Vegan Pumpkin Pasta

By Jolinda Hackett

Updated 06/17/19

Vegetarian pumpkin pasta
Tania Mattiello / Getty Images
  • Total: 20 mins
  • Prep: 5 mins
  • Cook: 15 mins
  • Yield: 4 servings
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
214 Calories
14g Fat
20g Carbs
5g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines Hide Full Nutritional Guidelines
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 servings
Amount per serving
Calories 214
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 14g 18%
Saturated Fat 2g 8%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 315mg 14%
Total Carbohydrate 20g 7%
Dietary Fiber 3g 10%
Protein 5g
Calcium 125mg 10%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

If you're bored of the usual spaghetti and marinara, try this pumpkin pasta recipe for something different. Savory and aromatic, this vegetarian and vegan pumpkin and sage pasta sauce recipe is naturally lower in fat than other pumpkin pasta sauce recipes and is perfect for an unusual main dish for autumn or winter months when pumpkin seems to be everywhere.

Ingredients

  • 3 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1/2 large onion (diced)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
  • 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for the water
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • Optional: 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts or pine nuts

Steps to Make It

  1. In a medium-sized pot or large frying pan, saute the garlic and onion in olive oil for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the sage and heat for another minute. Reduce heat to low, and add the soy milk and pumpkin. Stir gently to combine ingredients.

  2. Allow the mixture to simmer until flavors are well-combined, about 8 to10 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and walnuts or pine nuts, stirring to combine, and then remove from heat.

  3. Sprinkle the top of the pasta with breadcrumbs or a vegan Parmesan cheese substitute.

  4. Serve over cooked pasta.

  5. Enjoy!

Tips

Tips

  • Serve the pumpkin sauce over cooked shaped pasta, such as rotini or penne. The shaped pasta is better than spaghetti or other forms of long noodles because it has plenty of crevices to hold the sauce.
  • If you don't need the recipe to be vegan, substitute the non-dairy milk with dairy milk. Use at least 2 percent milk to increase the flavor, but you can use heavy cream for a real indulgence.
  • For extra protein, add baked tofu or soy chorizo. If you're not vegetarian, add chicken or chorizo sausage.
  • Save about a half-cup of the water that the pasta cooked in, and add it to the pumpkin sauce. The starch in the water allows the sauce to adhere to the cooked pasta better.
  • Make this dish after Thanksgiving when you have a few cans of leftover pumpkin puree left in your fridge or pantry. However, make sure that it's plain pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie mix, which has sugar and spices already mixed into it.
  • Play around with the herbs and spices that you use in the dish, adding other classic pumpkin flavors like nutmeg or all-spice.

Recipe Variations

  • Replace the pumpkin puree with another type of winter squash puree. Try butternut, acorn, or maple squash puree, or a combination of winter squashes.
  • Turn this into a baked pasta dish by combining al dente pasta and sauce in a prepared casserole dish. Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake the dish for 30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling. If it seems to be drying out, add a little bit of vegetable broth to moisten it.