Pumpkin Sage Pasta: an Autumn Seasonal Favorite!
As the years pass, time seems to go by faster and faster. Thankfully, a few dishes each season help mark the time and leave us with fond memories. The past ten years, Pumpkin Sage Pasta (pasta with a pumpkin-sage sauce) has been one of my family’s favorite dishes each autumn. It’s tasty, healthy and easy to make. In short, a perfect combination.
I usually prepare this yummy dish with nests of De Cecco Pappardelle egg pasta. One box of 500 g (18 oz approximately) feeds 3 adults with robust appetites. However, the same portion can feed up to 6 people with smaller appetites.
For today’s recipe I used De Cecco Tagliatelle egg pasta since their Pappardelle was not available. I’ve tried this pumpkin-sage sauce with many different kinds of pasta over the years and prefer the width of the Pappardelle noodles. Yet, this pumpkin-sage sauce will taste great with any kind of pasta. Italians are fairly attentive about the kind of sauce to be paired with a particular type of pasta. Long wide noodles, such as Pappardelle, Fettucine and Tagliatelle, are customarily paired with a thicker, less smooth sauce. Long skinny noodles, such as Spaghetti, Linguine, and Vermicelli or twisted pasta, such as Fusili or Strozzapreti, require a lighter smoother sauce. For more information on pairing pasta with the right sauce, consult this list prepared by the BBC Good Food team. If you are expecting Italian guests for any pasta dish, be careful to match the sauce to the right pasta shape.
Fresh pumpkin is used for this recipe. I usually cook the pumpkin in a pot over the stove with a little bit of water. After removing any excess water, I then add the other sauce ingredients to the same pot, as it makes for an easier clean-up and saves time. Yet, if you have extra time you can roast the pumpkin in the oven ahead of time to bring out slightly more flavor.
You can try to use canned pumpkin as a substitute for fresh pumpkin. Although I have never tried making this dish with canned pumpkin, as it is generally unavailable outside of the United States, I would imagine the final dish would have less color and flavor. At least, with canned pumpkin you can make this family favorite all year long. If you do try this Pumpkin Sage Pasta with canned pumpkin, please share your experience below in the comments.
Try this tasty Pumpkin Sage Pasta while fresh pumpkin is still available this season. It will soon become one of your family’s favorite dishes and you will look forward to next autumn to prepare it again. Please share this recipe with your friends using the buttons below and leave me your comments.
If you would like to try other savory pumpkin recipes, check out my recipes for Pumpkin Tomato Lentil Soup (vegan) and Pumpkin Risotto (vegetarian). Enjoy!
Pumpkin Sage Pasta
Ingredients
Pasta
- 350 g pasta Pappardelle or Tagliatelle (dried)
Pumpkin Sauce
- 300 g pumpkin puree 1 2/3 of this amount raw
- 150 g ricotta cheese
- 6 sage dry leaves (crumbled).
- 50 g Parmesan grated
- 25 g Pecorino cheese grated
- black pepper or white pepper
- salt
Instructions
Cook Pasta
- Boil water to cook dry. Typically put 1 liter (approximately 1 quart) of water per 100 g of dry pasta to be cooked. Cook the pasta according to instructions. Drain the pasta in a colander and reserve about 1/4 cup of the water for the pumpkin sauce if needed.
- While cooking the pasta, prepare the Pumpkin-Sage Sauce.
Pumpkin-Sage Sauce
- Remove skin from pumpkin and cut into cube size pieces. Put the pumpkin pieces in a pot with the water. Put the pot over a medium flame and cover. Continue to cook 12 to 15 minutes or until the pumpkin can be pureed with a fork. Check every few minutes that there is a little water on the bottom of the pot. Add a little water if needed.
- Break down the pumpkin with a fork or wooden spoon. Stir until fairly smooth, but no need to be totally smooth. Italian usually serve Pappardelle or Tagliatelle pasta with a rustic or chunky sauce.
- Reduce the heat to low, add the crumbled sage leaves and the ricotta cheese. Stir further until blended. Cook gently about 2 minutes over low heat.
- Remove pot from stove. Add the grated cheese and stir until blended. If the sauce needs more liquid, add a little of the water used to cook the pasta. The pasta water will help the sauce adhere to the pasta as well as give you the consistency that you need. Add salt and pepper according to taste and add a little more sage if needed.
Serving
- Pour the pumpkin sauce over the cooked pasta (after drained of course). Serve with some additional grated Parmesan cheese on the side for your guests to add to their plate. Enjoy!
I love using pumpkin in savory dishes, this sound like a delicious combination with the ricotta and sage, yum!
Hi, Joy, I also love pumpkin in savory dishes. I’ll be posting a couple more recipes soon, so please check back again. I’d love to hear your feedback if you try this recipe. Thanks!
What a healthy twist on Alfredo! I’m definitely giving this a try. It looks delicious. Sharing 🙂
Thanks, Kelly. Let me know what you think after trying it. It’s easy to make…perfect for a weekday supper.
It looks delicious. I love eating pumpkin this time of year.
Thanks, Kallee! I hope you’ll enjoy it.
This dish sounds very tasty. We have a lot of sage in the garden. I should try it while pumpkins are still available.
Hi Fionnuala, if you have fresh sage you must be familiar with how to dose it. Too much can overpower this dish. You want a hint of sage, but not taste it as the main ingredient. Let me know if you try it and how you like it.
This looks lovely!
Recently one of my daughters has been trying to eat more foods which help build collagen – for stronger tendons – and pumpkin is on the list, so this recipe is right on target.
Hello Margie, this will certainly be an easy way to get your daughter to eat pumpkin. The whole family should enjoy this dish as well. Let me know how you like it. There are 3 other pumpkin recipes on my site and more coming in the next week. Different savory recipes to enjoy pumpkin.
I’ve never had pumpkin with pasta, but your photos are making my mouth water. Looks delicious!
Try this recipe, Erlene. It’s really quite easy and will soon become a favorite. No more difficult than macaroni and cheese, but more healthy. Hope you enjoy it.
This sounds so good.I feel like sage is such an under rated spice. I love using it.
Hi, Jessica, I like sage with pumpkin, in stuffing on Thanksgiving and as an herbal tea with honey….it’s really good when you eat fatty items since it helps create the environment to break down the fat more easily. Hope you enjoy this recipe.
Such a fabulous and unusual combination. I can understand why roasting the pumpkin would add another depth of flavor.
Hello Betsy, yes roasting the pumpkin can add another depth of flavor. Try it and let me know what you think!
Yum, sounds good and I have pumpkins to cook! I am not good at converting grams to American standards, though. Any tips?
Hello Rachel, In all my recipes you can change the number of servings and switch between metric and Imperial measuring systems. No need to know how to convert, just make your choice in the recipe box at the bottom of the post. I’m glad you brought this up. Hope you will try this recipe and enjoy.
I have several pumpkins on my front porch that need to be cut up and roastedl This pasta dish looks delicious. I love the fall flavors of pumpkin in pastas and soups. Thanks for this new recipe.
Thanks, Nicky. Hope you enjoy this recipe. Roasting the pumpkin first will make it even more yummy!