It’s fall and I’ve been roasting pumpkins to make pumpkin puree and a great way to enjoy it is in a pasta sauce! This is a pretty simple alfredo inspired style of sauce with a base of butter, cream and parmesan cheese in addition to the pumpkin puree along with onion and garlic. This sauce is so easy to change up or modify and I often like to add some red pepper flakes for heat, sage, and nutmeg nd/or cinnamon for even more fall flavours. I sometimes like to add things like spinach and sauteed mushrooms or change up the cheese; a blue cheese is particularly nice! It’s also super easy to garnish this pasta with things like crispy fried sage, bacon, pepitas, toasted pecans, or walnuts, etc. Not matter how you make it, this pumpkin alfredo pasta sauce is an amazing fall meal and it’s stores well in the fridge or even in the freezer if you want to make it ahead of time!
Pumpkin Alfredo Pasta
A quick, easy and tasty pumpkin pasta sauce with all of the flavours of fall!
ingredients
- 12 ounces pasta (gluten-free for gluten-free)
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1 pinch nutmeg (optional)
- 1 pinch cinnamon (optional)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (parmesan cheese), grated
- 1 tablespoon sage, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
directions
- Start cooking the pasta as directed.
- Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat, add the onion and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the broth, pumpkin puree, nutmeg and cinnamon and bring to a boil before reducing the heat.
- Add the cream, cheese and sage and let the cheese melt into the sauce before seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
- Toss pasta and sauce and enjoy!
Option: Use a different herb such as thyme, rosemary, etc.
Option: Add extras such as baby spinach, kale, swiss chard, sauteed mushrooms, etc.
Option: Garnish with cheese and/or, walnuts, pecans, dried cranberries, pepetias, bacon, prosciutto, sauteed mushrooms, crispy fried sage, browned butter, etc.
Tip: Make the pumpkin sauce ahead of time, store in the fridge and warm it up when ready to use.
Tip: The sauce freezes well.
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Made this tonight and took your suggestion of adding mushrooms. This was delicious! Will be freezing the rest to enjoy later.