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.
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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.
I was looking for a recipe to use my leftover canned pumpkin and this was perfect. I like my pasta with a lot of “stuff” in it so I threw in what else I had on hand: bacon, spinach and blue cheese. It was delicious!!
I think I’m going to use this as my base recipe for tonight. Thanks so much!
Really tasty. I added Italian sweet sausage and finished with a generous sprinkling of parmigiana. Cook the sausage separately and add to the pumpkin stock before adding cream to finish cooking. Total crowd pleaser.
Made this today but switched the half & half for a generous amount of Soy milk because that was the only thing I had on hand.
Added 1 chicken breast, 1 onion, 1,5 handful of green asparagus tips and 1/3 zucchini cubed up.
Tastes amazing, very comforting food yet so healthy. Will definitely make this again.
Does the broth make it taste soupy?
I don’t think it does.
One of my favorite recipes of your site! I make it a little extra spicy, add green peas, and serve it with a chicken cordon bleu on the side. So delicious!
Made this for dinner tonight minus the chili powder because Trader Joe’s didn’t carry it. Perfect rainy day meal :) Thanks!
Will this be lacking if I omit the dairy cream as well as the coconut cream? My son is allergic to both. I’m hoping it’s okay w/o since there’s just a small amount…
I would think so. The creamy flavor helps tie everything together.
So I pinned this a while ago and have wanted to try it. One of the reasons it took so long is the husband scrunched his nose at the idea. But this week I was lucky enough that he was on a business trip and gave me an opportunity to try something different. Enter pumpkin pasta. I must admit I was a little skeptical at first. This recipe totally lives up to the hype. I was surprised how the dish tasted like a creamy pasta sauce with a little bit of a bite but it didn’t have that sweet flavor that you associate with pumpkin and butternut squash… It was surprisingly not pumpkiny! That said, I’ve also taste jarred butternut squash pasta sauce and it did have that sweetness to it that you couldn’t use too much. I also tried this sauce on some root vegetable ravioli from trader joes. I almost threw away the ravioli because I was not a fan but your sauce (and add ins described below) saved it.
Only downside was a lack of complexity as the whole dish was one texture. The second night I used some add ins that I had on hand that included shredded and sautéed Brussels, which was good for some extra nutrition, and some toasted walnuts. The walnut addition is highly recommended!
I like the creaminess but the flavor of the pumpkin in the sauce did not appeal to me or my family.
This is really good, however it did not turn creamy enough for my taste following the recipe. It came out more like a soup, which in turn made me think it would make a wonderful curry base or so. I added some cornstarch to thicken things up.
My try also came out soupy. I thickened it with arrowroot. I’m glad I made a double batch – very tasty!
I added cubed roasted chicken breast and poured it over lentil-based penne pasta.
This might be hands down my favorite recipe on the site. It makes a really excellent replacement for mac & cheese. Which got me thinking… if you used a roux as the base for the sauce… how do you think it would turn out? The only thing I’ve ever used a roux for is mac & cheese so I’m thinking I might try it here.
I bet it would make it SUPER thick and creamy! I say give it a shot (and let me know how it turns out). ;)
I made a double batch of this – how well does it freeze? Thanks – it was SO delicious and perfect for the start of fall.
–KB
I haven’t tried freezing this one yet. The only issue you might run into is that it might get a little dry upon reheating.
Looked delicious, when I made it it exceeded my expectations! Thanks so much!
This recipe was so yummy and super easy! Next time I think I’ll add ground sage pork sausage.