One-Pot Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

Lauren Shockey
Lauren Shockey
Lauren Shockey is a New York City-based food writer and trained cook. She is the author of the recently released cookbook, Hangover Helper: Delicious Cures from Around the World (Hardie Grant, 2019) and the culinary memoir with recipes, Four Kitchens: My Life Behind the Burner…read more
updated Mar 20, 2020
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Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Stylist: Cyd McDowell

This vegetarian one-pot pasta, which is made with mostly pantry staples, is ready in 15 minutes flat.

Serves4

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Post Image
Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Stylist: Cyd McDowell

Whether you grabbed a can of pumpkin purée as you were stocking up at the store or you’ve got a can leftover from Thanksgiving, you might be wondering how to put it to good use (if you don’t want to bake a pie, that is). Allow us to suggest this vegetarian one-pot pasta, which is made with mostly pantry staples and is ready in 15 minutes flat.

While most one-pot pastas are made with linguine, pretty much any pasta shape will work, so long as it’s not too large (rigatoni can be tricky, for instance) and that you have the right proportion of cooking liquid to noodles. Here, we’re using 12 ounces penne, 4 cups of broth, and 1 cup of water.

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Stylist: Cyd McDowell

3 Tips For One-Pot Pumpkin Pasta

  1. Add the rosemary and mascarpone towards the end of cooking. The prep for this five-ingredient dinner couldn’t be easier: dump the penne, broth, water, and pumpkin purée into a large pot, crank up the heat, and boil. Wait to stir in the rosemary and mascarpone cheese until the noodles are nearly done, which will keep the rosemary fresh and prevent the mascarpone from curdling. If you don’t have mascarpone, use softened cream cheese instead.
  2. Use a large enough pot. When making one-pot pastas, make sure that you use a large enough pot so that there’s ample room for the noodles to absorb the liquid and not get dried out. We prefer one with low sides, like this one.
  3. Stir the noodles often. To ensure they aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan, stir the noodles often as they cook.

One-Pot Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

This vegetarian one-pot pasta, which is made with mostly pantry staples, is ready in 15 minutes flat.

Serves 4

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons

    finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

  • 12 ounces

    dried penne pasta

  • 1 (32-ounce) box

    vegetable broth

  • 1 cup

    canned pumpkin purée

  • 1 cup

    water

  • 1/4 cup

    mascarpone cheese

  • 1/4 teaspoon

    freshly ground black pepper

  • Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Instructions

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  1. Strip the leaves and finely chop until you have 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves.

  2. Place 12 ounces dried penne, 1 (32-ounce) box vegetable broth, 1 cup canned pumpkin purée, and 1 cup water in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid is almost completely evaporated, about 11 minutes. Stir in the rosemary, 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Cook until the pasta is tender and coated with a silky sauce, about 2 minutes more. Serve topped with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Recipe Notes

Storage: Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 4 days.