Butternut & Chicken Sausage Cavatappi
with Kale, Toasted Panko & Parmesan
- Wheat
- Milk
Dreaming about a piping-hot, creamy, soul-warming pasta dish? Well, that dream is now a reality. This delicious dish stars curly cavatappi, tender kale, and caramelized cubes of roasted butternut squash tossed in a rich and savory cream sauce. It’s topped off with crisp, buttery panko topping for a dish that’s guaranteed to satisfy all your carby cravings. (We’re all about making dreams come true.)
Ingredients
8 ounce
Butternut Squash
1 unit
Shallot
1 clove
Garlic
4 ounce
Kale
6 ounce
Cavatappi Pasta
(Contains: Wheat)
¼ cup
Panko Breadcrumbs
(Contains: Wheat)
4 ounce
Cream Sauce Base
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Veggie Stock Concentrate
1.5 tablespoon
Sour Cream
(Contains: Milk)
3 tablespoon
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
9 ounce
Italian Chicken Sausage Mix
Not included in your delivery
Cooking Oil
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Salt
Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Adjust rack to top position and preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and dry produce. • Cut butternut squash into bite-size pieces if necessary. Halve, peel, and thinly slice shallot. Peel and mince or grate garlic. Remove and discard any large stems from kale; chop into bite- size pieces.
• Toss butternut squash on a baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper. Roast on top rack, tossing halfway through, until browned and tender, 20-25 minutes. • Meanwhile, melt 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings) in a large pan over medium heat. Add panko, salt, and pepper. Toast, stirring, until golden, 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside. Turn off heat; wipe out pan.
• Once water is boiling, add cavatappi and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water (1 1⁄2 cups for 4 servings), then drain.
Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for panko over medium-high heat. Add turkey* or sausage* and season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until browned and cooked through, 4-6 minutes. Turn off heat; transfer to a plate. Wash out pan.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for panko over medium-high heat. Add shallot and a pinch of salt; cook, stirring, until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes. • Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. • Reduce heat under pan to medium. Stir in kale and a splash of water; cook, stirring and adding more splashes of water as needed, until kale is tender and water has evaporated, 5-7 minutes.
Use pan used for turkey or sausage here.
• Add cream sauce base, stock concentrate, and 1⁄4 cup reserved pasta cooking water (1/3 cup for 4 servings) to pan with kale. Cook, stirring, until thickened, 2-3 minutes. • Remove pan from heat; stir in sour cream, Parmesan, and 2 TBSP butter (3 TBSP for 4) until melted and combined. Season with salt and pepper.
• Stir drained cavatappi and squash into pan with sauce until thoroughly coated. TIP: If sauce is too thick, add more pasta cooking water and a drizzle of olive oil. • Divide pasta between plates and top with toasted panko. Serve.
Stir turkey or sausage into sauce along with drained cavatappi.
Poultry is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 165°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the mix of flavors, especially the butternut squash and kale combo. Some found it comforting and delicious 🍲.
- Ease of prep: Instructions for cooking the chicken sausage were unclear to some; consider clarifying when to add it.
- Suggestions: Try adding sage, rosemary, or goat cheese for extra flavor. Some recommend using less pasta water to avoid oversalting.
- Portions: Several wished for more butternut squash and sauce; consider increasing these for a better balance.
- Texture: The crispy panko topping was a hit, adding a nice crunch to the creamy pasta.
Reviews from our home cooks
Added chicken sausage which was perfect, added like 8x the garlic. Anders: liked the cavatappi as opposed to spaghetti. Mom: added granulated garlic in the panko, with protein added total complete nutrition in a bowl which is great. Diane: first time I've truly enjoyed butternut squash because it has flavor in this meal. Josie: surprised this was a hellofresh meal (high praise). Alex: absolutely loved this dish, super healthy and super tasty, adding the chicken sausage made this meal perfect
Would prefer butternut squash in a chunk that I could chop into smaller pieces, or chopped into smaller pieces. Also, pre-chopped kale has so much stem that I have to go through it anyway. would prefer kale on stems and I just chop. Pasta dish was good - would have been better with more squash, cut in smaller chunks.
So delicious! I added the Italian chicken sausage to this meal. It was amazing. My husband loved it and he doesn't like kale and thinks squash is okay.
I enjoyed this one, but it was confusing how and when to add the kale vs cheese. This made the texture odd. The kale clumped a bit too much and made it bitter.
Excellent use of the squash. We do not eat squash often but definitely want to more because of this meal!
A little sage and or rosemary for the butternut squash would have been killer also maybe goat cheese
I like the chicken sausage, and love anything with cooked kale in it (never had it before Hello Fresh!!!). Definitely will enjoy this again.
Wow! The butternut squash tasted excellent in the pasta. And we love the crunchies on top.
This may be the best Hello Fresh meal I have ever had. I LOVED IT!!
I wish this had more squash (& maybe less kale to compensate?). Also, I feel like over time I've noticed the vegetable roasting times you give in the instructions are always too long. Mine always end up burned. Just something to look at, maybe.
