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Healthy pasta with butternut squash and crème fraîche recipe

Healthy pasta with butternut squash and crème fraîche recipe

91 ratings

With a rich and creamy butternut squash sauce, wholemeal pasta and nourishing spinach, this healthy pasta recipe makes an ideal hearty family meal. What's more, the key ingredients are from your freezer or store cupboard, so this tasty vegetarian dish can be rustled up quickly on a busy weeknight. See method

  • Serves 4
  • 5 mins to prepare and 20 mins to cook
  • 450 calories / serving
  • Healthy
  • Vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 650g frozen butternut squash
  • 300ml low salt vegetable stock
  • 300g dried wholemeal pasta, such as penne
  • 200g frozen leaf spinach
  • 100g low-fat crème fraîche
  • 50g Cheddar cheese, finely grated, plus extra to serve (optional)
  • 50g vegetarian hard cheese (or Parmesan), finely grated, plus extra to serve (optional)
If you don't have any butternut squash, try sweet potato

Each serving contains

  • Energy

    1930kj
    450kcal     23%

  • Fat

    11g 16%

  • Saturates

    6g 30%

  • Sugars

    12g 13%

  • Salt

    1.5g 25%

of the reference intake
Carbohydrate 65.2g Protein 22.2g Fibre 8.3g

Method

  1. Put the frozen squash cubes in a large saucepan with the stock, bring to the boil and cover with a lid. Simmer for 15 mins, until the squash is tender and beginning to break down and the stock has reduced slightly.
  2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of salted, boiling water for 10 mins until nearly cooked, but with a little bite. Tip in the frozen spinach, bring back to the boil, stir and cook a further 1-2 mins.
  3. Using a potato masher, crush the cooked squash roughly to form a loose purée. It doesn’t have to be smooth. Stir the crème fraîche and grated cheeses (if using) into the hot squash purée to make a smooth sauce.
  4. Pour the cooked pasta and spinach into a large colander and allow to drain well. Tip this into the pan with the squash. Stir well to coat the pasta evenly, season to taste and serve straight away with extra grated cheese, if liked.

Cook’s tip: If you don’t have potato masher, the back of a fork can be used for crushing the cooked squash.

See more Butternut squash recipes

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