Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

Fall just wouldn't be complete without pumpkin!

It is a new week of October, so here’s a new Pumpkin Recipe. A filling pasta dish is the perfect comfort food for chilly fall evenings. Today's recipe is an easy, delicious and healthy pumpkin pasta. This pasta with creamy pumpkin sauce is an elegant, comforting dinner that comes together in minutes.

Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 15min Serves: 4 Servings Level: Beginning

JUMP TO RECIPE

While prepping for Halloween by carving a few pumpkins, consider all the possible uses for this superfood. Here are all the most fascinating facts about everyone's favorite fall flavor - pumpkins!

DO YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT PUMPKINS?

• Pumpkins are technically fruits. Pumpkin is a type of winter squash closely related to cucumbers and melons.

• Every part of the Pumpkin is edible: the skin, leaves, flowers, pulp, seeds, and stems.

• Each Pumpkin produces about 500 seeds. Pumpkins are full of seeds, delicious as a snack or topping for salads, and rich in nutrients.

• Pumpkins are 93 percent water.

• Pumpkins are packed with nutrients. They are a nutrient-dense and low-calorie food. One cup of cooked pumpkin is only 49 calories but contains 49 percent of your daily needs for vitamin K, along with vitamin C, potassium, vitamin E, iron, folate, and niacin.

• Veterinarians may recommend pumpkins as a dietary supplement for dogs and cats. If your pet is experiencing certain digestive ailments, pumpkin puree can help them.

• The US produces 1.5 billion pounds of Pumpkin annually; 80 percent of this crop is ripe only in October.

• There are 45 different varieties of Pumpkin. They range in color, including orange, red, yellow and green, and they boast names like Hooligan, Cotton Candy, and Orange Smoothie.

PUMPKIN CREAMY PASTA

You can never go wrong with adding pumpkin to a classic dish. I did this with my regular creamy pasta and transformed it into today's Pumpkin Creamy Pasta. This recipe became one of my favorite, comforting fall recipes.

This pasta is velvety and rich in flavor; it is easy to make, comes together in 15 minutes, and is packed with delicious pumpkin flavors.

If you are trying to introduce pumpkin into your kid’s diet, making creamy pumpkin pasta is an excellent way to do this. Call this alfredo penne, and the kids will go wild. Or, because the pumpkin makes pasta orange, you can change the penne with macaroni for a delicious and healthy “Mac and Cheese”.

My Vegan Creamy Pumpkin Pasta combines a delicious homemade pumpkin puree sauce, pasta water, yeast flakes, Italian herbs, and coconut milk, which I leave simmering to get the most delightful flavor. This pasta is velvety and rich in flavor.

Key Tip: Save the pasta water! The pasta water is a key ingredient here. You will need it to loosen the sauce and make everything cohesive and creamy.

RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 350 g Pasta of you choose

• 1, 5 Cup Coconut Milk

• 1/4 cup Pasta Water ( optional)

• 1 tbsp Olive Oil

• 3 Garlic Cloves, minced

• 1 tsp Italian Herbs

• 1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast

• 1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree

• 1 tbsp mustard

• 1/2 tsp Salt

• 1/2 tsp White Pepper

• 1/8 tsp Nutmeg, grated

Preparation:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add ½ tbsp of olive oil and cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

2. While the pasta is cooking, we start making the pumpkin sauce. Add the oil, garlic, and Italian herbs in a pan, and cook on low-medium heat for 1 minute.

3. Then add the coconut milk, nutritional yeast and pumpkin puree, whisk to combine and heat thoroughly for approximately 3-5 minutes. Then add the mustard.

4. Then add the salt, white pepper and nutmeg and add a little pasta water, then gently add the cooked pasta and stir to combine.

5. Divide into plates and garnish with vegan parmesan.

6. Enjoy it!

If you make this vegan creamy pumpkin pasta, please snap a photo and tag @andreea.plantbasedchef on Instagram! I would love it if you would leave a comment below. Thanks so much!