Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce
Do you ever get tired of plain old red sauce? …Yeah, no, I don’t either. But if for some reason you did want to try something new, this quick and creamy pumpkin sauce is a great way to switch up your pasta routine. I had a partial can of pumpkin purée left over from another recipe this week, so I borrowed the flavors from this old recipe for simple pumpkin soup and turned it into a creamy, comforting sauce. It’s so easy and so good.
This recipe makes about four “side dish” sized servings of pasta with creamy pumpkin sauce, or two big main dish servings. I have no problem just eating pasta and sauce for dinner, but if you wanted to round it out a bit, a little browned Italian sausage would go so very well with these flavors. Got some fresh spinach on hand? Toss a couple handfuls into the sauce for some nice color and extra dose of vegetables.
I made my creamy pumpkin sauce with butter, chicken broth, and cream, but it could easily be made vegan by substituting the butter with coconut oil, the chicken broth with vegetable broth, and the cream with full-fat coconut milk. Pumpkin and coconut go very well together!
Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 Tbsp butter ($0.13)
- 1 cup pumpkin purée ($0.78)
- 1 cup chicken broth* ($0.12)
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp chili powder** ($0.03)
- Pinch cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ( $0.05)
- 2 Tbsp half & half or cream ($0.19)
- 8 oz. pasta ($0.70)
Instructions
- Begin boiling a large pot of water for your pasta. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and boil until al dente (7-10 minutes). Drain in a colander.
- While waiting for the water to boil, prepare the sauce. Mince two cloves of garlic and add them to a large skillet with one tablespoon of butter. Sauté over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
- Add the pumpkin purée and chicken broth to the skillet and stir to combine. Add the nutmeg, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and some freshly cracked black pepper. Stir in the spices and let the sauce simmer over medium-low heat while the pasta cooks (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally.
- Once the pasta is finished cooking and is draining in a colander, add the half and half or cream to the skillet and stir it into the pumpkin sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed (this will depend on the type of broth you use). Finally, stir the drained pasta in to the sauce and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce
Step by Step Photos
Start by mincing two cloves of garlic and sautéing them with one tablespoon butter over medium-low heat in a large skillet. Sauté for only one to two minutes, just to soften the garlic up some and make it nice and fragrant.
Oh yes, and begin boiling the water for the pasta. The sauce will cook in the short amount of time that it takes the pasta to cook, so get that going first. Once the water boils, add 8oz. pasta, and cook till al dente. Drain it in a colander. Continue with the sauce as the pasta boils…
Next, add one cup pumpkin purée (about one cup, you can actually use a little less or a little more and it will still work fine) and one cup chicken broth to the skillet. Stir until those two are combined, then add 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp chili powder, a pinch of cayenne, and some freshly cracked black pepper. Stir the spices in, then let the sauce simmer over medium-low while the pasta cooks (about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken slightly as it simmers and some of the moisture evaporates.
Finally, once the pasta has finished cooking and it’s in the colander draining, stir two tablespoons of half & half (or cream) into the pumpkin sauce. Taste the sauce and add salt if needed.
Add the cooked and drained pasta to the skillet and stir to coat it in the sauce. YUM.
Some days you just need pasta, you know?
I like to add a little “sprankle” of fresh pepper over each bowl, too.
I love this recipe. It’s a fantastic way to use up pumpkin puree from a can when the previous recipe only called for a small amount. The seasonings can easily be adjusted to suit your tastes. I changed a few things, as didn’t have any half and half or cream so at the end I added a bit of almond milk. I also added some nutritional yeast that I had on hand. I served this with angel hair pasta and some fresh cilantro since that I what I had on hand and the sauce compliments this pasta well in my opinion :)
This sauce was like a broth. No idea how this looks thick and saucy in the photo. I had to scrap the whole thing and try to salvage this for a soup or something. Very disappointing…don’t recommend.
As written I thought this recipe was extremely bland. I ended up adding 2-3X more chili powder and cayenne pepper as well as red pepper flakes, Parmesan Cheese, Italian sausage, and spinach. On the plus side, this recipe was very quick and easy to make and made enough to have leftovers!
I love this! I added a little brown sugar at the end to bring out the sweetness in the pumpkin and then served it with parmesan cheese, which gave it that saltiness that reminds me of Mac and cheese except a tad healthier!
This is delicious! I made it yesterday and the one tweak I made was sauteeing the pumpkin for 3-4 minutes before adding the chicken broth. It caramelizes the sugars a bit and deepens the pumpkin flavor. We ate this with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and a fried egg the first day, and topped leftovers with red pepper flakes and Pecorino Romano the second day. The pasta was savory, creamy and pumpkinny both ways!
Do you know if this reheats well? I made it fresh and loved it but now I want to make it ahead to take to a family dinner and rewarm.
Yes I think it would be great!
I loved this recipe! I added pork, apple, and sage flavoured sausage, an onion, and some mushrooms to the garlic, along with the seasonings, plenty of freshly cracked black pepper, and fresh sagw. I skipped the butter and just added a bit of olive oil, as the sausage gave off oil as well. Right before adding the pasta, I threw in a handful of spinach, and sprinkled fresh basil on top of my serving. This was super easy and very tasty, and a great recipe to tweak to your own tastes.
I like this idea but the recipe was unfortunately too bland as is. I added a bunch of parmesan and it was much better :)
I made this and it turned out amazing!
Thank you!
I thought it turned out very good but adjusted seasonings for our tastes. I did extra garlic and cayenne, used olive oil instead of butter, added parmesan cheese and used a bit more half and half. If something is too bland for you just add the seasonings you like.
I love the Website, but I did notice you can’t find this recipe when searching for “Squash” or Pumpkin in the Ingredient field.
If you were already in a subcategory and then clicked on pumpkin from the ingredient drop down, it will only show you the pumpkin recipes within that category. But if you start on the main Recipes page, then click pumpkin from the ingredient drop down, it does show up. Is that what you were asking?
Just made this for dinner and it was great! I accidentally shook in a bit more chili powder than was called for but it gave it a nice depth. I also threw in some chopped leftover pork tenderloin I had in my fridge and a handful of spinach, both of which worked wonderfully! Served with lots of parm (also simmered the sauce with a parmesan rind in it) and it was the perfect autumn comfort food :)
Thanks again for another great recipe
It was just too bland. Needed a lot of touch up to be Edible.
This was very yummy! I added a good amount of parm. cheese to my sauce and opted to blend it for a minute or so which made it super smooth. I also added one extra garlic clove to my sauce (which it probably didn’t need). Served it on fettuccine. I don’t think my family could get past the orange colour but I actually thought it was pretty – and tasty.
Did something similar, adding the ground turkey, sage, and parmesan, along with a bit of flour to thicken. I personally just wanted a more dimension to this or it actually did taste quite pumpkiny. Now I’ve hid that from my kids! Mwahahaha! You could easily add frozen peas, which most have in the freexer, but I actually think it would be great to boil chopped asparagus with the pasta and toss that with the sauce.
Would this recipe freeze well?
Love it!
I haven’t tried freezing this one, but sometimes creamy sauces don’t do so well, so freeze with caution.
I’ve frozen this and have had no problem! (Although I use goats cheese instead of cream)
I did this sauce with a few minor adjustments. I used a 15 oz can of pumpkin puree, added sage to the sauce. Also cooked with ground turkey. Then I did the whole thing with noodles and all in my pressure cooker for 9 minutes on high pressure. I also added riced cauliflower and chopped spinach because I am always trying to sneak healthy foods in for my kids. It was a big hit at my house with a sprinkle of parm cheese and a little bit of crushed red pepper. I will be making this again! Thank you for the inspiration!
Haha, I’d call those adjustments a little more than “minor”. Glad it turned out great for you! I just prefer it when people rate a recipe once they’ve made it as posted.
Edible. But wouldn’t make it again. It’s got a kick from the spices but otherwise is kind of tasteless.
Yummy pumpkin sauce! Put it on bread you will sure like it.
I love PUMPKIN! Thanks for always sharing all kinds of pumpkin recipe! This taste so good too.