Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Pasta

This creamy vegan pumpkin pasta with roasted mushrooms, garlic, and herbs is fall on a plate and total cold-weather comfort food. Done in 30 minutes, it’s a great easy weeknight meal. We’re talking creamy without cashews, nondairy milk, or any processed ingredients!

Update: we’re still looking for a house, have an appointment tomorrow, and fingers crossed it works out. Toes too. The place we’re looking at doesn’t have space for a garden. I think lots of pots and a little experimentation will be good, though! Maybe next summer I’ll share an urban gardening series. Urban gardening in a town of 20,000.

I don’t think we’ll have space for pumpkins – but if you have any tips for growing winter squash in small spaces, let me know! If we get this place we’ll have some wooden fencing that the plants could climb up, but I’ve never tried growing heavy feeders like pumpkin in pots.

I was skeptical of this vegan pumpkin pasta during the testing phase. Anytime I’ve tried it before, it turned out too sweet. The thing is, in previous iterations, I tried it with almond or coconut milk, or nondairy cheese, or blended cashews – all bad ideas. Those tend to make already sweet pumpkin into a dessert instead of a main.

In this case, vegetable broth, olive oil, and lemon juice make up the base of the sauce along with the roasted pumpkin. Adding a little pasta water, what’s left after cooking the noodles, is the secret here. The starchiness keeps the sauce creamy without adding any unwanted sweetness.

This recipe was inspired by my pumpkin & mushroom shepherd’s pie. Essentially, I wanted the same thing in pasta form, because it’s awesome. And although I love some mac and cheese, this is a bit more refined and less “give me carbs now or I’ll die” kind of thing. Both good, just different.

To keep the mushrooms from getting rubbery, they’re roasted instead of pan-fried, along with garlic, spices, and herbs. The garlic is blended into the sauce. Then the pasta, sauce, and roasted mushrooms get mixed up along with a little rucola, and that’s it! I like to top it with some walnut pieces but you do you.

You can cook the mushrooms while the noodles cook and everything is cooked in about 20 minutes. With pretty minimal prep time you’re about 30 minutes away from some vegan pumpkin pasta. Not bad, right?!

I do roast the pumpkin myself ahead of time, which adds a bit to the time, but then you have extra pumpkin. Canned works too (but you can’t find it over here). Just cut the pumpkin in half, plop it down onto a baking sheet cut-side down, and roast in the oven for about an hour or until soft. Scoop the seeds out, then the flesh, and use it how you like.

If you’re not already at your pumpkin limit, here are some great recipes:
Pumpkin & Chocolate Layer Cake
Pumpkin Salad
Baked Pumpkin Falafel
Pumpkin Spice Latte
Pumpkin Spice Breakfast Cookies
Maple Pumpkin Pudding Chômeur
Creamy Pumpkin Polenta
Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Maybe you have an overload of pumpkin in your garden? In any case, it’s abundant at this time of year, and it never hurts to have a little more inspiration.

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