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.

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+ ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

+ SWEET PUMPKIN PORRIDGE

+ MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD

+ BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

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!!!

Yield: Serves 4

Cacio e Pepe Butternut Squash

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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.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

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I could eat this delicious Roasted Cauliflower and Cheese probably every other day. Well, I like calling this Mac-flower and Cheese ’cause I used Cauliflower instead of macaroni.

This recipe blew my Instagram account after food52 reshared my picture of Mac-flower and Cheese. Since I did not have a recipe on my blog, I received well over 300 messages, all asking for this recipe. It was a madhouse for a good week.

So I re-tested a recipe twice again to make sure. I am not a huge fan of cream cheese addition, but my family really likes it so I will give you an option. You can use it or omit it.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE CAULIFLOWER RECIPES

You can use this cheese sauce over roasted potatoes, peppers, or broccoli. It is so good!

Don’t get me wrong, cream cheese does not make this sauce bad, just I like it better without it.

What makes this meal unique? It’s cauliflower and we all know the hype over this brain food. Also, it is lower in carb and really delicious. Even my kids eat this one and my boys are not fans of cauliflower but they are eating this way.

I feel like even if you eat carbs roasted cauliflower could be mixed with macaroni and cheese. That way you eat a slightly “healthier” pasta.

I always loved cauliflower so I could eat it literally any possible way. Give the cauliflower a chance as well as this yummy recipe. I know it is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is really not bad at all.

DO YOU WANT MORE SIDE DISH IDEAS? CLICK HERE AND GRAB TASTY RECIPES.

Also, you have two options on how to prepare cauliflower; roasted in the oven or use your air fryer. It is so easy when you pop cauliflower florets in the air fryer. No mess!

I love my air fryer for real, but you can totally use a sheet pan and just roast in the oven. The conventional oven is alright as well, as long as you cook cauliflower.

If you try this recipe for any other from my site please tag me on Instagram. @sandraseasycooking #sandraseasycooking. Thank you in advance!

Yield: 4

Roasted Cauliflower And Cheese

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Easy and delicious side dish. It is perfect with any protein or on its own.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 2-3 pounds cauliflower
• Salt, ground black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• Pinch or two of herbs such as dried parsley

CHEESE SAUCE

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black
• 3/4 cup warm heavy whipping cream (or half and half, Mexican Cream)
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 3 ounces mild cheddar, shredded
• 2 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
• Salt to taste

ASSEMBLY

• 1-ounce mild cheddar, shredded
• a drizzle of olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried or fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Wash and separate cauliflower into bite-size pieces.
2. Season with salt and pepper then drizzle with olive oil.
3. Toss it to coat then cook in the air fryer at 375 Fahrenheit for 16-17 minutes or roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 400F. Make sure that the cauliflower is in one layer on the baking sheet. Also, you may use your convection oven. Air Fryer is basically a convenient "countertop" convection oven.

SAUCE

1. While cauliflower is cooking prep for the cheese sauce. You can use pre-shredded cheese but it is so much better if you shred it yourself.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat,
3. Gradually add warm heavy whipping cream or Mexican cream, stirring until well-mixed, add seasoning; turmeric, salt, and pepper.
4. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until it begins to slightly thicken. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring, for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add parm, cheddar, and swiss cheese then cook at a lower temperature, stirring, until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth and well blended.
6. The sauce will start to get thicker. Now, taste it and add salt according to your taste. If you want your sauce mix one tablespoon of flour/cornstarch or for low carb Xanthan gum or Guar gum with 2-3 tablespoons of water then pour over the sauce. I do this sometimes, but it's not necessary.

Assembly

1. Place cauliflower into the skillet, pour cheese over it, slightly stir to coat then add a drizzle of olive oil and a bit of shredded cheese. Add a good sprinkle of dried parsley.
2. Turn the stove off and serve immediately.

Notes

I never tried placing it overnight in the fridge.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 622Total Fat: 51gSaturated Fat: 27gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 20gCholesterol: 127mgSodium: 751mgCarbohydrates: 21gNet Carbohydrates: 0gFiber: 8gSugar: 10gSugar Alcohols: 0gProtein: 26g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate, but we try our best.

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