If you are looking for a meat-less dinner idea, you must give this one a whirl. Butternut squash in a lasagna? Yes. And it works magically. Well, to be fair, I love butternut squash in pretty much anything because it’s so dang delicious.
But this recipe hits the nail on the head with the lasagna/butternut pairing. It’s so savory and filling. I think it’s the perfect fall dinner idea!
Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna
Ingredients
3 pounds {9 cups} butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and chopped into 2″ pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups milk
2 tablespoons dried rosemary,
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 tablespoons flour
9 dry no-boil lasagna pasta sheets
1 1/3 cups {5 oz} Parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus extra for seasoning
ground pepper for extra seasoning
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450F and grease 2 large cookie sheets or use a baking mat.
In a large mixing bowl, toss squash with olive oil until well coated and spread in single layer onto pans. Season with salt and pepper and then roast for 10 minutes, stir and roast an additional 10-15 minutes, or until tender.
Meanwhile, bring milk to a simmer with rosemary in a small saucepan. Cook over low for 10 minutes and pour through a sieve into a large measuring cup.
In a separate large saucepan, cook garlic in butter on medium-low heat, stirring constantly until golden and fragrant. Stir in flour and cook for 3 minutes, again stirring constantly.
Remove pan from heat and whisk in milk mixture until smooth. Return to heat and simmer about 10 minutes or until thick, whisking occasionally. Stir in squash and salt and pepper to taste.
Reduce oven temp to 375F and grease a 9×13 baking dish. Pour 1 cup sauce into baking dish and spread over bottom {it won’t cover bottom completely}.
Lay down 3 lasagna sheets, making sure they do not touch each other. Spread half of remaining sauce over the pasta and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cheese. Repeat, beginning and ending with pasta.
Beat cream and salt with an electric mixture until soft peaks form and spread evenly over top pasta layer, making sure pasta is completely covered.
Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup cheese over cream. Cover with foil, tenting slightly to prevent foil from touching top layer, and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until top is golden. Enjoy!
~Mavis
vanessa says
Is heavy cream the same as whipping cream?
Mavis Butterfield says
Basically yes, although heavy cream has a little more fat than whipping cream. And fat is a good thing when it comes to lasagna. 🙂
Anita Morton says
Hi Mavis,
Do you think this recipe can be frozen at some point (either cooked or not cooked)? It looks really good and I plan on trying it! I was hoping I could make two at once – eat one and freeze the other. What do you think?
Thanks! Anita
Mavis says
I’ve never frozen it, but normally lasagna freezes really well, so I would totally try it!
JoAnn C says
Mavis,
This recipe is very similar to one I make. I add either thawed frozen chopped spinach or sauteed baby spinach to the recipe. Delish!
Mavis says
Oooh. That sounds like a delicious addition. I might have to try that next time. Thanks for the tip!
Cristina S says
Mavis, I just wade this for dinner tonight…OH-MY-WORD! This was fabulous! I added fresh chopped spinach like JoAnn C suggested and it was so good! My family loved it and I will definitely be mailing this again! Such a great fall dish!
Mel says
This was PHENOMENAL! I sauteed frozen spinach, onion, and more garlic for the middle layer, and I used a mix of fresh sage, thyme, and rosemary instead of the dried rosemary. It’s absolutely delicious!
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m glad you enjoyed it Mel!! 🙂
Amy Schmelzer says
I roasted, pureed, and froze all of my squash in one “can” increments. Do you think I could substitute that for the butternut squash in this recipe? If so, how much puree?
Mavis Butterfield says
I didn’t use puree so I’m not sure how it would turn out.
Julie says
Despite being concerned about the amount of liquid and the lack of seasoning, I made this the other night (I’m a sucker for butternut squash!) and it was YUM!! I cut the squash into 3/4” squares and next time I might go smaller so my layers don’t stack so high. I used mozzarella instead of parmesan because that’s what I had on hand, and I probably used a lot more than I was supposed to 🙂 I used more noodles to stack around the sides so that each bite would have noodle in it (my noodles weren’t nice and long like Mavis’). My sauce didn’t ever thicken (oops) but I pressed on and it didn’t seem to matter. And I was nervous about getting soft peaks from the heavy cream so I went ahead and froze the bowl ahead of time because that’s what I know to do when making whipped cream! It took a bit of time to put together but I’m so glad I did! YUM!!! Thanks, Mavis!
Amy Schmelzer says
I finally got around to making this after a year. I really enjoyed it. I used a 2.5# butternut and diced it into small cubes about 1/2”. To answer my old question, I think the puree would be weird because I liked how the white sauce was separate from the squash even if the squash was mushy. I used the regular Barilla noodles (not the no boil) and gambled by not precooking them or adjusting the liquid. They cooked up fine but on the al dente side. I added a few dashes of freshly grated nutmeg because nutmeg goes well with both butternut squash and white sauce. I used less than 5 oz of parmesan because the pile of freshly grated cheese looked like a mountain. The amount I used was yummy so the full amount probably would have been okay too. My husband and daughter said it would probably be even better with some bacon mixed in but they’re used to another butternut squash pasta sauce I make that calls for bacon. My son wasn’t impressed by the squash. He said he liked the lasagna except for the cubes of squash.