Active Time
1 hours
Total Time
1 hours
Kabocha squash is made for purées.
Ingredients
4 Servings
2
4
1
1
1
2
2
12
¼
Preparation
Step 1
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pancetta, reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 8–10 minutes. Add sage and toss to coat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer pancetta and sage to a small bowl; set aside.
Step 2
Add squash, onion, and garlic to skillet; season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, 8–10 minutes. Add broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until squash is soft and liquid is reduced by half, 15–20 minutes. Let cool slightly, then purée in a blender until smooth; season with salt and pepper. Reserve skillet.
Step 3
Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.
Step 4
Combine pasta, squash purée, and ¼ cup pasta cooking liquid in reserved skillet and cook over medium heat, tossing and adding more pasta cooking liquid as needed, until sauce coats pasta, about 2 minutes. Mix in ¼ cup Pecorino; season with salt and pepper.
Step 5
Serve pasta topped with reserved pancetta and sage, shaved Pecorino, and more pepper.
Step 6
DO AHEAD: Squash purée can be made 3 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.
Nutrition Per Serving
How would you rate Winter Squash Carbonara with Pancetta and Sage?
Leave a Review
Reviews (673)
Back to TopI don't use sage as that's one herb I really do not like. But I've been making this pasta for years and it's delicious.
Irina
12/28/2021
Wow this tastes so good! After eating it I realized why it's called a carbonara. The squash replaces the eggs essentially. I read some of the other reviews and added the squash mixture slowly just so it coated the pasta. I ended up with about half of the pasta sauce left over but thats okay. Also I forgot to reserve the 1 cup of pasta water so I just used 1/4 of room temp water and that worked just as well. I also added 1/2 of red pepper flakes.
Gabby
Chicago
12/16/2021
All I have to say is wow. This was fun and so delicious to make.
Madi Brown
austin,tx
11/8/2021
We call it squashta in our house. There is no substitute for kabocha. This recipe is the best.
Ray
54481
11/1/2021
Excellent straight out of the book! 2nd time we used 6 oz pancetta, even better.
Bill
La Jolla CA
3/14/2021
this was indeed really tasty (of course after putting in five cloves of garlic and swapping the onion for four small shallots), but the amount of sauce was INSANE. It’s like I made a full portion of pumpkin soup and i even used 500g of ravioli as opposed to 350g of pasta as indicated here and there was just so much. I would use twice less the amount of pumpkin and everything else needed for the sauce and just go with that. Otherwise really yummy even without the pancetta
Anonymous
Netherlands
11/21/2020
Nice recipe. Added some dried chillies to pep up the flavour. One other thing: why is this described as Carbonara? Nothing remotely like carbonara.
Chris Hayes
London
11/21/2020
I didn't use sage because I didn't have any when I cooked this, I use beef bacon instead of pancetta, but it still taste nice :) basically, the idea of squash sauce is just flawless I think.
Cat's Buffet
Indonesia
4/14/2020
Hey, Anonymous from Maryland. You probably forgot the salt, this recipe. Double the amount of Sage is gross. And why make something you're not a fan of???? Ummmm. This recipe rocked! The family loved it. Also, if you didn't know. Recipes are a guide, you didn't know you can alternate? Also, you are supposed to taste as you cook, obviously, you did not.
Anonymous
Montclair, NJ
3/22/2020
Am a butternut squash fan... but this pasta sauce was really bland even though I double the amount of fresh sliced sage. Needs 2x or 3x more pancetta or bacon and more garlic maybe?
Anonymous
Maryland
3/1/2020
This is delicious, you really need the pancetta and sage for the texture (taste of course) This is a keeper. My husband is a celiac so I used gluten-free pasta and I actually liked it.
saluces
Kaunakakai, HI
1/27/2019
YESSS! I thought this would be a miss for my family but everyone enjoyed it. The squash really did make it creamy. Of course I didn't follow the recipe completely. I used dried sage, frozen butternut squash, and oh yeah, no pancetta. I sprinkled some bacon in my husband's dish but I enjoyed it meat free! Delish. A keeper for sure!
Anonymous
1/13/2019