Tender Sweet Potato Noodles tossed with an easy Sage Brown Butter sauce is a fun fall inspired recipe you’ll be surprised by. Each bite has salty bacon, pecans and a fresh aromatic sage for the perfect flavor combo.
Spiralized vegetables had a big moment a while back, but even though they’re not new and trendy anymore, they’re still a favorite of mine because they’re a tasty, colorful, nutrient-packed swap for pasta. Zucchini noodles (like in my Thai Chicken Zucchini Noodle Salad!) are the most popular version, but I just love Sweet Potato Noodles, and they are extra delicious in this dish, with fresh sage, brown butter, a little bit of nutmeg, salty bacon, and pecans for crunch. One word: Whoa!
Why You’ll Love Spiralized Sweet Potatoes
The flavor of this meal is absolutely glorious, and it all starts with the sweet potato noodles!
- Naturally gluten-free and grain-free. If you’re gluten-free or trying to avoid grains, sweet potato noodles are an easy way to get your noodle fix.
- Affordable. And unlike those pricy gluten-free and grain-free pastas, sweet potatoes are budget-friendly!
- Delicious. With their sweet, earthy flavor, sweet potatoes are always one of my favorite veggies (I love them for Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries too!), and they bring lots of flavor to the table when you use them in place of pasta.
What You’ll Need
You don’t need all that much to make sweet potato noodles with sage brown butter! Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
- Olive oil – Instead of boiling the sweet potato noodles (which would break them apart), we sauté them in oil.
- Sweet potatoes – Use a spiralizer to cut these.
- Unsalted butter – This is a recipe where it’s worth it to invest in a high-quality butter. It makes a big difference!
- Onion – You can use shallot or yellow onion, but I like the flavor red onion adds.
- Fresh sage – Fresh is a must! Dried sage doesn’t have the same taste.
- Ground nutmeg – Just a little bit adds a nice warmth.
- Parmesan Reggiano – Grate your own from a block. The store-bought grated cheese doesn’t melt smoothly.
- Bacon – You can use regular or turkey bacon if you prefer.
- Pecans – Walnuts would also work if you prefer them.
How to Make Sweet Potato Noodles With Sage Brown Butter
Let’s get started! Here’s a step-by-step guide to how it’s done.
- Cook the bacon. Add it to a pan over medium-high and cook until it’s crispy. Transfer to a plate.
- Sauté the noodles. Add olive oil to a skillet over medium-high. Once it’s glistening, add the noodles and cook until they’re tender.
- Make the sauce. In a small pan over medium-high, combine the olive oil and red onion. Once the onion is translucent, stir in the butter and cook until browned.
- Put it together. Stir in the sage, nutmeg, and Parmesan. Once the cheese melts, remove the pan from the heat. Toss with the sweet potato noodles, bacon, and pecans.
Tips and Variations
Here are a few pointers and variation ideas to try.
- Use butternut squash noodles. If you don’t have your own spiralizer to make sweet potato noodles, you can swap in butternut squash noodles, which you can often find in the produce section at the grocery store.
- Or swap in spaghetti squash. Another good option if you don’t have a spiralizer! Cook it first (see this post for instructions: How to Cook Spaghetti Squash).
- Keep a close watch on the butter. It can go from toasty and brown to black very fast and once it’s that dark, there’s no saving it—you have to toss it and start over.
What to Serve With These Sweet Potato Noodles
You can make a meal out of this recipe on its own, but if you want to add a little something else, it would be great with Garlic Parmesan Brussels Sprouts! You can toss them into the sweet potato noodles or serve them as a side. A fall salad like my Cranberry Apple Brussels Sprout Salad or Kale Salad with Cranberries would be great too.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
- Refrigerator: Transfer leftover sweet potato noodles and sage brown butter to an airtight container and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days.
- To reheat: Warm leftovers in the microwave or a nonstick skillet set over medium heat.
More Sweet Potato Recipes
Sweet Potato Noodles with Sage Brown Butter
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Pasta, Vegetables, Gluten Free, Paleo
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Description
Toss sweet potato noodles with a sage brown butter sauce, crispy bacon, and lots of Parmesan for the most delicious 30-minute dinner!
Ingredients
- 2–3 Tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 sweet potatoes, inspiralized
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of red onion, minced
- 2 teaspoons of fresh sage, chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup parmesan reggiano
- 5 strips of bacon, diced and cooked crispy
- 1/2 cup of pecans, chopped
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan over medium high heat, add diced bacon and saute until crispy {about 4-5 minutes} Remove from pan, set aside.
- Heat a large saute pan to medium high heat, add 2-3 Tablespoons of olive oil to pan. Next add in sweet potato noodles.
- Saute until soft, but still somewhat crisp, stirring on and off. About 5-8 minutes.
- In a small saute pan heated to medium high heat, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and red onion. Saute until translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add butter to pan and melt, reduce heat to medium and cook butter for 3-5 minutes stirring the entire time until butter turns a golden brown color.
- Add sage, nutmeg, and parmesan. Stir until cheese just melted. Remove sauce from the heat.
- Toss cooked sweet potato noodles, sage brown butter sauce, bacon, and pecans.
- Serve!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 236
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 140 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 15 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Cholesterol: 13 mg
22 comments on “Sweet Potato Noodles with Sage Brown Butter Sauce”
This was very delicious! I admit I was skeptical of the parmesan combined with the brown sugar but the flavors all work together really well!! I added some rosemary cuz why not and it went well too. Thanks for the recipe!
YEAH!!! I love it when I surprise people. Good call on the rosemary. YUm!
OH My! This was so delicious! Will definitely be making this again and again.
Hurray! So pumped you liked it Lana!
Great work on this recipe, sweet potato works great spiralized – and inded a joy to read as your photographs really bring it all to life with zestful colours.
Thank you so much! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
OMGosh! This looks amazing! My brother-in-law has been making brown butter and sage over angel hair pasta for years. I’m going to try this very soon. I have a spiral slicer that I have only used with zucchini. I am VERY excited to try something else. I had no Idea you could do sweet potatoes with them. But mine is different than yours. Much smaller and hand held. Like this one
Thanks so much! jb
Oh… over angel hair pasta sounds sooo good right now!
Can’t wait to hear what you think of this one, the world of spiralizer recipes is limitless and DE-licous! 🙂
What brand spiralizer would you recommend?
Hey Oliva, I believe this is the one my husband got me. It has a couple different options for noodle sizes http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GRIR87M/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GRIR87M&linkCode=as2&tag=joyheaeat-20&linkId=6E5NZZR6CGOCCXGA
I have a spiralizer, but the sweet potatoes are so hard, I can’t get them to work. Do I need to partially cook them for 5 minutes or so to make this easier?
Hmmm… nope. You should be able to push them through. If you cook them a big beforehand they might end up soggy on the other end. Maybe try a small skinny potato … and put your back into it. hehe I hope you get it because this dish is awesome!
Wow!! totally drooling. I have been using my madeline to make mocked spiralized noodles. I wonder if that would work for this dish as well. Looks insane!! Pinned!
I’m sure it would… at least give it a try because this dish rocks!
I’m gonna have to add a spiralizer to my Christmas list just so I can make this. Love the photos on this post, too!
Oh for sure girl! I love mine and they aren’t too expensive either… like $20-30.
My mouth is watering right now, I will indeed be making this one soon.
Thanks for sharing and hosting.
haha.. thanks Celeste! 🙂
Oh my gosh, I HAVE to get a spiralizer! This dinner is totally right up my alley!!
One of my friends got Lasik last year and said it was the best thing she’s ever done. I’ve been toying with the idea for months, but I’m not quite there yet. Maybe next year.
Yes you do! You will love it Kelli, it is a great way to put extra veggies in your diet!
You definitely should think about lasik, its a great option and literally takes only 4 minutes per eye, its so quick and then you can see right away!
These pictures are seriously sooo stunning!!! Girl I had to pin this right away.
Oh.. thanks girl! Means alot coming from you… um.. your pretty much famous!