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Vegan pesto pasta made with 5 easy ingredients, filled with delicious warming flavours and golden pieces of roasted butternut squash. The perfect comfort food meal!
Did anyone else grow up thinking they didn’t like pesto, only to realize its actually one of the best things ever?!
I can’t believe I wasted so much of my life missing out on the goodness that is pesto. Fortunately, I have come to my senses. Now a simple bowl of pesto pasta is one of my fav staple easy meals.
I first served this pesto pasta to my (non-vegan) family some years ago, and was excited by the positive reception! At the time I wanted to put my own spin on the classic dish of pesto pasta. Roasting butternut squash and adding it to the pasta dish sounded like just the extra boost needed to bring this meal to the next level. Now that I’m back living at home, this meal is always a fun one to add into the cooking rotation, especially when the weather starts to turn and we enter comfort food season.
The idea for this meal came from the need to use up some random odds and ends we had in the house. Don’t you just love it when that happens? I picked up this Vegan Kale, Cashew & Basil Pesto from Trader Joe’s with the intention to use it for our Christmas dinner. But I ended up adjusting the Christmas menu, and the pesto was just living in the fridge.
I had also picked up a butternut squash, but didn’t know what to do with it. With those two ingredients, plus dry pasta and chickpeas stocked in the cupboard, I knew I could create something pretty tasty. Only needing 5 simple ingredients was an added bonus.
And it all came together so well! Though it involves a few different steps, it’s really pretty minimal effort. Well, except for chopping the butternut squash, that’s definitely the hardest part. My family declared the final product delicious, and the leftovers tasted just as good (if not even better!) the next day.
So if you’re looking for an easy meal to serve to family or friends that’s a little bit fancied-up, you can’t go wrong with this recipe! I hope you try it out. If you do, let me know. Take a photo and tag me on Instagram @bitesbybekah. I’d love to connect with you and it always makes me so happy to see your creations!
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Chop the butternut squash into small bite-sized pieces. To make it much easier, I stick the squash in the microwave for ~5 minutes (to soften), and then peel and chop it.
In a roasting pan, add the chopped squash, and drizzle on 1 tbsp olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt. Use your hands to mix the oil and salt until it coats all the squash pieces.
Let the squash roast in the oven for about 40mins, until it turns golden and starts to brown on top.
About 15 minutes before the squash is done cooking, put the pasta on to boil and cook according to its instructions. When cooked to desired consistency, drain the pasta.
Rinse and drain the chickpeas. Add the chickpeas to the pot with the pasta, and mix in the pesto, cooking on a low heat. If desired, you can add spinach or kale for extra greens.
Add the roasted butternut squash pieces, then serve up and enjoy! Top with nutritional yeast, or (vegan) parmesan, if desired.
*Post originally published on January 20, 2019, and updated on Oct 17, 2022