"This butternut squash “cheese” stuffed shells recipe is the perfect alternative to a cheesy mac’ n cheese or stuffed pasta shells sauce + it’s SO easy! The stuffed shells are filled with roasted butternut squash, sautéed spinach, sage & mixed with unsweetened almond milk and nutritional yeast. This is going to be on repeat!"
"Cheesy" Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells
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Prep time 35mins
Cook time 40mins
Serves or Makes: 4
Recipe Card
ingredients
- 1 box large pasta shells
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 4 cups cubed butternut squash
- 1 cup cashews (soaked in water overnight)
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon cayenne powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 1 cup sautéed spinach (optional)
- pine nuts, as garnish
Method
Step 1
Cook pasta shells according to package directions. Rinse, cool and set aside.
Step 2
Roast cubed butternut squash in a 400℉ oven with salt and pepper until fork tender.
Step 3
Place the roasted squash cubes in a blender with 1/2 cup soaked cashews, salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, chili flakes, nutritional yeast, cayenne and olive oil. Blend until a thick paste/sauce forms.
Step 4
To Make the sauce, mix half of the blended squash mixture with the tomato sauce.
Step 5
To make the Mac n Cheese filling, blend the other half of the blended squash mixture with 1/2 cup soaked cashews and 1/4 cup almond milk, until a sauce forms.
Step 6
Preheat the oven to 350℉ and prepare a 9" x 13" dish.
Step 7
Add 2 tablespoons of the sauce and 2-3 tablespoons of the Mac n Cheese filling mixture into each cooked pasta shell. Arrange all the filled pasta shells in the prepared dish. Top the pasta shells with optional sauteed spinach.
Step 8
Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan and bake for an additional ten minutes. Cool for 8-10 minutes before serving.