If you know us you know that the seasonal butternut squash mac & cheese recipe from Trader Joe’s IS our all-time favorite TJs find. We heavily crave it in the “off-season” and have been on the hunt for a similar recipe to make at home.
The Anna Edit mentioned a butternut squash mac and cheese recipe in this round up she did on her blog. We didn’t actually watch her ‘What I Eat in a Day” video where she made this recipe, but all we had to do was read the ingredients to know we had to try and recreate it.
We realized quickly that there were a lot of conversations we had to do to make this recipe work for us. Not only because they use the metric system in the UK but some of the ingredients we couldn’t find (ie English mustard powder).
Below we’re showing you exactly what we used and what we did. The original recipe didn’t have step by step photos or clear directions so at one point while making the sauce we panicked, thinking it was too thick. However, all we had to do was keep stirring and adding milk. So we hope all of our notes below are helpful!
Also, we apologize for the less-than-perfect photos. We tried to snap these while cooking and it was dark out so these aren’t great quality images but again, we hope you find them helpful!
Ingredients:
- 4 cups butternut squash, cubed
- 2.5 cups will be roasted and 1.5 cups will be mashed
- Oil spray (we used avocado oil)
- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
- 12 sage leaves
- 6 finely chopped
- 3oz of butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1-2 tsp mustard powder
- we used 1 tsp of the fiery honey mustard from Trader Joe’s
- 1/2 cup 2% milk
- 2 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
- 4 cups of macaroni noodles
Directions:
1 | Heat oven 350 degrees. Spray 2.5 cups of butternut squash with avocado oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes.
2 | Chop the remaining 1.5 cups of squash. Put in a heatproof bowl with half a cup of water and cover. Microwave on High for 10 minutes. Drain and mash.
3 | Fry the onion in an ounce of butter for 5 minutes (until softened, but not browned). Stir in the chopped sage and cook for 1 min more, then add the remaining butter.
4 | Stir in the flour and mustard powder, and cook for 1 min until it forms a paste. Gradually whisk in splashes of milk until you have a smooth sauce. Stir for 3-5 mins until thickened. Note that it will look paste-like for awhile. Just keep turning and adding milk but the final sauce will be thick.
5 | Take off the heat and whisk in the 1.5 cups of mashed squash, 1.5 cups of the cheddar, and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.
6 | Preheat oven to 350 degrees
7 | Cook the macaroni following pack instructions. Mix together the noodles, sauce, and roasted squash. Add to a baking dish and scatter with 1/2 cup of cheddar, 1/4 cup of parmesan, and sage leaves.
8 | Bake for 40 mins. Serve.
Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food
