Butternut Squash Lasagna, Revisited

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I love this time of year it puts me in the mood for butternut squash lasagna. Have you tried it yet? If you haven’t, you must. I love serving this along side a roasted turkey on Thanksgiving, to me it’s the perfect complement and a great pasta side dish.

butternut squash lasagna

Over the years I’ve made it so many different ways with a little tweaking here and there. I updated some of the pictures in this post to reflect that. Time has sure past since I first posted this back in 2009, and now it’s almost 2020 and I’m still making butternut squash lasagna!

butternut squash loasagna

I love adding a bechamel sauce that’s infused with herbs and garlic. In the past I infused the sauce with roasted garlic and rosemary then moved on to roasted garlic and sage. When you infuse those flavors into warm bechamel sauce it takes the whole lasagna to another level of flavor and taste!

Sometimes I’ll add on the layers ricotta cheese mix and some shredded mozzarella, sometimes no ricotta just bechamel, parmesan, the squash and maybe even another cheese like shredded fontina which melts really nice, it’s all good!

I think an important thing to remember is to make enough sauce. When I first started making this four cups of sauce was not enough because the pasta seems to soak it up and also you want a nice layer ending on the top, as well as some for serving.

And if you’re going to use the no-boil pasta, well that tends to need a lot of sauce anyway. So you be the judge, but I would start out with six cups of sauce, it’s better to have more than not enough.

I used one large butternut squash which was perfectly enough for a 13×9 pan.
Peel the squash, slice it, scoop out the seeds and cut it into chunks. Place them onto a baking sheet seasoned with salt and pepper and an olive oil drizzle, roast in the oven at 400F until fork tender but not mushy. In the same oven I roasted 1 small head of garlic wrapped in tin foil.
In the meantime, make your basic bechamel sauce, when finished add in a few of the roasted and smashed garlic gloves, you be the judge on how much you want in there, toss in some fresh sage leaves and a good handful of grated parmesan, salt and pepper.
Let the magic happen and let it infuse for a good 20-30 minutes, give it a taste to see if it meets your flavor standards, if not add more of something.

If you’re going to add ricotta to your layers whisk an egg into it along with a generous helping of grated parmesan, salt and pepper. Start layering with the sauce, then pasta, more sauce, pasta, the squash, ricotta mixture, shredded cheese and more grated cheese.
Then repeat, ending with sauce on top of the last layer of pasta.
Bake covered with tin foil at 375F. for about 30 minutes, take the foil off and stick it under the broiler until golden brown for a few seconds.
Feel free to use any kind of lasagna noodles, boil, no boil, whole wheat or white lasagna noodles, again just make plenty of sauce (which I feel is key).
noodle-less lasagna
I’ve even made a noodle-less version of a butternut squash lasagna which is equally delicious and perfect for those who are gluten free.
Butternut Squash Lasagna, Revisited
 
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Ingredients
  • FOR THE BECHAMEL
  • 6 cups whole milk
  • 12 TBL. butter
  • 12 TBL. flour
  • ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • handful of rosemary or sage
  • roasted garlic cloves, smashed
  • Melt butter in a saucepan, whisk in flour. Cook and stir for around 1 minute to cook off the raw and starchy taste of the flour. Whisk in the milk stirring frequently until it starts to bubble ad thicken.
  • Toss in the smashed roasted garlic, herbs and parmesan to infuse sauce. Let it sit for 20- 30 minutes
  • Taste for salt and pepper and remove herbs.
  • ROASTING THE BUTTERNUT SQUASH
  • 1 large squash, peeled and cut into cubes, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper and placed on a sheet pan until tender but not mushy at 400 degrees.
Instructions
  1. Feel free to use any type of pasta noodle, no boil, boil, whole wheat or plain white or even fresh.
  2. You can add a ricotta mixture as stated in the post along with shredded fontina or mozzarella, the squash and bechamel.
  3. You can make it without ricotta by just using the butternut squash, shredded cheese and bechamel.
  4. You can make it noodle-less as shown in the post with a link by slicing planks of squash into . "pasta noodles".

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Comments

  1. Just tried this with a friend who needed a vegetarian option to go with her traditional lasagna. It was delicious! We are thinking of adding some asiago next time to give it a nice bite.

  2. I made the first recipe you posted and loved it! (I infused fresh thyme into my sauce) I cannot wait to try the second version. I am salivating just thinking about how wonderful it makes my kitchen smell…

  3. Absolutely delicious. I just tried it out today and let me just say I may be making this for thanksgiving! Thank you very much for posting and God bless you.

  4. I LOVE your butternut squash lasagna. It’s the reason for butternut squash’s existence!

  5. I can imagine its crazy good and nice healthier variation from meat heavy lasagnas.

  6. Don’t think this happens to you, but I’ve been a bit blogged out lately. As winter has now set in here and my mind is set on organising things for the big chill: getting the wood in, cleaning the fireplace, tidying the garden for its hibernation, I’ve also been lacking inspiration (and energy) for creative cooking – that certainly doesn’t happen to you! One click here – and you’ve cleared the cobwebs. As it happens, I was given the most enormous squash 5 days ago and have been staring at it guiltily – now I’m going to set to it! Thanks.

  7. I made this for my bf this weekend with some turkey sweet sausage in it and he loved it. I also toasted some fennel seeds and microplaned some nutmeg on the squash. I like your non specific measurement recipes- Thanks!

  8. Butternut ravioli is one of my favorite things. This could displace it. . .!

  9. I’m slowly becoming a squash convert (but only if they’re easy to peel!) I adore vegetarian lasagnas and this looks so delectable I have to try it.

  10. I’ve been catching up on your posts that I’ve missed out on. I love your cooking!

  11. That last photo just about did me in! I’ve never made this type of lasagna before, and I just so happen to have a zillion sage leaves just waiting to be used! YUM!

  12. Sweet butternut squash goes so well in baked cheesy pasta! That lasagna looks great!

  13. Oh this does sound delicious Marie. I use a lot of ricotta in my lasagna, but never dreamt of adding roasted garlic to my bechamel. What a rocking good idea!

  14. I can’t wait to try this. I have tried infusing sage into cream sauces before, but have had difficulty overcooking the sauces. Any suggestions? Yum Yum Yum…

  15. Crazy good indeed!
    I need to make this, love all the ingredients.
    Happy Fall Marie!
    LL

  16. Wow! That looks crazy good, indeed!

    That first photo is lovely.

  17. This is the second butternut squash lasagna I have seen today..I think that is a sign that I must try it!!!!

  18. Your lasagna sounds so great! Thanks for sharing!

    I

  19. Oh wow. I must try, since I just started eating butternut squash.

  20. I cannot wait to try this! I made a squash lasagna once and it was a miserable failure. Well, it tasted good, it just didn’t look good. This one looks fabulous!

    ~JEM

  21. I’ve been thinking butternut squash lasagne myself this week…. I’ve used sage, but not ricotta…. sounds creamy and comforting…. and perfect.

  22. Oh my, this looks fabulous! I love meat-free meals and TheHusband luuuurves lasagna, so this is perfect for the both of us.

  23. I’ve seen this recipe a few times before and I know that even Cooking Light had a version I was interested in. Thanks for the tempting photos to remind me about it!

  24. marie you are such a wonderful creative cook! It’s gorgeous!

  25. I want to write a lot because I am amazed by your Italian cooking. I am running off to the supermarket to buy the ingredients for this, it sounds amazing.

  26. What a lovely recipe! I’m eager to try this out!

  27. Oh boy, Marie, I can almost taste that by just looking at your photos! I bet the sage adds a nice savory touch to the sweetness of the squash and cheese. This will be on my dinner table soon!

  28. Never did squash in a lasagne. looks like its worth a try.

  29. Brilliant – just in time for Fall – I’ll be giving this a try! Looks wonderful, Marie!

  30. I made this the last time you posted this. I’ll try it again with your new additions.

  31. Wow Marie this really sounds GREAT! I will give it a try very soon…. Have fun and thanks so much for all the wonderful recipes.

    (((HUGS)))
    Donna

  32. Wow, you read my mind. For some weird reason, I crave Italian food in the fall, and I love vegetarian lasagna, so I’m looking forward to trying this soon. Thanks!

  33. Sounds so good!! A very rich dish it is.

  34. This sounds perfect! Thank you so much. I have loved all of your recipes that I have tried!

  35. I love the sage in this one.

  36. Oh! Butternut squash lasagna, sounds and looks fantastic, and the pictures as just so awesome! Yummie! Have to give a try!

  37. my sweet Italian friend: this is FABULOUS!
    :::printing this one::::

  38. These photos look crazy good! What beautiful color! I have tried and tried and I cannot bond with butternut squash. I’m probably the only person on the planet– but, I adore pumpkin. I am wanting more veggie meals, so I’ll have to try this. LOVE the idea of sage, too. My sage plant is bursting with lots of leaves. This is on my bookmark page. Thanks!

  39. Looks delicious. I have a butternut squash in the garden…was saving it for butternut squash soup, but now I’ll have to revise my plans. Mimi

  40. Oh, yeah, Marie. This is crazy good! I love butternut squash lasagna. I might have to make some soon, now that I got a whiff of yours. Yum. 😉

  41. This looks and sounds so flavorful and fragrant with the sage and roasted garlic. I can’t wait to try it!

  42. I did try this the last time you posted it. It was decadent good, but mine didn’t turn out as pretty as yours so I didn’t post it. You have reminded me to try again. Yum!

  43. I just bought a butternut squash at the local farm stand so I’m all set. Your version of lasagna looks fantastic, Marie. Can’t wait to try it.

    I’m coming to Chicago next week for my daughter’s wedding. Yay! Can’t wait to do a little sightseeing.

  44. Oh Marie – You wizard you! I’ve got some butternut squash ready to pick and a lasagna is exactly what I wanted to try with it. It looks absolutely fantastic. The infused sage is brilliant.

  45. Drooling! Yes I am. I bought a variety of squash at the farmer’s market this weekend and last night combined them with pasta and fresh tomatoes. I know what I’m doing next time!

  46. I’m going to try this. My family’d be ‘crazy’ not to like it!

  47. I love the rustic photos. I prefer vegetable lasagnas to meat lasagnas so this is right there on the top of my list of recipes to try!!!

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