Easy Creamy Gluten-free Pumpkin Pasta

hand holding fork taking a piece of pumpkin pasta from a white bowl.

Whole New Mom - https://wholenewmom.com

Easy Creamy Gluten-free Pumpkin Pasta

Course: Dressings, Seasonings, etc., Entree, Side Dish

Cuisine: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Low-Carb, Sugar-Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword: gluten-free pumpkin pasta, pumpkin pasta sauce, vegan pumpkin pasta sauce

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 35

Servings: people

Calories: 713kcal

This easy and oh so creamy Easy Creamy Gluten-free Pumpkin Pasta is full of flavor and nutrition. You'll want to add it to your meal rotation not only for fall, but for all year round!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 pound gluten-free pasta
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
13 1/2 ounces coconut milk
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves
6-7 sage leaves
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
4 tablespoons vegan parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Wash the pumpkin well. Cut into large chunks. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes or until the pumpkin softens enough to make a purée.
Alternatively, for added flavor, you can roast the chunks in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. Highly recommended, but not mandatory!
Carefully remove the skin and discard it.
Transfer the flesh to a food processor or high-speed blender. Add the coconut milk, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper to taste and blend until creamy.
Heat a frying pan on medium heat. Add a spoon or two of olive oil and fry the sage leaves until they turn darker and hardened. If using dried leaves, they might darken just a little but not much. Set aside.
Bring a pot of salt water to boil. Once it's boiling, add pasta of choice and cook for the amount of time recommended on the packaging.
While the pasta is boiling, transfer the pumpkin sauce to a frying pan and heat over medium heat. Add the paprika and mix it with the sauce.
Cook the sauce for about 4-5 minutes, depending on how thick you prefer your sauce. Add thinning or thickening liquids as mentioned in notes as needed. Remove from heat.
Once the pasta is ready, transfer it to the frying pan and add walnuts. Toss the pasta until covered in sauce.
Top with vegan parmesan cheese (of course regular cheese works as well) and fried sage. You can use the sage leaves whole or break them down into smaller pieces.
Enjoy!

Notes

Prevent Mushy Pasta – You want your pasta tender on the outside but not mushy and with a little bit of firmness on the inside. Test the pasta before you think it’s done because if you wait too long, it can easily overcook. The pasta will cook a bit more once you add it to the sauce, so keep that in mind!
Whole vs canned pumpkin puree – Either will work. Just make sure that if you’re buying canned pumpkin that it’s PLAIN pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling pumpkin.
Fresh sage vs dried sage – You can use either for this recipe, but fresh is best. For 6-7 fresh leaves you can use about 1.5 tablespoons of minced, fresh leaves or 1.5 teaspoons of rubbed sage or about 3/4 teaspoon dried sage
Coconut milk alternatives – Coconut milk makes the sauce really creamy, but you can also use dairy milk or another dairy-free alternative, or skip this altogether. Make sure to not use a sweetened non-dairy milk.
Cheese alternatives – While parmesan works great, romano cheese would also be lovely. You could even branch out and try feta, pecorino, halloumi, goat cheese.
Walnut alternatives – The walnuts add great flavor and crunch to this dish. I highly recommend the toasting part here, or at the very least, soak and dehydrate them for better flavor.
Storage: You can keep the pasta up to 2 days in the fridge in an airtight container. If the sauce dries out, add some coconut milk or water to make it creamier.

Nutrition