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Butternut Squash and Soba Noodles {vegan}

All the colors and flavors of autumn! You will love everything about this vegan butternut squash and soba noodle dish–the brown earthy noodles, the sweet orange squash, the ginger, tamari, and sesame oil seasoning, the eye-catching black squiggly seaweed, and the lucious protein-rich lentils. 

Butternut Squash and Soba Noodles on white plate with orange napkin

Boooo! Black squiggly things, bright orange cubes of squash, round rustic lentils, and long winding buckwheat noodles—altogether they fire up our tasters with salty and sweet, plus a pleasant savory umami flavor.

ingredients for Butternut Squash and Soba Noodles

Do the skinny black squiggly strands look creepy? They’re arame, a mild tasting sea vegetable. You have to admit they fit a witches and goblins jack o’ lantern theme. Curling their way into the soba noodles, the dark strands taste sweet. Arame seaweed is super nutritious, loaded with iron, calcium and iodine. You know the nori seaweed you wrap around rice for sushi? Arame is also harvested from the sea.

The arame soaks and plumps in water for 5 minutes, and then it’s simmered in tamari-spiked water for double umami taste.

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Butternut Squash, Soba Noodles, Arame

How to make butternut squash and soba noodles:

  • Cook the lentils with bay leaf, olive oil and salt and pepper. You can use French green lentils or black lentils. You can cook the lentils ahead of time and reheat them while you prepare the noodles, arame, and vegetables.
  • Have a big pasta pot with boiling salted water at the ready for the soba noodles. I like my pasta cooker with strainer insert.
  • Sauté the aromatic onion, garlic and ginger and steam the butternut squash cubes in a large skillet or wok. Fresh butternut squash—especially when you know the farmer—is first choice. To save time, you can substitute frozen butternut squash.
  • When the aromatics and butternut squash are almost done, drop the soba noodles in the boiling water. When they’re done, toss everything together.
  • Serve in a pretty bowl garnished with green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

Butternut Squash and Soba Noodles recipe details:

  • I used organic soba noodles containing both wheat flour and buckwheat flour—most soba noodles (affiliate link) are made with some wheat flour. If you’e avoiding gluten, look for soba noodles that say 100% buckwheat.
  • Hijiki, aka hiziki, another sea vegetable, a tad bit thicker and with a more pronounced flavor, may be swapped in for the mild and sweeter arame.
  • Inspired by and adapted from several different Deborah Madison recipes.
Butternut Squash and Soba Noodles on White Plate

If you love butternut squash, you’ll want to make this rich chile-seasoned butternut squash pozole with creamy pink pinto beans and white hominy corn.

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I first posted this recipe in October 2014. This is an update.

6 comments

  • Sarah Klingenstein

    Letty – I love the way you write about food, often evokingy the season and the outdoors even as you are working in a steamy kitchen. Your words paint a lovely food picture. Pulling your hands out of the Deer Valley dough and picking up the pen was a good move! Reply · 26 October, 2014

    • Letty

      thanks Sarah–I need the kudos!!! And coming from you–the best! Reply · 26 October, 2014

  • Anacy

    Increadible Reply · 26 October, 2014

  • I like many frozen vegetables. Especially the ones I froze myself! You can catch peak flavor if you do it well. GREG Reply · 9 November, 2014

  • Carolyn Sterrett

    This was great, Letty. I love the buckwheat soba noodles, super hearty. Love getting the protein with lentils too! Didn’t use the arame sea vegetable, but it was still super tasty. Thanks for your recipes and helping us not eat animals! Reply · 17 January, 2020

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