Brown butter spaghetti served with baby kale and roasted butternut squash. It’s an easy pasta dish to make during busy weeknights!
I sure do share lot of pasta recipes.
What can I say? I love carbs, especially in the form of noodles.
This spaghetti is special because it uses brown butter.
Brown butter is my secret ingredient of choice.
Not only it is amazing in baked goods like chocolate chip cookies and brown butter peach scones, but the warm, nutty flavor of brown butter does wonders to savory foods.
Brown Butter Spaghetti
The nutty brown butter works well with the hearty butternut squash, the slight bitterness of the baby kale, and the sweetness from the caramelized onions.
Brown butter is created when the milk solids of butter is cooked until fragrant and golden brown.
Butter is made up of water, butterfat, and milk solids. As melted butter is headed, the water evaporates and the milk solids separate from the butterfat (thus creating clarified butter or ghee).
The milk solids brown in the fat. Those golden specks is what gives brown butter its iconic rich, nutty, warm flavor.
Use Fresh Garlic for Pasta
Fresh garlic tastes more vibrant and clean compared to jarred minced garlic.
Peeling and mincing fresh garlic is well worth the effort.
I have a mini mortar and pestle that I absolutely love.
For large amounts of garlic, I recommend using this garlic press.
Garlic fans will love this spicy garlic shrimp spaghetti or Filipino garlic fried rice.
Oven Roasted Butternut Squash
Cooking the butternut squash is the most time consuming part of this dish.
Cut and prep a whole butternut squash, or save time by purchasing already cut squash.
It’s best to roast butternut squash over high heat.
Spread the butternut squash chunks over baking sheet. Toss with oil and season well.
It will take about 30 minutes to cook. Heat until the squash is soft and can easily be pierced with fork tines.
Kale and Other Vegetable Options
I highly recommend using baby kale. Although, any variety of kale will work such as dinosaur kale (Tuscan kale) or curly kale.
Other great green options include: spinach, baby spinach, or collard greens.
If you don’t want leafy greens, you may also used sautéed zucchini, roasted mushrooms, asparagus, or eggplant.
Serving Suggestions
This brown butter spaghetti sets off an explosion of flavors and smells that causes my belly to do a little dance with every bite.
For an even heartier dish, serve this pasta with grilled protein of choice. It’s fantastic with chicken, steak, or shrimp.
Although the pasta dish should be served warm, it’s just as tasty at room temperature or chilled.
Brown Butter Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 6 oz spaghetti
- 2 cups butternut squash chunks
- 1 Tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 3 cloves fresh garlic, smashed or minced
- 2 small onions sliced, about 2 cups
- 4 cups baby kale, packed
- ¼ cup grated pecorino romano
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
- additional pecorino romano or parmesan, for serving
- finely sliced chives, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. On a parchment lined baking sheet, spread out butternut squash. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Bake for 30-40 minutes until squash is soft and can be easily pierced with a fork or knife. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti to al dente according to package details. When draining pasta, reserve a cup of pasta water.
- In a large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Once butter is melted, continue to cook over medium low heat until butter has browned and is fragrant (should smell nutty).
- Add minced garlic (I like to smash mine using a mortar and pestle) and sliced onions. Cook until onions are almost translucent. Add baby kale in two additions. Cook until kale begins to wilt. Remove from heat.
- Add pecorino romano, parmesan cheese, and roasted butternut squash. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked spaghetti and toss to coat pasta. Add 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water at a time until pasta is well coated with sauce. (I ended using 1/2 cup of pasta water).
- Serve immediately with sliced chives and/or more cheese, if desired.
Your pasta looks delicious! I’ve never tried brown butter in a savoury dish, I think I need to give it a go!
Brown butter is amazing in all applications! Give it a try!
This looks so good! And I was just going to make the same comment as the first commenter– I’ve never thought of using brown butter in savory contexts (other than with fish), but brown butter with pasta sounds like the happiest combination! I love baby kale, too… I would have used even more! :)
Thanks, Allison! I kept picking at the baby kale as it was cooking.
I made this tonight and it is absolutely delicious! Thanks!
You are welcome, Judy! I am glad you liked it!
I made this last night and it was delicious! I’m loving your blog, Maryanne!!
Thanks for checking out the blog, Danielle! I’m glad you enjoyed the spaghetti. Its one of my favorites!
I made this amazing dish last night for 20 plus people. THEY LOVED IT!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SHARING.
You are so welcome, Danita! I’m happy that your party enjoyed it!
Hi, looks delicious! I picked up a bunch of normal kale at the supermarket today (looks a lot frillier than the baby kale in your pic) – would it work in this recipe, or too bitter?
Hi Natalie, normal sized kale should work fine. For large leaves, it would be best to cut off the thick center stalk. Chop or tear large leaves into equal sizes so they cook evenly.
Holy cow, is this stuff good!
Where do you buy the baby kale? I only know the regular size kale…
Hi Julia, I bought my baby kale from Ralphs supermarket. I think the brand was Earthbound Farm Organic. Regular sized kale is totally fine for the recipe.
Thank you!! Kale and squash are a great match!
I made a salad with (raw) kale and oven roasted butternut squash with a orange/honey/ginger vinaigrette last night…
Yes they are! That sounds delicious…I want to try that dressing!
Heu Maryanne!
Here’s the vinaigrette recipe:
ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 orange
1/2″ knob of fresh ginger, peeled and
minced
pinch of salt
squeeze of honey
To make the dressing, combine the
olive oil, fresh ginger, orange juice,
salt and honey in a small bowl or
mason jar. Stir or shake until well
combined – then drizzle dressing over
any salad.
THANK YOU Julia! I’ll be making it this weekend!
Looks yummy and I’ve put it on my list of dishes to try. I was looking for other ways to eat butternut squash and this looks inspiring! :-)
That’s great to hear! Thank you,Sophia!
Made for my cooking club….was so tasty. I used spinach from my garden. :)
Awesome! I bet it taste great with spinach. Oh, how I wish I could grow vegetables :)
I used grown up kale, cut up into slices. Left the center stalk in tact and just cooked the Kale a little longer. Added juice from half a lemon. So good!
Kale with a sprinkle of lemon sounds delicious and fresh. Thanks for tip, Alexis!
I made this dish for dinner this evening after finding it on Pinterest. I reduced the amount of onions because I thought two cups was a bit much. Otherwise, it was good. I think next time I might add some pine nuts.
Thanks for trying it out! Pine nuts would be a great addition!
hi there! saw this on Foodie Crush. . omg, love this! going to try this recipe soon! Cheers to you!
Hi Alice! Thanks! Cheers to 2014! :)
We made this for dinner last night and loved it.
Awesome to hear, Diane! :)
I was really excited to try this recipe but was disappointed in the end result. Way too much onion and not a distinctive flavor. I would decrease onion to 1/2 cup and add some toasted pecan or walnuts and bacon bit to the finished pasta dish.
I’m sorry to hear that. Yes, adding toasted nuts or bacon bits would definitely add another dimension of texture and flavor!
I’ve tried this dish a few times and I LOVE IT. Everything goes so well together, especially the kale and the squash. I add some ground turkey to make it a full meal. Its one of my favorite meals to take to work!!