Roasted Delicata Squash Pasta (30-Minutes)
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This easy pasta feels like pure autumn comfort, with sweet roasted delicata squash and jammy onions folded into a silky Parmesan sauce with tender greens. You can have this on the table in about half an hour.
Every season I look forward to roasting delicata squash until it turns sweet and golden. Turning that into a pasta dinner felt like the natural next step — I added caramelized onions, a chili-infused Parmesan cream sauce, wilted greens, and chunky rigatoni to catch all the saucy bits. It might just be my favorite fall pasta in the rotation.
If you’re in the mood for more winter squash pastas, this is in the same league as my creamy butternut squash pasta — every bit as simple and satisfying, just a different kind of silky, golden sauce.
Key ingredient notes
- Delicata squash: Delicatas are less stringy than other kinds of hard-skinned squash. The flesh roasts up tender and tastes nutty and lightly sweet, a little less so than your average yam or sweet potato. It’s most available in the fall and early winter. One delicata squash weighs around a pound, more or less. If you’re scaling up the recipe to serve 6-8 people, use two delicata squash.
- Pasta: I love to use short, chunky pasta shapes such as rigatoni or shells in this recipe — they’re pleasingly bite-size, and capture the sauce perfectly!
- Heavy cream: You just need a small amount of cream to “marry” the sauce. Substitute 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water if you want to skip the dairy.
My prep steps for delicata squash pasta
Another good thing about tender-skinned delicata squash is that you don’t have to wrestle with a giant cleaver in order to cut it into pieces.
1. The striated green and sunset-yellow skin is tender when cooked and totally edible. There’s no need to peel it. If you like, you can just scrape the skin randomly with a vegetable peeler to remove any blemished spots. Slice the squash in half lengthwise. 
2. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon (Tip: This sturdy spork is perfect for the job!)
3. Slice each half in half again, then into 1/2-inch chunks (rigatoni-size!) 4. Put the squash in a bowl with onion, garlic, olive oil, salt and chili.
5. Combine to coat (skip the bowl for easier clean-up and mix this right in your pan). 6. Arrange the squash in a large ovenproof pan or small sheet pan, in one layer and roast about 20 minutes.
7. Drain the pasta over the greens to quickly wilt them. 
8. Combine pasta with the squash mixture, cream, and cheese.
Roasted Delicata Squash Pasta
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 (450 g) delicata squash, about 16 ounces
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup sliced shallot or red onion
- 1 grated or finely chopped garlic clove
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1-2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, to taste
- 8 ounces (225 g) dried rigatoni or mezze rigatoni
- 2 big handfuls washed baby greens, such as spinach, kale or arugula
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) heavy cream
- ¼ cup (25 g) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 (220 C) degrees.
- Trim the stem and root end off 1 delicata squash and slice it in half lengthwise. Scrape a spoon along down the length of the pieces to remove the seeds and strings. Slice each half in half again, then cut into ½-inch wide chunks.
- Put the squash in a large mixing bowl with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, ½ cup sliced shallot or red onion, 1 grated or finely chopped garlic clove, ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Toss to coat, then transfer to a half-size (13"x15") rimmed baking sheet. You can also mix the veggies and seasonings directly on the baking sheet to save on clean up.
- Bake 20-25 minutes, stirring everything around halfway through, until the squash is tender and nicely brown. Drizzle the balsamic over the squash as soon as it comes out of the oven and stir gently with a spatula.
- While the squash is roasting, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook 8 ounces dried rigatoni or mezze rigatoni until al dente. Before draining the pasta, add 2 big handfuls washed baby greens to the colander. The brief contact with the boiling pasta water will wilt the greens. If you're using a tender green like arugula, just toss it in after draining the pasta.
- Transfer the pasta and greens back to the pasta cooking pot and stir in ⅓ cup heavy cream and ¼ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese.
- Add the squash to the pasta and toss together. Serve hot with additional cheese and chili to your taste.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- Substitute an equal amount (1/4 cup) of pasta cooking water for the cream if you want to skip the dairy.
- Add crumbled cook bacon or crisp prosciutto to the pasta when serving for a hit of protein.
- The prepared pasta keeps refrigerated for 3-4 days. The pasta will absorb the sauce as it sits, so add a few more drops of cream and/or broth to the pasta when reheating.
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.
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Oh my goodness. This was delicious!! Ordinarily it drives me crazy when people comment on a recipe but have altered or added to it. That said, fter reading the comments I opted to add pan-fried marinated artichoke hearts and diced pancetta, plus lemon juice in place of the balsamic vinegar. I didn’t have cream on hand, so I added pasta water to some cottage cheese and immersion blendered it as a substitution. Y’all… this was amazing. Thank you for the solid base for the recipe! It lends itself well to adding the bits and pieces your family prefers. Can’t wait to make it again for friends!!
This was really great, though we made a few tweaks to better suit our flavor pallate:
– Squeeze of Lemon juice on top of the roasted squash instead of balsamic
– Topped the finished pasta with Crispy Proscuitto and pan-fried marinated artichokes
– Triple/quadrupled/eyeballed the black pepper and red pepper flakes
– Added oregano and thyme
– Garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (my girlfriend is allergic)
– Made the sauce in the pan to allow it to reduce and thicken prior to adding back drained pasta
– Added fresh kale to sauce instead of pouring hot water over it
– Used creste di gallo pasta (more fun shape)
– Added vegetarian garlic & fennel chicken sausage (cooked then crumbled into sauce)
Overall, a delicious recipe!
:))
We will be making it again <3
Wow, Matt you made this into a 5-star plate! Thanks for sharing your creativity.
I found this by searching for recipes containing ingredients that were already in my kitchen. I liked it a whole lot more than I thought I would and it will probably go into the meatless monday file. The chicken that I grilled to go with it was unnecessary and didn’t work at all. I had my doubts about wilting the spinach by pouring the pasta over it, but it worked great.
I see where the vinegar comes in!
Please disregard my previous comment.
Love this! Just wondering, where does the vinegar (from the ingredient list) come into the cooking?
This was great! Added some Italian chicken sausage as well, yum!