add the squash and vegetable stock to the pan and stir well. Add chili powder, nutmeg, kosher salt and some black peppercorns. Cover and bring to high heat, bubbling constantly, then cook until squash is tender, 20 minutes.
- mix sauce: Gently place the squash and all of the liquid in a blender. Add the milk and stir smooth. Pour the sauce back into the pot. Stir in the grated cheese and stir with a spoon until melted (heat gently over low heat if it doesn’t melt immediately). Taste and add additional salt if desired.
- Surcharge: Pour the sauce over the noodles. Taste and add a few pinches of salt if needed. Serve immediately, sprinkled with breadcrumbs if desired.
Remarks
*We like to make half the pasta (8 ounces) and save half the sauce for later with fresh pasta.
** Using frozen squash is not as tasty. To save prep time, peel and slice the squash ahead of time and refrigerate until recipe is ready (up to 2 days).
- Category: main course
- Method: Cook
- Kitchen: American
- Diet: vegetarian
Keywords: Musk Squash Macaroni Cheese Skillet
More butternut squash recipes
Butternut squash is a winter squash with character! It turns everything into gold. Here are some other butternut squash recipes:
