Easy Creamy Pumpkin and Sausage Pasta Bake

If you are looking for the perfect Fall dish before kicking off the holiday season, you have to try this Pumpkin Sausage Pasta! It’s one of my favorite recipes that was created randomly, and it easily became one of my favorite Fall pasta dishes! It’s such an easy meal, and there was no better way to wrap up pumpkin season.

To make this savory pasta dish, I used my easy Creamy Pumpkin Pasta Sauce. It has a really unique flavor, and the creamy sauce comes together in less than 5 minutes. All you have to do is add a few ingredients into a blender to blend until smooth! You can find the full recipe for the pumpkin sauce here. Now let’s get to this savory pumpkin recipe!

Why you’ll love this Creamy Pumpkin Pasta Recipe

• This recipe is so so easy to make. The pumpkin pasta is so easy to make. You simply have to blend some pumpkin purée with a handful of ingredients like garlic, vegetable broth and some heavy cream. You can even make this sauce a few days in advance! You can use a can of pumpkin puree or even homemade pumpkin puree with fresh pumpkin. You can find a recipe for that here.
• This recipe uses heavy cream in the sauce, but you can make it with coconut milk so that this recipe can be dairy-free and you will have an equally flavorful sauce.
• I used hot Italian sausage, but you can also use turkey sausage, Italian chicken sausage, Italian pork sausage or even a plant-based alternative! There are some great spicy sausage alternatives out there!
• This creamy Pumpkin Pasta Recipe is the ultimate comfort food for a quick weeknight meal. You simply just have to cook pasta, brown some sausage, add the sauce and cooked pasta and bake!

What meat goes well with pumpkin?

Personally, I think pumpkin goes best with warm spicy meat, which is why I decided to go with sausage. You can use mild or spicy, but I feel like the little extra kick of heat from the hot Italian sausage really balances out the sweetness that you get from the pumpkin.

What you’ll need to make the Creamy Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

• 15 oz of canned pumpkin, 100% pure pumpkin purée
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp of kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1/4 cup of chicken broth
• a handful of fresh herbs, like fresh sage leaves, thyme or rosemary.
• 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese

You can find the step-by-step directions to make this simple sauce here. I also provide a few simple swaps to make the recipe dairy free and vegetarian-friendly. For example, swapping the chicken stock for vegetable broth.

Ingredient List to make the Pumpkin Pasta Recipe with Spicy Sausage

• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 375 g of crumbled Italian sausage, Sweet Italian Sausage also works!
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
• 140 g of goat cheese
• 1/2 cup of ricotta
• 1/4 of grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup of white wine, optional
• fresh sage, for garnish
• sour cream, optional

How to make this Creamy Pumpkin Pasta Recipe with Sausage

1. Preheat oven to 400 F, and in a large pot, cook pasta according to package directions for al dente. Reserve a decent amount of pasta water, about 1 cup of pasta water should be plenty. Drain pasta and set aside.
2. In a large skillet on medium heat, add oil and onion. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until soft.
3. Next add in the ground sausage and cook until browned. About 5 minutes on medium-high heat.
4. Optional: add in the white wine to help deglaze the bottom of the pot for extra flavor.
5. If you are using a deep skillet or cast iron skillet, you can add the cooked pasta and 1 cup of the pumpkin pasta sauce to the pan and mix to combine with a wooden spoon. If not, to the large pot of drained pasta, add the cooked ground sausage mixture and sauce. If too thick, add in a few tablespoons of pasta water to loosen up the sauce. Stir to combine and transfer to a large baking dish.
6. Sprinkle some of the grated parmesan cheese, a few spoonfuls of ricotta and some crumbled goat cheese on top the of the pasta.
7. Baking in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese melts, is bubbling and the edges of the pasta start to crisp.
8. Garnish is fresh sage leaves and serve!

This pasta bake can be made in advance. Place in the fridge for up to 3 days well coved in plastic wrap. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

What does pumpkin pasta sauce taste like?

Pumpkin pasta sauce tastes like Fall, but with a little spicy kick. For this recipe, it’s important to use pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. This recipe will be a little sweeter and there might be additional spices added that a pretty suited for baking rather than this savoury pumpkin pasta bake.

Does this Pumpkin Pasta Sauce Recipe use Cream or Milk?

For this recipe, I used heavy cream. But I’ve also tested it with coconut milk and plain oat milk. Both turned out fantastic. If using a non-dairy milk alternative, ensure you are using plain and not a vanilla-flavoured option.