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
Servings 2Ingredients
- 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.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make 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.
THIS WAS SO GOOD. I made it with pasta this week (and am super excited for lunchtime to roll around), but I want to try it with rice & veggies the next time I make it. Just for kicks. I want to echo what someone above me said, too… thank you for providing a dairy-free option. I had to use that option because I’m lactose-intolerant, but I think the coconut milk added a good deal of flavor.
This was really yummy! A nice refreshing flavour. I sprinkled some parmesan on top and it added nicely to it. Super easy to make and delicious!
So love your site but I agree about that new floating banner down the left…interferes with reading…
Good to know, I was just testing it out! :)
What is that horrid new banner on the left side of the page that interferes with reading anything?? I can’t stand it! If it doesn’t leave I won’t be able to read your site and I love your site!
Thanks for the feedback! It seems like it’s getting in the way for a lot of people, so it’d definitely coming down. Thanks!
Oh thank you so much!!
Beth,
Thank you so much for giving the dairy-free option. I know I can just try to leave the dairy out on some recipes and hopefully they don’t suffer, but it’s just a relief when I can find a recipe with the options built in.
I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place at the moment as a vegetarian who is now trying to eat chicken for needed animal protein and not being able to eat dairy because of a hopefully temporary health issue. So cooking has become not very fun and very frustrating.
I’ll be trying this dish tonight and will toss in some spinach and some precooked and shredded chicken. (Thanks to you, I’m roasting a whole chicken or the split breasts and shredding and freezing to have it on hand.)
I recently make your chicken enchilada pasta (without the dairy) and my husband and I enjoyed it and the leftovers. He just shredded some cheese on his on the plate.
Congratulations on all your new endeavors and I’m off to order your book. Thanks again.
This post had perfect timing. I had a cup’s worth of pumpkin left over from baking yesterday, and it made for a very nice dinner tonight. Definitely going to make this one again in the future.
This looks delicious. What a wonderful use of a partial can of pumpkin puree. Whenever I have some left in the fridge I tend to think of sweet ways to use it, but love this practical savory alternative.
Beth,
I’ve been using Better than Bouillon since I first found it and use it because it tastes good and it’s way cheaper than boxed bouillon and stocks. I also am single, don’t cook enough and don’t have a lot of freezer space to use up homemade stocks and it just rots after taking up too much space in my fridge. It’s kosher, too.
Once again, delightful! If people think pumpkin is only for Fall, this recipe proves that wrong. Savory and spicy and perfect.
The spinach addition sounds great. At what point in the process would you recommend tossing in the handfuls?
I would add it just before adding the pasta, so that the skillet is not so full that you can’t stir it. :) It should wilt in very quickly, then you can just add the pasta and serve.
What kind of pasta is this? It is so pretty!
They are called “gnocchi” on the package, funny enough. :) It’s DaVinci brand.
OK, this sounds lovely! I have these ingredients too and would like to use up the pumpkin in my freezer. But…..no pasta in my diet right now. What other ways can we use this sauce?
You could make zoodles?
Tina, I don’t do pasta either but it would be great over “Zoodles” or zucchini noodles or even just sauteed broccoli :)
Thanks Tessa J!
There are plenty of pasta alternatives out there use vegetables and I’m sure they would be delicious with this sauce! :)
Maybe put it over some spaghetti squash?
I don’t eat pasta, either, so I would use this sauce over zucchini “noodles” myself. And they don’t have to be cooked, I just dry them on paper towels for a few minutes after spiralizing them. You could probably also mix this sauce in with cooked quinoa or faro or brown rice.
Had to google “spiralizing zucchini”….very cool. I use the carrot peeler to shave wide zoodles length-wise on zucchini.
I like everyone’s suggestions so far, OR you could just eat it like a soup! It’s pretty much the same ingredients for my simple pumpkin soup, plus a little cream, anyway! :)
Aside from the zuchinni noodles answer (which is a great idea), if you’re on one of those high protein diets the sauce should work with shrimp or pork, and might work with oysters. That’s from a flavor perspective; from a nutrition perspective, diets heavy in meat, milk, and eggs can be dangerous if not offset with antioxidant-rich leafy greens.
Good luck on your diet! I don’t know if you’re trying to lose weight, gain weight, or just improve your health, but using recipes and cooking your own food is definitely a good decision. I spent almost two years in sheer misery due to digestive issues, and it was only through controlling and changing what I ate that things improved.
Thanks for the tips. Not really a reducing diet. Just a mindful way of eating. Maybe there’s another word for diet that indicates “how I eat now.”
Over zoodles sounds great as does over leafy greens; thanks everyone!
wanted to come back and give a rating
The sauce would be great on roasted cauliflower! Or you could quickly steam or boil some cauliflower, toss it with the sauce, and bake it all together for a more casserole-type dish :)
I’m so happy this can be dairy-free! I can’t eat dairy due to the fact that I’m breastfeeding and my daughter is allergic to dairy, soy, and eggs and I’ve been craving a creamy pasta. This will be perfect!
This looks so interesting! I’ve got exactly a cup of broth left over and everything else ready except for the pumpkin, but I’m so going to give this a try ASAP.
Also, the perennial question: how does this work with a dash of sriracha?
AWESOME. Pumpkin and sriracha are fantastic together. :)
I have all these things in my pantry right now! I can’t wait to make this for dinner. Pasta is such an easy dinner and I agree some days…you just need pasta. Most importantly it has pumpkin!!!