Cacio e Pepe Butternut Squash is one delicious, healthy and flavorful recipe. A perfect dish for your meatless Mondays or a quick weeknight dish if you wish to replace carblicious pasta.
Well, we all know that Cacio e Pepe, or in translation cheese and pepper, is a simple and delicious way to prepare a pasta dish. It is a pasta dish from modern Roman cuisine.
However, I say move over zoodles because there is a new sheriff in town.
I predict that this year we going to see more and more of butternut squash noodles.
Don’t get me wrong I love zoodles, but you could mix and match and add zoodles to butternut squash for extra nutrition and flavour.
That being said its perfect just the way it is especially if you love butternut squash.
You can serve it with any protein such as fish, poultry or meat, or tofu if you want a true meatless meal.
Anyhow, one fine afternoon I had this bowl of raw butternut squash noodles in my fridge. My husband picked up from the store just a few days before.
I would usually spiralize veggies myself, but I guess it was on sale and he got it for me.
He knows how much I love butternut squash. The only butternut squash dish that I never cared for is creamy butternut squash soup.
I do have a fantastic recipe for that soup, but I am just not a fan. Personally to me, it tastes like baby food.
You may also like:
+ THAI HUMMUS PIZZA WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND VEGETARIAN SAUSAGES
+ BUTTERNUT SQUASH, BEANS AND ONIONS OVER MIXED GREENS – SALAD
If you get inspired and make my Cacio e Pepe Butternut Squash recipe, please tag me on Instagram.
@sandraseasycooking using hashtag #sandraseasycooking. Thank you so much in advance!
Happy Cooking!!!
Cacio e Pepe Butternut Squash
Cacio e Pepe Butternut Squash is one delicious, healthy and flavorful recipe. A perfect dish for your meatless Mondays or a quick weeknight dish if you wish to replace carblicious pasta.
Ingredients
- 5-6 cups butternut squash noodles (about 2 medium-size butternut squash)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
- ¼ tsp kosher salt, or to taste
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup Pecorino Romano
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, the best if you grind it yourself on the coarsest setting, plus more for serving
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese for serving, if desired
Instructions
- Spiralize squashes: Cut necks off squashes and cut each in half crosswise. Using a thin spaghetti blade in a spiral maker, spiralize squash chunks. If noodles are very long, trim with kitchen shears to the desired length. You may use store-bought butternut squash noodles if you wish.
- In a large skillet on medium, melt butter and add olive oil. We are using butter even though it is not traditionally used because the butternut squash noodles are not pasta noodles so we need that extra creaminess that butter produces.
- Add noodles and salt and cook, tossing occasionally, until tender, about 10 to 12 minutes at medium-high. Add water a bit at the time every few minutes. Note* For regular Cacio e Pepe you would use pasta water, so we are adding splashes of water to help with tenderizing or cooking these veggie noodles faster as well as for making cheese sauce taste better.
- Remove skillet from heat and add Pecorino-Romano. as well as ground black pepper. Stir and toss vigorously until both ingredients are well incorporated into the butternut squash noodles. Toss in a drizzle of the olive oil and season with salt if needed.
- Sprinkle some parmesan cheese when you serve it if you desire.
Notes
You may add zucchini noodles and mix with butternut squash noodles.
Prep time 10 minutes only if you going to spiralize butternut squash yourself. Cook time depends on the pan and the temperature you are cooking at. I like my skillet wide, and I cook at medium-high heat.