Pumpkin pasta with turkey sausage
Pumpkin pasta is something I am a huge fan of.
It makes the creamiest sauce and it’s not something you see every day.
You can make this year round; not just in the Fall!
However, I can see why someone would see that pumpkin pasta is reserved for Fall and I think that’s generally what we all think.
This pumpkin pasta is so creamy and flavorful. One of my favorite pasta shapes is used (bucatini) and it grips the sauce so well and I like that it’s thicker than regular spaghetti.
Tips for making this creamy pasta dish
- Use fresh herbs! There is nothing better than fresh herbs in a recipe.
- Use fresh seasoned turkey sausage; it helps bring out the flavors of this dish.
Can I use something other than turkey sausage?
Ground turkey or ground chicken would be a great alternative. You want leaner meats for this dish because I feel heavier alternatives like ground beef would overpower the delicate and creamy flavor of this dish.
You can.
I can’t have alcohol
You can omit and use pasta water.
Is there a substitute for heavy cream?
You can either omit it or use whole milk.
I haven’t tried this with a dairy alternative but I imagine almond or oat milk would work as well.
Other pumpkin pasta recipes that you may like:
Cheesy pumpkin and spicy sausage stuffed shells
Pumpkin mascarpone orecchiette with spicy sausage and broccolini
Whole wheat gnocchi with brown butter and sage pumpkin sauce
Pumpkin baked ziti with sage and sausage
Pumpkin Pasta with Turkey Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh mild Italian turkey sausage
- 3/4 pound bucatini pasta
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 4-6 leaves sprigs of fresh sage, sliced into chiffonade
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Parmesan cheese, grated to top
Instructions
- In a pot, bring water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente then drain it and set aside.
- In a large skillet, brown sausage until cooked through. Remove from skillet and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the minced garlic and onion and cook until soft & fragrant – about 5 minutes.
- Add in the bay leaf, sage, and wine and cook until wine reduces by half, about 2 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and pumpkin puree and stir to mix well. Stir in the cream then add the sausage back in.
- Season with cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and let simmer until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.
- Add in the pasta and stir to get the sauce coated on all the pasta.
- Serve hot (remember to remove the bay leaf) with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Notes
Photos by Jamie Vespa
Looks delicious! Saving this one for sure.
You should come and live over here, apart from one of my American colleagues who has brought in some chocolates, you wouldn’t know it was Halloween at all!
Love the idea this pasta with the turkey sausage and the richness from the pumpkin. So delicious!
Yum! Ive never tried pumpkin in a savory dish either, but now Im really curious! We may have to give it a try! Happy Halloween! :)
This looks fantastic! Glad you’re doing okay during Sandy. xo
I’m not a big fan of the dressing up part of Halloween either, but I do like handing out candy to the kids. Hope you guys have fun tonight! The pasta sounds awesome, I’ve been meaning to try a savory pumpkin dish this fall too!
This looks wonderful!!! So glad you all made it through the storm ok. (And I’ll be happily handing out candy and NOT dressing up tonight!) :)
I love savory pumpkin pastas but have never tried a non-vegetarian version. Yours looks tasty! And I dressed up as a bum/hobo one year as a lazy teen with my friends, too! HAHAHA!
We are recipe twins! Just made a lovely pumpkin and sausage pasta last night (I used Trader’s Joe’s precooked chicken sausage–so good and so convenient!).
Have fun handing out candy to the kiddos. I live in an apartment complex in an urban area, so I’m sad to be missing out. Somehow little kids always make holidays more fun/festive. Hope the same is true for you!
PUMPKIN FOR THE WIN!! We really are bloggy twins. I’d love a big ol’ plate of this while I procrastinate on my work today.
Oh maaahh gosh. This looks outrageously delicious, Julie! So comforting. I want a never-ending bowl.
This looks delish – I love pumpkin in savory dishes!
I’m totally with you on the scantily clad ladies thing. Seriously, I looked for a mary poppins costume one year and they were all the short skirt things. GET OVER IT PEOPLE!!! You look like you just want attention. BOOO. ;) OH, and this looks delicious. Hope you are well!
I’ve made this recipe before (saw it somewhere) and love it. I use spiral pasta, though, so the sauce has more to stick to. Great stuff.
I *LOVE* dressing up! I dress up even if it’s not Halloween. haha I’m such a kid at heart.
I made a pumpkin pasta sauce this year too and it was so delicious! You wouldn’t think so, but it was. This looks great!
Oh, I should’ve mentioned that I make my own costumes. Original ideas with everything fitting properly. I’m not popping out anywhere and everything is a decent length. Want me to send you pictures? =)
Hahaha, all the “cool” kids in my town growing up who didn’t want to dress up but still wanted candy went as bums. Clearly this was an adolescent theme!
I’m with you. I’ve never been a huge Halloween person myself either. But wait until you have a kid and you will love it, for totally different reasons.
Glad you are OK over there on the soggy coast!
Delicious! I love how you put everything together on the plate. I totally get your point – I’m not into Halloween. Each year, I tend to dress casually or…be creative by using whatever I/ my friends have, lol. But for sure, not spending $$ on costumes alone.
I made something similar to this last year, so good! Pumpkin is great in just about everything.
Yeah, I am not much for dressing up for Halloween either. The last time I did I was in college, and my roommate forced me to be “Baby Spice”. Yeah, not exactly my idea of a good time.
I hope you and Jason have a blast passing out candy!! I love doing it with Lance – I feel like it’s a very “married couple” thing to do ;) Our neighborhood doesnt get an insane number of Trick-or-Treaters but it’s still tons of fun!
Glad you’re all safe and sound! Love the idea of pumpkin in pasta.. I actually prefer savory pumpkin dishes! Also, for some reason I really love the composition of these photos :)
This looks great! … I love fresh sage. BTW, thanks for bringing us in the halloween treats: The pecan bar was absolutely incredible, and I’m saving the molasses gingersnap cookie to share with Teri when I get home. Can’t wait to read those blog entries, too :)
This sounds so hearty but still light and healthy. I loovvveeee sage!
Boy is it a relief to hear someone say that. I am SO not into Halloween. Haven’t gotten dressed up for it since I was a kid. I don’t feel like coming up with a costume or dressing up and it irks the hell out of me when people have costume only parties. I am, however, very into this pasta!
Happy Halloween, Julie! I’ve been dying to make pumpkin pasta this season – must do it!
And I feel the same way about this “holiday”… although I don’t mind all the candy floating around.
I’m always annoyed by the teenagers and their lack of costumes. They start out nice and get ruder as the night goes on too.
My husband and I always joke that we are Halloween grinches :) Glad we aren’t the only ones! I made a pumpkin pasta weeks ago, and he announced he was done with “weird pumpkin recipes” for the season. I’m definitely not though…and could definitely be happy with this for myself!
Aw, I love Halloween! I love putting up decorations, candy, Hocus Pocus, lol. I’m not big on dressing up though. I refuse to do the slutty costume. I haven’t dressed up the last few years, but in previous years, my friend and I were dinosaurs, and then another was Jeff Goldblum, and then someone was the electric fence. And then the year after that, we were Jello and Pudding and my one friend was Bill Cosby…so yeah..lol
This is such a pretty dish! I love using pumpkin in pastas!
I’m not much of a halloween fan either! I seriously spent my Halloween night at the gym! And I think it’s so cute that you and Jason are passing out candy to the kids together for the first time! Now this pasta – YUM! I could seriously eat this all year long!
Hopefully you two had fun passing out candy last night! This pasta dish looks great!
Wow, your pumpkin pasta dish looks incredible!! Good stuff :)
This pasta looks absolutely mouthwatering! Tempting pics too! Well done!
I love your pasta dishes!!! I can’t wait to try this one :-)
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it! Yeah, those slutty costumes really annoy me!! Maybe I’m just jealous… lol. :)
This pasta dish just screams autumn! It looks absolutely delicious.
But… you can bake cute stuff! That’s the only reason I like Halloween. I don’t do the dressing up thing, though. :)
These looks so pretty. I’m not sure about savory pumpkin dishes yet. I think I need more convincing.
Oh, and I’m happy that the storm didn’t get you (that sounds weird but you know what I mean).
pumpkin and sage – a seriously uderrated combination in my opinion Julie! I am so glad you used the two together in this dish. You can go a long way with a pumpkin pasta dish and one that includes sage, cinnamon, nutmeg, and turkey sausage… oh man. Can I come over for dinner??? PS: I adore halloween but spending the money on a costume you will wear ONCE does totally blow. my flapper dress was $30 and i’m obvs never going to wear it again!!
I love anything pumpkin so this is my kind of pasta!
I really love the idea of making a recipe like this. You dont usually think pumpkin being in savory dishes (although the rest of the world doesnt think of pumpkin being used in sweet recipes), but it really does make for a great dish. I love the addition of the turkey sausage too. yum
Hi Julie! Me again. :) Wanted to let you know that I made this last night with some turkey sausage I picked up from Trader Joes. Kevin isn’t a fan of pumpkin so I made it for my friend and I. We LOVED it!!
So awesome, Sally! I feel so honored that you made one of my recipes! Turkey sausage with this pasta sounds super yum!! xo
Made this tonight and it was SO creamy and delicious! I chopped up the herbs for a more intense flavor and it turned out great! My nonvegan roommates also loved it
So happy to hear this!!