This Butternut Sausage Bake with Kale and Tomato Cream is a deliciously healthy, flavorful, and hearty meal that’s dairy free, gluten free, grain free, sugar free, Paleo, and Whole30 friendly! Roasted butternut squash is baked with Italian sausage, kale and a tomato cream sauce for the ultimate in savory comfort food.
Definitely a savory food week here on the blog! We have yesterday’s bacon and buffalo burgers, Tuesday’s sweet potato crusted quiche, and now today’s recipe for my new favorite meal – ever (again I’m biased since it’s fresh on my mind!) – this Paleo Butternut Sausage Bake with Kale and Tomato Cream Sauce. That’s a long title. I should probably shorten that, but, how will you know what awaits?
There’s a story behind this recipe, and, though I know you’re sick of hearing about it, it involves my long-time love for all things involving sausage, going back way before “paleo” was a trendy diet term.
It goes back to the first “real meal” I ever cooked. You know, the one that makes you feel like a grown up even though you’re cooking out of your parents’ refrigerator, and maybe even left your mom the leftover mess to clean up. Don’t worry, I’m paying for it now with every cereal-crunching step on my kitchen floor. But anyway, yes, I had a favorite meal to cook that involved sausage and tomato cream sauce before I was paleo, a runner, or a momma.
That recipe involved bow-tie pasta though, which clearly we do not speak of now. It also wasn’t actually a “bake”, but now I’m going on a tangent. If anyone is interested in the pasta recipe I believe it’s still on going strong on allrecipes after at least 15 years or so!
Anyway, I decided I needed to make a paleo version of that recipe that took the elements I loved about it (sausage, tomato cream sauce) and merge them with a more recent favorite – butternut squash. Roasted butternut squash, to be specific. I can’t get enough of it lately!
So this recipe became sort of a cross between the creamy sausage pasta of another lifetime, and my butternut sausage holiday stuffing. If there’s one thing I learned from that stuffing, it’s that you can’t go wrong with butternut squash and sausage baked together. Just one egg to bind, and delicious magic follows.
I also tossed in some healthy kale too, because eating kale makes us feel more productive and confident in our life decisions, somehow. But really, kale has this effect on us and I’m pretty sure there’s data on that somewhere. It also happens to complement the other ingredients perfectly, and crisp up just a bit on top when baked. I have no shame in saying that I truly heart kale 🙂
I hope you’re enjoying all the savory this week, because things will get just a tad sweeter next week after a super successful baking session earlier today.
But that’s quite enough, we need to focus on our dinner first before thinking about dessert! If you promise to make this at least once, you can have a treat after your bath. Huh? Oops, got confused and went into mom-mode. As a mom these things just slip out at random times to the wrong audience.
I still want you to make this though! Are you ready for savory, healthy comfort food at it’s finest? I certainly am, so let’s get on with this warming, comfy butternut sausage bake!
Butternut Sausage Bake {Paleo}
Paleo Butternut Sausage Bake with Kale
Ingredients
- 3 and 1/2 cups small-cubed butternut squash
- 1 tbsp light flavored olive oil for roasting
- 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt for roasting
- 1 lb Italian pork sausage* - casings removed
- 1-2 tsp light flavored olive oil
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes**
- 1/2 med onion chopped
- 1/2 cup of your favorite marinara sauce no sugar added - I love Raos
- 1/4 cup full fat canned coconut milk
- 2 cups roughly chopped kale
- 1 egg whisked
- fine grain sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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First, roast your butternut squash. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and, in a large bowl, toss the butternut squash cubes with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt.
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On a large baking sheet - or 2 if needed - lined with parchment paper, spread out the butternut squash cubes in a single layer. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring in the middle, until soft and toasty brown.
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While the butternut squash roasts, heat a large cast iron skillet or other heavy skillet over medium heat and add 1 tsp olive oil.
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Crumble the sausage into the pan, and sprinkle with the crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring and breaking up lumps, until 75 percent browned.
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Once the sausage is nearly browned, add the chopped onion and continue to cook until the onion is soft and the sausage is fully browned.
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Next, add the marinara sauce and coconut milk and stir. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer. Add the kale to the skillet and stir into the mixture to soften. Once the kale is soft, remove skillet from heat.
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Once the butternut squash is roasted, remove from oven and toss in with the sausage mixture. If using an oven proof skillet, you will bake everything in it. If not, transfer the mixture to a well greased baking dish before proceeding.
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Add the whisked egg to the mixture and gently toss to combine. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, until toasty browned and set.
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Let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*Use locally made preferably, and free of added sugar for Whole30 compliant
**Optional but recommended. Adjust amount to suit your preference
What was the first full-on meal you ever cooked and took pride in?
Does eating (and enjoying) kale = higher self-esteem and increased confidence? I’m sort of kidding, but sort of not 😉
I’m thinking the first real meal I cooked on my own was stuffed peppers, before that was things like pasta and french fries. I have totally fallen off the kale bandwagon over the past few months, maybe because I overdid it a bit back when there was all the initial hype about it? This recipe looks great, but I may need to figure out a way to substitute the sausage, maybe with bacon?
I think another ground meat would work well for the sausage! You could also do chopped up chicken and that would be good too 🙂
I wonder if the sausage part of this dish would get my son to eat butternut squash! I just cut up a butternut but he rarely eats it. Sometimes he takes a piece but most of the time, not! I don’t even understand, it’s so good! I don’t remember the first meal I made, I am more of a baker. I am sitting here thinking about it and I am clueless!
Yum-ilicious! I don’t think I actually remember the first meal I ever cooked. I’m going to have to think about that one. It’s called old age!
Haha! Funny that I remember these things 🙂
I used to bake my mom’s birthday cakes…. and I did lots of things from the box. I remember that Alex and I made Valentine’s Day dinner (pork chops with red wine reduction) and that felt like one of the earlier, more official dinners I made.
That’s definitely a nice grown-up meal 🙂
I love the butternut and sausage combo! The first real meal I ever cooked was turkey and black bean tacos, probably when I was 17. I baked a lot from a mix before that, but it was the first time I made an actual meal from start to finish.
Sounds like a pretty advanced first meal 🙂 Tacos were always fun to put together.
First recipes I made came from Rachel Ray (Stuffed peppers), the food network magazine (a quinoa dish), and then my Nintento DS (a killer risotto!) I was badass 😉
I used to love Rachel Ray and still have 2 of her books 🙂
great idea! i need some whole 30 dishes for my clients. Yours are perfect!
Thanks Lindsay!
Looks scrumptious! In my opinion, some kale in olive oil makes every savory dish just a bit better 🙂
Agree, I love the addition of cooked greens in almost anything 🙂
I love taking recipes that I loved pre-paleo and making them healthy! This looks so stinkin good. It’s some of my favorite ingredients and I’m always good with savory!
Thanks! I still have many I need to reinvent paleo 🙂
Great combo of flavors! I tend to love anything that has tomato sauce on it (especially when there’s a creamy element as well).
Agree, tomato cream sauce for the win 🙂