Warning: this sweet and savory Fall Harvest Mac & Cheese dish is irresistible! The first time I made this was on a busy weeknight and I kept going back for more. Turns out, it requires a lot of willpower to not destroy all the evidence at once!
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From now on, I’ll be making this Fall Harvest Mac & Cheese with butternut squash as a Thanksgiving side dish because it’s so easy and quick to make, and I know everyone will love it.
The surprising thing is, is that the gruyere cheese is actually a seasonal item at Trader Joe’s that is supposed to be used for fondue. The cheese comes in a packet that is within a box similar to Velveeta, but it’s available in the refrigerated cheese section of the store. Since it’s only available for the holiday season (right before Thanksgiving through New Year’s) I suggest snatching up a few extra boxes and freezing the cheese so you have a stockpile for when it’s no longer available in stores. That’s what I do!
Make it healthy! …ish
Even though this recipe calls for a pack of fondue cheese I like to tell myself that it’s somewhat healthy because it includes butternut squash. (Hah, the white lies we tell ourselves!) Another thing I did to make this a little more guilt-free was to incorporate “healthy-ish” pasta. Here are some gourmet pasta noodles you might want to try out, although feel free to use whatever noodles you like best in this dish!
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Fall Harvest Mac & Cheese
Ingredients
- 32 oz cubed butternut squash (I buy pre-cubed butternut squash to make it quicker to prep the ingredients, but you can also get one squash and cut it yourself)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- ¼ cup sage
- 1 pack Trader Joe's Gruyere fondue cheese (only available during the holiday season between mid November through New Years)
- 1 box macaroni noodles of your choice
Instructions
- Turn on the oven to 450. Toss cubed butternut squash with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and ground black pepper. Lay out the squash on a tray and bake for about 30 minutes until you can easily poke through the butternut squash cubes.
- Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil, then add pasta. Boil according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, add butter to a small metal saucepan (preferibly not a nonstick pan) over medium heat, and melt. Add in minced garlic and cook 1 minute. Add in sage and continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes, until the sauce turns a very light brown (it'll smell amazing at this point!).
- Combine everything into one serving dish and top with ground black pepper.
Life is too short to count calories over the holidays and Thanksgiving is the ultimate “cheat meal,” right? Enjoy this Fall Harvest Mac & Cheese with butternut squash dish because it might be one of the best things to come out of 2020!
Did you make the Fall Harvest Mac & Cheese?
I’d love to see a picture of how this turned out for you. Tag me in your food pics on Instagram @EatLikeYoureOnVacation!
I also recommend you try out one of my other festive holiday recipes:
The Pomegranate Plum Crunch Salad
Mulled Wine
