One-Pot Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

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.

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.