Vegan Pumpkin Pasta
on Aug 29, 2023, Updated Nov 04, 2025
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This creamy vegan pumpkin pasta recipe is easy to make in 20 minutes with just a few basic ingredients.
Whether you’re planning a date night at home, holiday meal, or a simple family dinner, this cozy fall dish is always a hit. Don’t forget the garlic bread for the perfect fall meal.
Why You’ll Love Vegan Pumpkin Pasta
There are a lot of reasons to love this quick and easy but beautiful dish! Here are a few of them:
- It takes just 20 minutes to make.
- It has the most delicious sweet and savory flavour.
- It’s vegan, can be gluten-free and can be oil-free.
- It’s made with just a few simple pantry ingredients.
- It’s a great use for canned pumpkin!
- You’ll love the comforting fall flavours.
- You can use the pumpkin sauce for other dishes!
Ingredient Notes
Below is a quick overview of what you’ll need to make the recipe and any substitutions you can make. Use the recipe card with the full list of ingredients and measurements at the bottom of the post when you’re ready to make the recipe.
- Pasta: Combine the pumpkin sauce with your choice of pasta shape such as penne, farfalle or orecchiete or rigatoni. You can use regular pasta, whole wheat pasta or gluten-free pasta.
- Pumpkin: Use canned pumpkin puree. I like Farmer’s Market or E.D. Smith brands. Make sure it’s pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling.
- Coconut Milk: Use canned full-fat coconut milk. You can substitute light coconut milk or cashew cream if you prefer but full-fat coconut milk works well for a creamy sauce.
- Vegan Butter: Use your choice of plant-based butter or regular butter, or you can substitute olive oil. If you prefer an oil-free recipe, you can omit the oil and use some broth to cook though I’d suggest using butter here for the best flavour.
- Garlic: Use fresh/raw garlic for the best flavour. I wouldn’t recommend substitute garlic powder.
- Paprika: You can use regular paprika or smoked paprika to add a bit of smokiness to the sauce.
- Sage: Sage leaves are nice for serving but optional.
Additions and Variations
- Fresh herbs. Fresh herbs like basil, sage, rosemary and thyme are lovely in this recipe. Add 2-3 tbsp finely chopped fresh herbs when you add the paprika.
- Cheesy: Mix up to 1/4 cup shredded cheese such as cheddar or mozzarella, or 1-2 tbsp nutritional yeast into the sauce for a cheesy flavour.
- Mushroom Pumpkin Pasta: Sauté a variety of mushrooms like cremini, shiitake, or oyster mushrooms before starting until they’re softened and brown. Remove them from the pan then stir them back in at the end when you add the pasta.
- Spicy Pumpkin Pasta: Add up to 1 tsp red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper for some heat.
- Spinach Pumpkin Pasta: Add in 1-2 cups fresh spinach or kale at the end.
- Roasted Vegetable Pumpkin Pasta: Roast a mix vegetables like Brussels sprouts, carrots, and bell peppers and stir in at end.
- Sausage: Brown plant-based sausage of choice before starting the recipe then remove from the pan and add back in at the end.
- Substitute canned butternut squash puree, homemade squash puree, or sweet potato puree for the pumpkin.
How to Make Vegan Pumpkin Pasta
Step 1: Start boiling water to cook your choice of pasta. Don’t forget to salt the water! Get that cooking as soon as the water boils and cook until al dente according to the package instructions. Reserve some of the pasta water before draining.
Step 2: Sauté the garlic. Melt the vegan butter in a large skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the garlic and cook it for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Step 3: Add the canned pumpkin, coconut milk, paprika and salt. Stir it well then let it simmer over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes until thick and creamy. If you’d like to make the fried sage, you can do that now while the sauce is cooking.
Step 4: Reserve some of the pasta water before draining. Once the pasta is done and drained, add it to the pan with the sauce and stir to combine. To add extra creaminess and adjust the consistency of the sauce, stir in a little of the reserved water at the end.
Enjoy your delicious pumpkin pasta with crispy sage and fresh cracked black pepper.
Recipe FAQs
You can use any kind of pasta but I like short shapes for this sauce such as penne, ziti, rotini, orecchiette, farfalle, macaroni or fusilli. That being said, you can definitely use linguini, spaghetti, pappardelle or fettuccini too!
Yes! The pumpkin pasta sauce itself is naturally gluten-free so simply combine with your favourite gluten-free pasta such as brown rice, quinoa or chickpea pasta.
Yes! To make this recipe low-carb, use zucchini noodles, carrot noodles or spaghetti squash instead of pasta. For higher-protein pasta, though not low-carb, use edamame pasta, lentil pasta or chickpea pasta.
I think unsweetened almond milk would be too thin unless you use thick homemade almond milk. If you can’t do coconut milk, I suggest homemade cashew cream.
Prepare cashew cream by soaking 1 cup of raw cashews in boiled water for 1 hour then blending with 1 cup of water and using it to replace the coconut milk.
After you stir it into the pumpkin, you can add a bit more water or vegetable stock to adjust the consistency.
Sure! You’ll need about 1.5 cups of pumpkin puree to replace the canned pumpkin.
Just make sure your homemade puree is nice and smooth. If it’s not, process the puree using an immersion blender, food processor high speed blender beforehand to make sure it’s nice and creamy.
Yes. This recipe can be doubled without additional adjustments.
How to Fry Sage
To serve your pasta with crispy sage:
- Remove the fresh sage leaves from the stem, wash and and pat them dry.
- Warm some vegan butter or olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.
- Once hot, add the sage leaves in a single layer.
- Fry for 30-60 seconds until the edges start to darken.
- Flip and cook another minute until they’ve darkened and are crispy.
Storing & Reheating
- You can make the sauce in advance, reheat and mix in your choice of pasta.
- Leftover pasta can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat leftovers in a saucepan over medium-low until heated through, stirring in a little bit of water, milk or vegetable broth to thin the sauce as it will thicken after storing.
- You can also reheat pumpkin pasta in the microwave.
If you try this Vegan Pumpkin Pasta or any other recipe on Running on Real Food, don’t forget to leave a comment and a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comment section below. It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe, and I love to hear from you. And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @runningonrealfood so I can see your creation! Thanks for trying my recipes! – Deryn
More Recipes to Try!
Pasta and Noodles
Cold Asian Noodle Salad
Pasta and Noodles
Vegan One Pot Pasta
Pasta and Noodles
Zucchini Noodle Stir Fry
Pasta and Noodles
Vegan Carbonara
Vegan Pumpkin Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb penne pasta or other pasta of choice, 454 g
- 1 ½ tbsp vegan butter , 22 g
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin purée
- 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk
- ¾ tsp paprika
- ¾ tsp salt
- Fresh or crispy sage leaves, for serving, optional
Instructions
- Cook Pasta: Cook the pasta in salted water according to package directions. Once cooked, reserve a little of the pasta water then drain the pasta.1 lb penne pasta or other pasta of choice
- Heat Butter and Saute Garlic: Meanwhile, melt the vegan butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute or two, until fragrant.1 ½ tbsp vegan butter , 2 garlic cloves
- Cook Sauce: Stir in the pumpkin purée, coconut milk, paprika and salt. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.1 can (15 oz) pumpkin purée , 1 can (14 oz) coconut milk, ¾ tsp paprika, ¾ tsp salt
- Add Pasta to Sauce: Add the cooked pasta to the pumpkin cream sauce. Stir to thoroughly combine. If you'd like to adjust the consistency, add a little bit of the pasta cooking water you reserved. If not, that can be discarded.
- Serve: Garnish with fresh or crispy sage leaves if using, and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published on August 28, 2017.
An actual GOOD recipe using the ENTIRE can of pumpkin, not just half. Yesss. This was so good! Thank you! I topped mine with a little miokos mozz for added saltiness and it was delish!
Thanks for trying it!
Yum!! I used some Gouda squash from my garden, and because I have so much I used about 2 cups of puree. I also used light coconut milk and added about 2tsp of Thai red curry paste to the garlic along with a pinch of red pepper flakes. It alone tasted like an amazing pumpkin soup! Then I only half cooked my pasta, and added the sauce to the drained pasted and allowed the pasta to absorb the extra liquid instead of trying to cook it off. That worked out beautifully. Bookmarked this recipe!
This was delicious! I just found my new favorite pasta recipe!
Oh, this sounds yummy! Do you know if I could use garlic powder as a replacement for garlic?
Hi, you could but this recipe really shines with raw garlic. If you want to use garlic powder, use 1 tsp and add it when you add the pumpkin and coconut milk. Thanks!
This was delicious. Thank you! I seasoned with a little more salt, basil red pepper flakes and crushed black pepper.
This was delicious and easy-peasy (and perfect for my lactose-intolerant daughter)! I doubled the amount of garlic; next time I’ll probably swap smoked paprika for the regular one as well. This is definitely going into dinner rotation!
This was so yummy. I just was wondering if the sauce can be frozen? I cook for one person, so I have left over sauce.
Hi Carolina! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Yes, you can freeze the sauce. Let it cool then store it in a freezer-safe container. Thaw in the fridge then reheat on the stovetop. Thanks!
This is SO good! It’s fine as is, but I made a few modifications. Per others’ comments, I added a bit of lime juice for acid and some rubbed Dalmatian sage to the sauce as it was cooking. I cooked it down a bit longer (about 20 minutes) so that it would thicken a bit. I also shredded some smoked Cheddar (of course, you could use vegan cheese) and added just a touch to mine as a topping. My husband added real bacon bits to his. Oh my.
Thank you for this recipe!
This is so amazing and easy to make! Never going back to boxed vegan Mac and cheese again! Highly recommend!!