Pumpkin Ricotta Pasta

This Pumpkin Ricotta Pasta recipe is the BEST comforting autumn dinner. Made with pure pumpkin, sage, thyme, ricotta and pasta of your choice, this vegetarian dinner recipe comes together quickly and easily. Put this meal together in under 40 minutes for a new fall favorite!

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Diet Vegetarian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Total Time 35

Servings people

Calories 599kcal

Author Mara

Ingredients

1 pound medium pasta of your choice
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion
3-4 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
12 fresh sage leaves
1.5 sticks unsalted butter
2-3 tablespoons milk powder optional
15 ounces pumpkin puree
¾ cup ricotta cheese
½ cup pasta water I recommend saving about 1.5 cups total and use more as needed to create sauce texture of your choice
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

Prep ingredients - slice onions, pull thyme + sage, and crush garlic. Begin boiling water to cook pasta.
Cook Onions - In a large pot or large skillet, add olive oil and heat over high-medium heat. Add in sliced onion and cook until slightly tender.
Add-in Seasonings - Add in garlic, thyme and sage and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant and garlic becomes slightly brown.
Brown Butter + Cook Pasta - Add in butter with milk powder and stir with a silicone spatula continuously. The mixture should foam up and only turn off the heat once you see golden brown flecks on the bottom of the pan. Around this time, cook pasta al dente according to package directions. SAVE 1.5 cups pasta water and set aside.
Add Pumpkin - Add in pumpkin puree and quickly stir until ingredients are distributed.
Blend Sauce - Add the pumpkin mixture, ricotta cheese, salt, pepper, chili flakes, nutmeg and ½ cup of pasta water to high powered blender or food processor. Blend for 1-2 minutes until sauce is smooth and velvety. Add additional pasta water a few tablespoons at a time if needed to get desired consistency.
Toss + Serve - Add pasta sauce to pasta back on heat until pasta is hot. Taste, re-season as needed. Serve and enjoy. Optionally, top with parmesan cheese.

Notes

Cook the pasta in salted water - adds flavor but helps glue the pasta and sauce together; it will also help thicken the sauce.

Reverse pasta cooking water - the starch in the water helps the sauce cling to the pasta and will help create our pasta sauce and adds additional flavor.

Don't overcook the pasta - pasta should be cooked al dente as it will cook when drained and tossed in the pumpkin ricotta sauce.

Add vegetables or protein for a more filling dish - you can cook up some vegetables like mushrooms or spinach or crisp up pancetta to make the pasta more filling.

Carefully watch the brown butter - Do not leave the butter unattended as you need to continually stir to make sure that the butter does not burn. It is very easy to burn the butter as it will turn from amber to burnt in a matter of seconds. Burnt butter has an almost bitter taste, whereas browned butter will taste rich and nutty. You'll know if you have burned the butter if there are BLACK specks instead of amber/brown flecks. I recommend once you get the brown butter you serve to immediately turn off the heat and add in pumpkin and stir to help cool down the mixture.

Why does my pumpkin/pasta have a metallic like taste? Pumpkin from a can, can sometimes have a metallic taste. It's why I add the pumpkin to the pan with the brown butter as it absorbs the flavors and slightly cooks from the residual heat. However, you can cook it longer if needed.

Nutritional information for this recipe is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. Please calculate your own nutritional information if you want it exact to what you make and use my calculations as a guide only.

Nutrition