Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells
Pasta shells filled with spinach and ricotta beneath a tomato sauce.
About 55 min · 540 kcal · 30 g protein per serving
Vegetarian
Butternut squash, sage and ricotta pasta
Roasted squash and ricotta tossed through pasta with sage.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 21 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm 2 cm squash dice roast soft in 28 to 32 minutes at 200°C
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 47 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 535 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 21 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains gluten, milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- pasta. Most dry pasta is just wheat and water, but some contains egg; check the packet.
Cooking steps
Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan). Peel the butternut squash and cut it into 2 cm dice.
Toss the squash with the oil and the sage and roast for 28 to 32 minutes, turning once, until soft and caught at the edges.
Cook the pasta. Before you drain it, take out a mugful of the cooking water and keep it.
Put half the roasted squash in a bowl with the ricotta and crush the two together with a fork, loosening with the reserved water a spoonful at a time until it pours.
Toss the drained pasta through the sauce with the remaining squash left whole, and finish with the grated hard cheese.
The useful detail
Crush half the squash into the ricotta and leave the other half in pieces. The crushed half becomes the sauce, and the whole pieces are the reason the dish is worth eating rather than a bowl of orange paste.
Make it work for you
One serving is Half the pasta with half the squash and ricotta. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Cottage cheese instead of ricotta
Blend it smooth first. More protein for the same weight, and a sharper flavour.
Per serving: about 50 kcal less, about 4 g more protein, about 6 g less fat.
Parmesan instead of vegetarian hard cheese
Identical. Parmesan is made with animal rennet, so it is not vegetarian.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Sweet potato instead of squash
Sweeter and starchier, and it crushes more smoothly.
Per serving: about 80 kcal more, about 1 g more protein, about the same fat.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A pasta dish where a soft cheese rather than cream makes the sauce, and the squash gives volume for very few calories.
| Energy | 535 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 21 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| of which saturates | 9 g |
| Carbohydrate | 68 g |
| of which sugars | 6 g |
| Fibre | 6 g |
| Sodium | 270 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| butternut squash | 400 g | FDC 169295Squash, winter, butternut, raw | 180 kcal | 4.0 g |
| olive oil | 14 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 121 kcal | 0.0 g |
| dried sage | 0.5 g | FDC 170935Spices, sage, ground | 1 kcal | 0.0 g |
| pasta | 100 g | FDC 169736Pasta, dry, enrichedFoodData Central records dry pasta as one entry rather than by shape, so linguine, lasagne, cannelloni and shells all use it. | 371 kcal | 13.0 g |
| ricotta | 200 g | FDC 170851Cheese, ricotta, whole milk | 300 kcal | 15.1 g |
| vegetarian hard cheese | 25 g | FDC 170848Cheese, parmesan, hardCalculated with FoodData Central's hard Parmesan record. Vegetarian Italian-style hard cheeses are made the same way but with microbial rennet, and are close in composition. | 98 kcal | 8.9 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1071 kcal | 41.1 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. Eat within 3 to 4 days. The sauce tightens completely when cold; loosen it with water as you reheat.
- In the freezer
- Freezing keeps food safe indefinitely; the texture is best if it is eaten sooner rather than later.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Mushroom and lentil cottage pie
A savoury mushroom-lentil filling with a soft potato topping.
About 1 hr · 360 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
Vegetarian