Vegan Butternut Squash Casserole

Vegan Butternut Squash Casserole is comfort food at it's finest! Made with pasta, winter squash, kale, white beans, and a creamy sauce, it's the perfect cold weather dinner. It's guaranteed to keep you warm and cozy on chilly evenings. This easy recipe is vegan with a gluten free option.

Vegan Butternut Squash Casserole

With fall comes squash! I love squash of all kinds - butternut, acorn, spaghetti, delicata, kabocha, and of course, pumpkin, Squash is full of all sorts of good things, like Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium and folate. It's also loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, which means it's know to prevent cancer and heart disease. So eat up!

This Vegan Butternut Squash Casserole one of my favorite ways to enjoy squash, and it's a perfect dinner dish for fall. It comes together really quickly, so it's a great option for busy weeknights. It can be made ahead and put in the fridge until you're ready to eat.

How to Cut Butternut Squash

At first glance, you might think a butternut squash is difficult to cut. It's pretty easy though.

• First, you use a vegetable peeler to remove the peel.
• Then, you cut the neck of the squash just above the bulb and slice the neck in the half.
• Next, you cut each piece into strips, about 1½-inches and then cut each of those strips into cubes. Use a spoon to dig out the seeds and stringy bits from the bulb, and then cut the bulb into dice, about 1½-inches.

If you can't be bothered to cut your squash yourself, most grocery stores carry pre-chopped squash. Some even have bags of cubed squash in the frozen section. You'll need about 4 or 5 cups of squash. If you're a little short or a little over, there's no need to worry—it won't affect the recipe.

How to Make Vegan Butternut Squash Casserole

This dish is super easy to make! The squash and pasta need about the same amount of time to cook, so they can be boiled together in the pot. It's okay if the squash is a little firm, because it will finish cooking in the oven. Add the kale to the pasta water right before the pasta is done.

• First, you cook the pasta and squash in a large pot of boiling water.
• Right before the pasta is done, you add the kale to water.
• While the pasta is cooking, you blend the sauce ingredients in a blender. It whips up in seconds in my Blendtec.
• Then you drain the pasta and vegetables and place them in a casserole dish. Add the beans and stir.
• You pour the sauce into the dish and stir to coat everything well.
• Next you mix the topping ingredients together and sprinkle them over the top of the pasta.
• Cover the casserole with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake your casserole for another 5 to 10 minutes. It's done when the topping is golden brown and crisp.

How to Customize your Casserole

This recipe is flexible!

• If you prefer acorn to butternut squash, it's an easy swap.
• Any bite-sized pasta will do in this dish. In the past I've always used fusilli, but here I've used macaroni. Penne and shells work well, too.
• You can use any hearty leafy green veggie in the place of kale. Try Swiss chard to collards.
• If you like your casseroles saucy, you can double the amount of sauce you use.

If you follow a gluten-free diet, make sure your pasta and panko are gluten-free.

More Butternut Squash Recipes You Might Enjoy Include:

• Butternut Squash Steaks
• Mac and Peas with Creamy Butternut Squash Sauce from Laura Theodore’s Vegan-Ease.
• Garlicky Mashed Butternut Squash
• Butternut Squash Lasagna 
• Coconut Curry Noodles with Butternut Squash from One-Dish Vegan by Robin Robertson

More Squash Recipes You Might Like Include:

• Pumpkin Pasta Carbonara
• Spaghetti Squash in Lemon Caper Sauce
• Maple Miso Glazed Squash
• Quinoa Stuffed Squash