Transform This Canned Fall Soup Into A Cozy And Creamy Pasta Sauce

The beginning of fall is also the much anticipated start to soup season. While homemade soup recipes are optimal, canned soup might just be your secret weapon to create tasty pasta dishes. In honor of the fall root vegetable harvest, canned butternut squash soup is what you need to make a cozy and creamy pasta sauce.

Whereas brothy soups like chicken noodle or vegetable soup need to simmer to create a thick pasta sauce, butternut squash soup is creamy and smooth right out of the can. It's also precooked, pre-seasoned, and ready to eat, which means it's also ready to pour over your next pasta dish. Instead of warming a can of butternut squash soup in a deep pot, you can warm it in a wide sauce pan while you boil your favorite shape of pasta. Pour the freshly cooked pasta into the bubbling soup with a little reserved pasta water, and you've got butternut squash pasta! You can also use butternut squash soup as the spreadable sauce in baked pasta dishes like lasagna or cannelloni.

If you're looking for the best brands that offer butternut squash soup, we ranked Campbell's and Trader Joe's favorably, along with fast casual chain Panera Bread. The popular pasta sauce brand Rao's also makes a bottled butternut squash soup that has received many rave customer reviews.

While you can transform butternut squash soup into a pasta sauce right out of the can, there are plenty of easy additions to upgrade butternut squash soup and, in turn, pasta sauce. Consider trying out our recipe for butternut squash ravioli with sage and brown butter sauce, or perhaps throw in some toasted walnuts and Parmesan cheese to round out the sweet and herby notes of the sauce. You can also pour the butternut squash sauce over pear and gorgonzola ravioli for the ultimate fall harvest dish.

Complement the sweet and earthy flavors of butternut squash soup with spicy red pepper flakes or cayenne peppers. Butternut squash bolognese would work well over a bed of pappardelle or rigatoni, or give an umami-rich white mushroom lasagna a sweet boost with an extra layer of that cozy soup. You could also add a little cream to the butternut squash soup, then pour it over baked shells stuffed with ricotta and Italian sausage. Season the soup with onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, and dijon mustard before stirring in a cup of nutritional yeast to make a cheesy vegan sauce for a pot of macaroni.