Name: Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Penne
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 pound penne pasta (or gluten-free pasta); 3 garlic cloves; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée; 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth; 1/2 teaspoon chili powder; 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt; Freshly ground black pepper; 1/4 cup Greek yogurt; 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more to garnish

This pumpkin pasta sauce recipe is lusciously creamy, flavored with savory spices and Parmesan. Serve it over penne pasta for an easy meatless meal.

It’s pumpkin season! Alex and I needed a quick and easy dinner recipe for guests, and we were craving that ubiquitous orange squash. While pumpkin is often served sweet, why not savory? Pumpkin puree actually makes for a creamy, irresistible pumpkin pasta sauce. Its texture melds seamlessly with Parmesan cheese, and its subtle flavor works just as well with garlic and chili powder as with pumpkin spices. Even better, this pasta sauce is quick to whip up: even with the penne, it takes under 30 minutes to make.

Related: 12 Healthy Pumpkin Recipes

How to make pumpkin pasta sauce

Here are all our secrets to this easy pumpkin pasta sauce! We based it off of our Pumpkin Gnocchi Bake, one of our most popular pumpkin recipes to date. So why not steal that sauce for a quick pasta? Instead of using cream cheese or heavy cream, this sauce features Greek yogurt, which brings a healthy spin.

Here are the basic steps for how to make pumpkin pasta sauce (see the recipe below for exact quantities):

Mince garlic, then heat olive oil in a skillet. Saute the garlic for 1 to 2 minutes, then carefully add canned pumpkin puree, vegetable broth, chili powder, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Simmer about 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce becomes thick.
Stir in a bit of Greek yogurt. To do so, you’ll temper the Greek yogurt with some of the sauce: in a small bowl, mix the yogurt with a few spoonfuls of the pasta sauce. This makes sure it doesn’t curdle when immediately hitting the hot pasta sauce.
Mix in grated Parmesan cheese. Serve on any shape of pasta, and garnish with additional Parmesan.

The resulting pumpkin pasta sauce is flavorful and creamy, with no bitter aftertaste like canned pumpkin can sometimes have. Mainly, it’s cheesy and delicious! Even better, you can make up the entire pumpkin pasta sauce recipe and boil the pasta in 30 minutes.

Use on any type of pasta

Even though we’ve shown this pumpkin pasta sauce recipe with penne, it can work with any type of pasta! It’s fantastic with short pasta, like macaroni, rigatoni, or fusilli (spirals). You could also use it on longer pastas like linguine or fettuccine. We typically make this one with short cuts of pasta, but it absolutely works with whatever you’re feeling at the moment.

What’s in pumpkin puree?

Pumpkin puree is cooked pumpkin that has been blended down into a puree. Now, important note. Do not accidentally grab pumpkin pie filling and use it in this recipe. It’s sweetened and includes pumpkin spices. Since the cans look very similar on the shelf, it’s easy to do. In fact, one time we mistakenly started to use pumpkin pie filling in this pasta sauce. Suffice it to say, the smell of the puree coming out of the can inspired a few choice words!

Also, did you know that most canned pumpkin also has butternut squash? (Here’s what’s really in your canned pumpkin puree.) Butternut squash is sweeter and creamier than pumpkin, which can be bitter and stringy. So many times manufacturers add butternut squash. Some people are horrified to find this out. But to us, it’s not cheating at all. We want the creamiest, tastiest puree possible: no matter what the vegetable is called. After all, pumpkin is just a type of squash!

How to cook pasta to al dente

Al dente it means “to the bite” in Italian. It refers to pasta that is still firm on the inside when cooked. What is it such a big deal? Well, there’s a huge difference between al dente pasta and limp pasta: you’ll find that al dente pasta tastes so much more satisfying. You may also find yourself eating less pasta overall if you cook it to al dente, because you have to bite through each piece.

Here’s how to cook pasta to al dente:

Boil the pasta in a large pot of boiling water.
Start taste testing a few minutes before the package instructions indicate to. The pasta should be tender, but still firm on the inside so that it has a little bite.

Pumpkin Penne with Parmesan | Pumpkin pasta

This pumpkin pasta sauce recipe is…

Vegetarian. For gluten-free, find gluten-free penne.

Related: Try using our Homemade Vegetable Broth for this recipe!