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Wednesday just got a lot more exciting, and it’s all thanks to this Butternut Squash and Sun-Dried Tomato White Lasagna.
It’s about that time of year when lasagna becomes a staple dinner around here. Every November (and December too) it seems I make a lasagna practically every week, or at least every other week. I have two that are in my rotation, and I know each recipe by heart, this classic lasagna (old recipe, but one I love so much) and this crispy prosciutto white lasagna.
The first is an extra meaty and very classic Italian style lasagna. It’s hands down my brother’s favorite, but they love anything extra meaty (typical). I make this classic style lasagna whenever the boys are in town and their friends are over, or for one of the nights when everyone is home for Christmas. It’s always a hit.
The second recipe is a white lasagna that’s a knock off of my Aunt Katie’s recipe she used to make for family parties. I swapped out the chicken and added prosciutto for a salty factor and it is delicious. Depending on how many I need to serve, I often make this in addition to the classic lasagna…for those that maybe don’t love meat quite as much as the boys.
Here’s the thing, I realized when I was planning out this year’s Thanksgiving menu that I really needed a good vegetarian option on the table too. I know turkey is supposed to be the star, but these days there are so many people who appreciate a good veggie friendly recipe.
Enter in this butternut squash lasagna.
It’s no secret that I love butternut squash. I’ve shared a handful of new recipes this season alone, but I think this lasagna is probably my favorite.
There are layers and layers of cheesy, butternut squash goodness, and I’m not sure it gets better when it comes to a white lasagna. Trust me, if you have some vegetarians at this year’s Thanksgiving (or any other party), make this lasagna. It’s sure to win over just about everyone.
The base of the lasagna is made of up of roasted butternut squash and ricotta cheese. I added in sun-dried tomatoes, one, because I love them, and two, because I think they add such a delicious sweet flavor, plus a nice pop of pretty red color too.
What’s great about this recipe is that it’s a dish that can be assembled completely in advance and then baked just before serving. I love making this the day before, keeping it in the fridge, and then just throwing it in the oven before dinner. It makes for easy, stress free entertaining.
Plus, it’s just so good. I mean, when you have four cheeses, roasted squash, sun-dried, tomatoes, and pasta involved…of course it’s going to be good! And even if you don’t need a vegetarian recipe on your Thanksgiving table this year, this dish works equally well dressed up as a fun dinner party main course, or served casually at the family dinner table.
 
I’m sure I will be making this recipe many times over the next couple months. Some of my brothers will be arriving in a week or so (Red and Kai are currently in Italy for some snowboarding, filming, and a Big Air contest in Milan) and with them comes all the friends…meaning big eaters. Now, if only we’d get the snow all those snowboarders need. I’m pretty sure it’s coming though.
Also, this would of course make for a pretty cozy Wednesday night dinner too.
I know it’s a bit more work for your typical weeknight dinner recipe, but some weeks just call for an extra cozy dinner mid-week.
Butternut Squash and Sun-Dried Tomato White Lasagna
Servings: 8 servings
Calories Per Serving: 611 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 4 cups butternut squash, cubed (about 1 medium squash)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- kosher salt and pepper
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
- 1 cup shredded fontina cheese
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 cups whole milk ricotta
- 2 cups shredded provolone
- 1 jar (8 ounce) oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, oil drained and chopped
- 1 box no-boil lasagna noodles
- 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. 2. On a baking sheet, toss together the butternut squash, olive oil, honey, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Transfer to the oven and roast for 25-30 minutes or until the squash is tender. 3. Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan. Add the garlic, sage, and basil and cook 30 seconds or until fragrant. Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute. Slowly add the milk. Stir in the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the fontina cheese and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is fully melted and the sauce is smooth. Set the cheese sauce aside.4. In a medium bowl, mash the roasted butternut squash until mostly smooth. Stir in the ricotta, provolone, and sun-dried tomatoes.5. Spread 1/4 of the cheese sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with 3-4 lasagna sheets. Spread with 1/2 the butternut squash mixture and then another 1/4 of the cheese sauce. Place another 3-4 lasagna noodles on top, and then top with the remaining butternut squash mixture and another 1/4 of the cheese sauce. Add the remaining lasagna noodles and pour the remaining 1/4 of the cheese sauce over top. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until the top has bubbled up and browned a bit. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Top with pine nuts and fried sage.
Plus, lasagna is always a good idea…always.
Made this for a holiday party and it was beautiful AND delish!! Had a request from my mom to bring it to Christmas dinner 🙂 so I’m back on here to make it again… selfishly… I’m just excited I get to eat it again. Thank you!!! Love all your recipes and I bought your book for a family member bc… you’re awesome ?
That is so awesome! I am so glad you and your family liked this dish and I hope it turns out great for you on Christmas! Thank you Ashley!
I’m newly addicted to your blog after receiving your recipe for roasted sweet potatoes in my fall delivery from Domaine Chandon. I have already made the buffalo chicken corn chowder, the previously mentioned sweet potatoes, roasted greek chicken, and the crispy proscuitto lasagna – i mean everything is unbelievable. You are now my go to source when I have to cook anything! Everything has been so flavorful and delicious. I’m thinking of giving this recipe a try..but it’s hard to give up those crispy bits of proscuitto from the other recipe – do you think I could add that on to this recipe? Would the flavors go well together? You have really make cooking enjoyable again and its nice to see recipes with just good food – not pushing trends or same stale recipes.
Wow! Thank you so much! I am thrilled you are enjoying my recipes so much. Makes my day!!
I think prosciutto on top of this lasagna would be amazing. love the idea!! Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Happy Holiday’s ? ?
I don’t love squash…can I substitute sweet potatoes? Thx!
Sweet potatoes will be great! Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Happy Holiday’s ? 🙂
OMG, this lasagna is so delicious!! We are a meat-eating family but we had some vegetarian friends over for dinner so I made this lasagna. It was so wonderful, so amazing, so yummy. Everyone just ate it up! The sun-dried tomato compliments the butternut squash so well. The fried basil, the roasted pine nuts. This recipe is a winner, and we’ll definitely be bringing it back.
That is so great! I am really glad you and your friends loved this dish! Thank you!
I made this Wednesday.
I’m not a novice cook and I also end up making a lot of things by looking at what I have or what is in the farmer’s market and think, “Okay, what can I throw together with this?” My husband will eat anything I make. My teenage son will eat about 90 percent of what I make – my rule is “you can’t tell me you don’t like it until you try it.” He was not a fan of this at all, but he was hungry, so he ate enough to not be hungry, but he didn’t eat a normal serving size for a 13 y/o boy. I was not a big fan of this, either, and I still have half a lasagna sitting in my fridge.
My son loved the butternut squash recipe that Tieghan presented as a rigatoni pie with gorgonzola. That was his introduction to butternut squash. . .something he swore up and down that he hated. He loved that a few years ago, so I am always looking for new and fantastic ways to use butternut squash (other than the typical ravioli I make). I loved that butternut squash rigatoni pie and so did my husband, so when I’m feeling ambitious re: having to shove the rigatoni in the springform pan, I’ll make it. THAT is a fantastic butternut squash recipe.
I will tell you that after I made the roux, I added the milk. We use almond milk so if anyone else does not use cow’s milk, almond milk does work as a good substitute. My issue was the fact that it makes SO MUCH cheese sauce. As an Italian-American, do I have a problem with cheese? No. No, I do not. I love cheesy goodness. But you could still make this recipe without making this much sauce. This was my first time using no-boil lasagna noodles. I know the concept is that the sauce cooks the noodles; however, for this recipe, there is just so much sauce that the noodles are certain to cook. I just don’t think you need that much because the recipe ends up drowning in the sauce. I kept adding sauce and then when I was ready to layer the last of the sauce on, I didn’t use all of it because it was just too much. It was just like, “holy heart attack” and that was without using the whole milk.
I did add more garlic, some red onion, and a little more than a pinch of various spices to this. If you don’t, the cheese sauce will pretty much absorb the flavors you add and it will be kind of bland. I don’t think the blandness has anything to do with almond milk, because I have used it successfully in other recipes that require milk.
I used the Italian herb style sundried tomatoes. They have a lot of flavor, so if you hit a patch of the tomatoes, it’ll give this some serious zing.
Honestly, if I were to make this again, I would not make it as a lasagna. I would boil some manicotti or jumbo shells and stuff them with this filling, and then maybe cut the sauce down by about half. It already has a lot of ricotta and provolone in the butternut squash mixture, so if you wanted to cut down on some of the cheese, that would be a way to do it.
Having put this together, I can say that it will hold up to adding other vegetables that complement butternut squash in that part of the mixture. It’s a good base recipe for the filling to play with. I can see putting the filling in raviolik too, instead of just the puree butternut squash mixture I end up making.
Hi Dani! I am sorry you did not enjoy this recipe. Thank you for letting me know, I hope you enjoy some other recipes on my blog!
Do you think one could make this a day or two ahead and then bake it later?
Yes! I do this all the time. Just cover with plastic wrap, place in the fridge, then bake as directed when ready. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
Can this be made and frozen in prep for Christmas?
Yes! I like to assemble, then wrap well in plastic wrap, freeze, then thaw overnight in the fridge and bake as directed. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂
Can this be made in a crockpot? I’ve seen a few crockpot lasagna recipes recently but not sure if I’d have to roast the squash first. Thanks!!
I am sure it could but I have not tested the recipe this way so it is hard to say the cooking times. Make 4-6 hours on low. Just layer everything and then cook. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
This may be a silly question, but wondering if it would be okay to make the day ahead? I’ve never used no boil noodles and just want to make sure they wouldn’t get soggy! Thanks! Looks amaaaaazing!!! 🙂
Yes! You can totally make this a day ahead. The noodles will be just fine. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! ?
What about makinig this ahead? Would this work? And if so, Bake and preheat, or assemble and bake later? Thanks – looks fabulous!
Yes! You can make in advance and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. Remove from the fridge while the oven preheats and bake as directed. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! ?
Hi Tieghan, I love your blog which I happily stumbled upon today! I wanted to draw your attention to your picture of the pan of roasted butternut squash… there is an unwanted guest laying across the left and top.
you may want to reshoot or replace this pic:)
Hi Sandy! So glad you found my blog. Thank you so much for catching that and letting me know!
I wonder if I could use a different pasta shape, cooked on the firmer side of al dente, and bake as a casserole?
Yes! Any pasta shape will work great. Just be sure to under cook the pasta to allow for it to bake more in the oven. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! ?
Oh my goodness! Made this last night exactly as stated. Wasn’t sure about the butternut squash/sun dried tomato combination, but it was amazing! Making this again for thanksgiving for the vegetarians! Thank you!
That is so great! I am really glad you liked this and I hope it goes great at your Thanksgiving!
Made this for Friendsgiving on Saturday! It was delicious!!
That is so great! I hope your friendsgiving was amazing Lindsay! Thank you!
Could I make this in the morning and then wait to bake later that evening?
Yes, that works great. Just keep it in the fridge. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Thanks! 🙂