Butternut Squash Alfredo with Brown Butter and Rosemary

This Butternut Squash Fettuccini Alfredo with Brown Butter and Rosemary is the ultimate fall recipe. A rich, aromatic, thick, creamy sauce (with 65% fewer calories than traditional Alfredo!) smothers every piece of pasta. It’s a great way to “hide” veggies! And best of all- you can freeze the sauce for later.

Ever have one of those meals that you just can’t get out of your head? Like a movie with such a great ending that you keep thinking about it for the rest of the day? This Butternut Squash Fettuccini Alfredo with Brown Butter and Rosemary is that meal. 

Butternut squash, brown butter, and fresh rosemary. Three of my greatest (food) loves of all time combine to form the creamiest, most aromatic, and potentially most delicious pasta sauce you will ever have.

The Butternut Alfredo sauce is so easy to make. It uses only one pot. It’s ready in under 30 minutes. AND it’s make-ahead friendly: make the sauce and freeze or refrigerate until you want to use it.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Fettuccini – or any other pasta shape or type you prefer (gluten-free, whole wheat, chickpea, etc. also work well here)
• Butternut Squash – peeled and diced.
• Butter – I prefer salted butter for extra flavor. You can use a vegan butter or olive oil if needed.
• Fresh Rosemary – Chop it up as finely as you can. You can use dried in a pinch- just crumble it up a bit before adding it (and use 1 teaspoon instead of 1 tablespoon).
• Chicken or Vegetable Stock – you can use water in a pinch.
• Milk – preferably whole milk. You can use half and half or cream for a richer version, or low-fat if you like. Use coconut milk for a vegan version.
• Onion – diced, I suggest either yellow white.
• Salt, pepper, parmesan for serving (optional)

How to make Butternut Squash Fettuccini Alfredo

1. Brown the butter. Melt butter in a large deep skillet, then crank the heat to high and stir/whisk constantly until it foams on top and the butter turns brown. This is a good time to bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta as well.
2. Add onions and rosemary. Adding the onions and rosemary will stop the browning process, so as soon as the butter browns add these in. Sauté until they are soft.
3. Add the chicken stock and butternut squash. Bring it to a boil, cover, and let the squash cook until tender.
4. Cook the pasta. I like to wait until this point so that the pasta doesn’t sit around waiting for the sauce to be done.
5. Mash the cooked squash with a potato masher. Just break it up a bit.
6. Add milk and blend with an immersion blender. You can also use a regular blender, in batches if needed.
7. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
8. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and serve!

Why it’s healthier than traditional Alfredo sauce

Have you ever made Alfredo sauce from scratch? It, too, is delicious, but certainly not very healthy. It’s usually made with a stick of butter, heavy cream, and lots of parmesan cheese.

A typical Alfredo sauce has almost 500 calories per serving. This butternut squash pasta sauce has 172. That’s almost 65% fewer calories than Alfredo sauce!

Even though this butternut squash sauce is a much healthier alternative to Alfredo sauce, it will fulfill your need for a rich and creamy sauce to satisfyingly coat each fettuccini noodle as you twirl it around your fork (ah… life’s simple pleasures). 

And while Alfredo sauce is delicious mostly because of it’s salt and high fat content, this sauce is delicious because of it’s rich combination of earthy and aromatic flavors without any significant sacrifice.

There is a good amount of butter in the sauce, but half that of a typical Alfredo sauce. There is no cheese at all (and trust me – a cheese fanatic – when I tell you that you won’t miss it!).

Plus, since the base of it is butternut squash, you get a hearty serving of healthy butternut squash veggies in each serving! This is a great way to “hide” veggies with picky eaters.

Tips and tricks

• Use an immersion blender to easily blend the sauce right in the pot. You can use a blender if you want, but let’s be honest… it’s a pain to take out, wash, and transfer the mixture back and forth. An immersion blender is like a magic wand that you stick in the sauce (or soup, or whatever you are making), turn on, and viola! Blended. Go get you one.
• Double the sauce and freeze half. Then, you’ll have an extra super easy fast meal for which you’ll only have to boil pasta! Future you will thank you.
• The sauce doubles as a soup. Yup- just serve the sauce as a creamy butternut squash soup! YUM. You may need to thin it out a bit with some extra chicken broth.
• Buy pre-cut butternut squash, or use frozen, to save time. Peeling butternut squash is a great way to save money but it’s a pain in the neck to do. Save a little time and heartache if you prefer and use the pre-prepped stuff.

Other Butternut Squash Recipes

• Maple Glazed Chicken and Fall Veggies Sheet Pan Dinner
• Ginger Turmeric Butternut Squash Soup
• Moroccan Spiced Roasted Butternut Squash
• Fall Minestrone Soup with Butternut Squash and Rosemary
• Butternut Squash, Chickpea, and Spinach Stew

Want to use pumpkin instead of butternut squash? Here’s a recipe for Pumpkin Fettuccini Alfredo!

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