This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This pumpkin pasta is the perfect fall comfort meal. It’s creamy, vegan, simple to make, and ready in under an hour!
This time of year makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside– from the tastes to the smells and everything in between, autumn is my absolute favorite season.
Sweet pumpkin recipes are all the rage, so we wanted to show the savory pumpkin recipe some love. This creamy vegan pumpkin pasta is the perfect savory fall meal. Plus, it’s packed with protein and fiber!
We suggest using fresh herbs as their flavors enhance the dish and truly bring a recipe to life. In addition, your taste buds will be buzzing bite after bite!
Here’s What You Need:
- Pasta: We used medium shells for this recipe, but you can use any pasta that you prefer or have on hand.
- Garlic and Onion: The simple yet essential aromatic flavor base to start this dish off right.
- Vegetable Broth: You can use store-bought or homemade. We have a recipe here for you to try.
- Pumpkin Puree: Canned pumpkin works great for this recipe. If you want to use fresh, you can always roast a sugar pumpkin and puree it on your own. If you don’t have access to either, you can always roast and puree a butternut squash or similar variety.
- Cauliflower: Used in our creamy sauce. If you’re looking for a substitution, you can also use potatoes.
- Cashews: A delicious dairy-free alternative to heavy cream! You can use it in both sweet and savory applications, and it’s pretty neutral in flavor so that it won’t overpower the dish.
- Another creamy element of our pumpkin sauce. If you are in a pinch and haven’t soaked your cashews overnight, you can do a quick soak with boiling water for about 10-15 minutes. If you don’t have cashews or have a nut allergy, you can also swap them for raw sunflower seeds.
- Herbs & Spices: Fresh sage and thyme are key to making the flavor of this recipe pop. If you can’t use fresh herbs, you can use dry with 1 tbsp for every 1 tsp fresh.
- Optional Toppings: We like to serve our pumpkin pasta with a sprinkle of vegan parmesan cheese, ground pepper, and red pepper flakes.
Equipment
- High-Speed Blender: Used to make the pumpkin pasta sauce smooth and creamy.
- Colander: We just got a new stainless steel colander, and we love it! Perfect for straining pasta, cleaning
- Large Skillet: Be sure that it is big as all of the pasta will eventually need to fit into this skillet. If you only have shallow or small pans, a large pot also works well for this recipe.
More vegan pumpkin recipes:
- Autumn White Bean & Pumpkin Veggie Burgers
- Vegan Pumpkin PIe
- One-Pot Pumpkin Chili (Gluten-free)
- Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes
- Easy Pumpkin Chickpea Fritters (Vegan + Gluten-free)
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
Creamy Pumpkin Pasta with Fried Sage (Gluten-free Option)
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This pumpkin pata is the perfect fall comfort meal. It’s creamy, vegan, simple to make, and ready in under an hour!
Ingredients
- 1 cup steamed cauliflower
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- Boiling hot water (to soak the cashews)
- 16 oz. pasta of choice (gluten-free as needed)
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil or vegan butter
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup white onion
- 1 teaspoon fresh sage leaves
- 1 sprig of fresh thyme
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- If you haven’t already, steam the cauliflower until fork tender. While that cooks, add the cashews to a small bowl or pot and pour over boiling hot water. Allow the cashews to soak for 20 minutes to soften. Drain both and set them aside for later.
- In a large pan over medium heat, add in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil or vegan butter along with the onions, garlic sage, thyme, and a pinch of salt. Sauté until fragrant and the onions are translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
- In a large pan over medium heat, add in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil or vegan butter, onions, and garlic. Sauté until fragrant, and the onions are translucent about 3-4 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in your pasta and cook according to the packaging instructions.
- Transfer the onion mixture into a high-speed blender, along with the soaked cashews, steamed cauliflower, vegetable broth, pumpkin puree, nutritional yeast, fresh sage, fresh thyme, salt and black pepper. Blend until smooth and set aside.
- Line a small plate with a paper towel. In the same pan, prepare the fried sage. Over medium heat, add in the vegan butter and allow it to melt and warm through. Add in the sage leaves and sizzle until crispy and fragrant, about 1 to 3 minutes. Remove the sage and transfer it onto the paper towel-lined plate to cool and drain off excess oil. Leave the sage butter in the pan.
- Add the cooked pasta into the pan along with a splash of pasta water and the pumpkin sauce and mix until uniform.
- Serve the pasta topped with the fried sage and any other toppings of choice. Enjoy!
Notes
- Nutrition facts take into consideration the addition of the fried sage.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Entree
- Method: Stovetop
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. However, this page may contain affiliate links, thank you for supporting Sweet Simple Vegan!
Just made this last night for me and my non-vegan fiancé and we both LOVED it so much I sent the recipe to my whole family. Will definitely make again!
this is soooooo good. i didn’t have sage so I left that out and I replaced the cauliflower with carrots bc that’s all I had and it still turned out phenomenal. made this with the trader joe’s pumpkin shaped pasta and it was the perfect halloween dinner lol
Such a great recipe!!! I used potatoes instead of cauliflower just cause I didn’t have some at the time, but will probably try with cauliflower next time. Also didn’t have fresh sage and thyme so I used dried, but I think I should have used more, idk why but I het afraid that I’ll use too much 😂. Anyhow I’m saving the recipe for sure. Thanks and keep it up 😊🙌🏻
This is so delicious! Just got done making it and I can’t stop eating. I’m not sure it’ll make it for Thanksgiving tomorrow, haha.
I made this for dinner, it was amazing!!! So flavorful! Only thing I did was put it with a fancy mushroom I had in refrig from farmers market and a sour dough toast on bottom, it was so delish and filling! We already have a pasta dish twice a week since my husbands Italian but I’ll be using leftovers for next pasta dish!
yummmy, this is so good! Loved making it, and will definitely make again – surprisingly not too hard or time consuming compared to other vegan sauce recipes. I doubled the sauce because I had to use up pumpkin – anything else you could use the sauce with? Soup base?
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Using the sauce as a soup base sounds like a great idea.
This was seriously good and incredibly easy! My 11 year old son was doing a “7 Day Vegan Challenge” that he started “just because”. I have gone vegan here and there to help my arthritis, so I had some ideas on how to do it. This was so good that I think it will make our regular line up for everyone in the house. Thank you so much! I appreciate all the testing and refinement that goes in to these recipes!
I think of this pasta as macaroni and cheese with a full-blown Hollywood makeover! LOL! Anyways, this is such a beautiful recipe. I love the inclusion of fried sage!
Haha yes! Thanks Cassie 🙂
Hi, This looks so delicious! I have almost everything except raw cashews. Do you think pine nuts would work at all (already have some and trying to save $$$). Or would that be totally weird? Any other cashew substitutes? Thank you 🙂
Hi Lindsey! I have not attempted this recipe without the cashews, so I am unsure as to if that would blend well to be creamy. I would try subbing in more cauliflower as well as tahini if that is available to you!
You’ve reminded me I need to make a batch of my own pumpkin pasta recipe! So good!
Haha yes, it is the best!! 🙂
Ooooh YES!!! Fried sage, are you serious?! That sounds ah-maz-ing!!! Totally trying that, and I love pumpkin pasta! 😀
Yes girl, you have to try it!
Beautiful way to elevate mac! Sage is such an underused herb, I don’t use it often enough myself. Whole dish looks amazing!
Thanks Dreena! I feel the same way, every time I use it I fall back in love with its flavor!
Oh my goodness Jasmine!!! I just bought a pumpkin and I was literally about to make a super simple recipe. This looks so amazing – I love the cauliflower addition – didn’t plan on that but it sounds perfect. Yum yum yum!
Aw yay, perfect!! I hope you like the recipe! 🙂