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Enjoy a quick and savory vegetarian pasta dish in about half an hour! This fantastic pasta combines roasted delicata squash, caramelized onion and chili in a creamy Parmesan sauce with wilted greens.

Rigatoni pasta in a serving pan with delicata squash sauce, kale and cheese.

This recipe features delicata squash, which is roasted until sweet and caramelized, combined with a chili-infused Parmesan cream sauce, wilted greens and chunky rigatoni pasta to catch all the saucy bits. It’s a delicious, healthy pasta recipe to add to your cooking rotation.

If you’re ready to take your everyday pasta up a notch, this is a quick vegetarian recipe to help switch up the usual pasta night.

About delicata squash

Delicata squash— pronounced DELI-KAH-TA — is a type of winter squash. It’s an elongated shape with beautiful green-striped orange skin. The flavor is mild, sweet, and the texture is pleasant dense (not watery, like some winter squash).

Delicatas are less stringy than other kinds of hard-skinned squash, and they’re perfect to mix into roasted vegetable salads and pasta dishes, You can find delicata squash during the months of the fall and early winter. Scoop them up when you see them!

Ingredients laid out on a surface, with a delicata squash, bowl of kale leaves, sliced red onion, rigatoni pasta and dishes of grated cheese and crushed red pepper.

About the ingredients

Delicata squash: 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: Short, chunky pasta shapes such as rigatoni, shells or pipe rigate are the best types to use in this recipe — they’re bite-size, and capture the sauce perfectly.
Red onion: You’ll need 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion or shallots.
Kale: I love to make this dish with sturdy Tuscan (lacinato) kale or curly kale. Spinach, Swiss chard leaves or any sturdy, leafy green will work in this recipe.
Garlic: Use fresh garlic cloves, grated on a rasp grater or chopped fine.
Crushed red chili: The heat level in the dish is low-medium with a large pinch (1/2 teaspoon) of chili. Add more or less to taste.
Extra virgin olive oil: Use your best everyday olive oil.
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.
Parmesan cheese: Freshly grated is best!

Delicata squash has an edible skin

Of all the winter squash, these pretty striped squashes seem to have the most delicate skin. The good news is that delicata squash doesn’t have to be peeled.

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.

The delicata’s flesh roasts up tender and tastes nutty and lightly sweet, a little less so than your average yam or sweet potato.

How to prepare delicata squash for cooking and roasting

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, like some of my other favorite hard winter squashes I sometimes use to make creamy pumpkin pasta.

Slice the squash in half lengthwise.
Scoop out the seeds with a spoon (Hint: A sturdy spork is the best tool for this!)

After slicing the squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds with a spoon then slice the squash into chunky pieces.

Slice each half in half again, then into 1/2-inch chunks (rigatoni-size!)
Put the squash in a bowl with onion, garlic, olive oil, salt and chili.

Combine to coat (skip the bowl for easier clean-up and mix this right in your pan).
Arrange the squash in a large ovenproof pan or small sheet pan, in one layer.

Drain the pasta over the greens to quickly wilt them.
Combine pasta with the squash mixture, cream, and cheese.

You’ll love that this pasta is a wholesome, one-dish dinner, especially if you’re vegetarian or craving a meatless meal. Satisfy your pasta craving (a daily one for me), along with a healthy serving of vegetables.

That said, you can add crumbled cook bacon or crisp prosciutto to the pasta when serving for a hit of protein.

Rigatoni pasta with roasted squash, kale and parmesan cheese in a gray serving bowl.

Types of short pasta

Rigatoni pasta has a nice rugged, blocky shape, which blends perfectly with the pieces of roasted chunky squash and catches the bits of creamy sauce, wilted greens and caramelized onion.
You could use cute mezze rigatoni pasta in this recipe if you happen to see them in your grocery store (they’re literally regular rigatoni cut in half), as well as penne or shells.

More winter squash recipes:

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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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