Name: Chilli and Bacon Butternut Squash Pasta
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 200 g Rigatoni Pasta; 300 g Butternut Squash; 100 g Shallot; 1 Red Chilli; 100 g Streaky Bacon; 20 g Parmesan Cheese; 200 ml White wine; 1 Tsp Dried Rosemary; 1 Tbsp Olive Oil; Salt

Jump to Recipe

My butternut squash pasta takes beautiful chunks of squash and roasts them in wine with rosemary, bacon and chilli.

Butternut squash pasta with bacon and chili in a white bowl on a wooden backdrop taken from above

Chilli & Bacon Butternut Squash Pasta.

Often squash or pumpkin pasta recipes take the form of a blended sauce, this recipe is a little different.

It features cubes of butternut squash cooked in bacon and chilli… I know right! Bacon and chilli! It also has a little white wine and some rosemary.

It creates a recipe that feels a little more substantial and filling.

It also results in less washing up, this, according to my wife, is a very good thing!

The flavours are really clean and whilst the recipe is not a 30-minute wonder it is incredibly easy to cook.

Bacon with pasta is a firm favourite in my house, whether it is in my bacon and tomato pasta influenced by Bucatini All Amatriciana or my bacon and mushroom pasta.

Butternut squash pasta with bacon and chili in a white bowl on a wooden backdrop

Pumpkin Recipes.

Squash and Pumpkin recipes present a challenge to folk like me that primarily cook for two people.

I thrive on variation in my diet so always try to have a lot of recipes lined up when I am cooking with any form of pumpkin.

I could of course cut and prepare the squash and freeze it up. But my ‘freezer management’ skills are not exactly at ninja level.

I much prefer to use a small squash and prepare and eat it in different ways.

So this week we have this butternut squash pasta, and a veggie butternut squash chilli.

I even managed to squeeze out a version of a Burmese Pumpkin Curry using butternut squash.

One simple and cheap ingredient striding across the globe!

Close up image Butternut squash pasta (rigatoni) with bacon and chili

Cooking & Ingredient Tips…

My choice of pasta for this recipe is rigatoni but it would work just as well with something like penne pasta too.

The sauce for this recipe is quite thin and not clingy so long thin pasta like Tagliatelle, Fettuccine or Spaghetti is out.

A good left-field option would be to use pasta shells, Conchiglie.

In fact, this butternut squash mix would make a great base for the stuffing in this stuffed pasta shell recipe.

As a word of caution, this recipe requires quite a lot more salt than you may think.

My initial thoughts were that with all of the bacon and parmesan cheese that this dish would need no more salt than the water that the pasta cooks in.

I was wrong, quite spectacularly wrong!

A taste of the sauce that the butternut squash is cooking in should steer you in the right direction.

2 Servings

Chilli and Bacon Butternut Squash Pasta

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

My version of butternut squash pasta rejects a blended sauce in favour of beautiful chunks of squash cooked in wine with rosemary, bacon and chili.

Ingredients

200 g Rigatoni Pasta
300 g Butternut Squash
100 g Shallot
1 Red Chilli
100 g Streaky Bacon
20 g Parmesan Cheese
200 ml White wine
1 Tsp Dried Rosemary
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt

Instructions

Peel and cut your butternut squash into 1cm cubes.
Finely dice your chilli and shallot.
Slice your bacon into 5mm strips.
Heat a heavy based pan over a high heat and when hot add the oil.
Add the bacon and cook for 5 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium and throw in the shallots and chili and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the squash and the dried rosemary and season with salt, then cook for 5 minutes.
Now pour in the wine and reduce the heat to a simmer and cook on for 30 minutes, this should mean that your squash is now tender and cooked.
20 minutes into the cooking time add the pasta to some rapidly boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes less than the packet says.
Add a lid to the squash for the final 10 minutes of cooking.
Drain your pasta reserving a little of the cooking water.
Add to the squash and stir and cook for 60-90 seconds, adding a little cooking liquid if required.
Finally, stir in the parmesan cheese and serve.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1054Total Fat: 46gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 25gCholesterol: 109mgSodium: 2319mgCarbohydrates: 94gFiber: 11gSugar: 11gProtein: 50g

Calorific details are provided by a third-party application and are to be used as indicative figures only.

Brian Jones

Wednesday 20th of March 2019

Thank you Angelinia

Julie @ Running in a Skirt

Tuesday 12th of February 2019

What a yummy way to use butternut squash! This looks like the perfect easy dinner idea.

Wednesday 13th of February 2019

It is certainly very simple!

Beth Neels

Oh, Brian, this sounds so delicious! The bacon added with the butternut is a stroke of pure genius! Can't wait to make it!

Cheers Beth... Enjoy!

Patty

Oh my word Brian, this is really a restaurant style pasta, cooked to perfection and even al dente pasta just the way I like it! I happen to have all the ingredients, going to make your recipe for our lunch, I'm so hungry already!

Thanks Patty, you are far too kind!