Hey everyone! Let’s continue on the theme of eating seasonally this fall with one of my favorite ways to eat pasta: with pumpkin puree. This throws a lot of people because pumpkin is inherently sweet, and the thought of putting it in pasta weirds people out. I totally get it- when you think of pumpkin, you think of pie. What’s great about this vegan pumpkin pasta sauce recipe is that it is beautifully balanced and packed full of flavor, to give a hint of pumpkin while still maintaining savory integrity.
Why you will love this pasta sauce
Imagine your classic spaghetti with marinara, but instead of a tomato base, you get all the familiar hearty flavors of autumn in a creamy sauce. We’re going to create a soy milk bechamel base, before adding in our fall flavors, including pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, some cayenne to balance out the sweetness from the pumpkin, and vegan onion base from Better Than Bouillon. I use all their vegan bases and my favorites are the onion (which is what I used here) and the vegan chicken. So just from this list of spices you get sweet, savory, and heat. And that’s a beautiful balance.
Our star ingredients
Pumpkin- Of course we can’t have a pumpkin sauce without a good pumpkin puree. Make sure you have puree and not pumpkin pie filling, which is simply loaded with sugar and will surely destroy your sauce. You’re going to add this to the béchamel base along with several spices
Spices- I chose to include cinnamon and nutmeg as the seasonal spices for this dish. I played around with other fall classic spices like cloves and allspice, but they came out a little too sharp for my liking and I found the dish better off without them.
Bouillon– I’ve really been loving Better than Bouillon‘s new vegan onion base lately. It works to add a savory and umami punch to this dish. Pro tip: while these products are made to be dissolved in water to make broth, I find them to be just as tasty as a general flavor enhancer.
Caramelized onions- Speaking of umami, a big part of the flavor in this pasta is the slow caramelized onion. It turns dark brown, tender, and absolutely delicious. I recommend not skimping on the vegan butter to make this, because caramelized onions is the hill I will absolutely die on.
How to make vegan pumpkin pasta sauce
The first thing to do is set your onions to caramelize. They will be slow caramelizing for 25 minutes on low heat to achieve the proper results. Don’t crank up the heat and try to speed up the process- trust me, I have tried and ended up with less than ideal results.
Add a generous chunk of vegan butter, so it’s enough to melt and coat an entire large julienned yellow onion. Then set it aside to simmer for 25 minutes with the lid on and stir every 3-4 minutes or so.
Next, start on your béchamel, which starts with a roux containing oil, garlic, and flour. Whisk in milk, and when the mixture becomes slightly thicker, add in all the flavor enhancers.
Then nothing to do but add cooked pasta directly from the starchy pasta water. I used spaghetti, but the type of pasta isn’t the most important thing here, so use whatever you have.
Top it with your caramelized onions and garnish it as you like. I added red chili flakes, because spice is my entire personality, and some chopped cilantro for color.
Ingredients
- 2-3 tbsp vegan butter
- 1 large yellow onion, julienned
- 12 oz dried spaghetti
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 1/2 cup soy milk
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp cayenne
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp white/rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Better Than Bouillon vegan onion base
- Salt, to taste
- Crushed red pepper, to taste
- Lime, squeezed, to taste
- Cilantro, to garnish
Method
- Sauté the julienned onions in vegan butter until all the pieces are coated. Turn down the heat to medium low, cover, and let it caramelize. Toss every 3-4 minutes to prevent burning.
- Cook pasta of choice per package instructions in salted water, and reserve a cup of starchy water.
- In a large saute pan, add the oil and garlic and saute until fragrant.
- Add the flour and stir until well combined and the roux turns a light brown color.
- Whisk in the soy milk and turn the heat down, letting it simmer until it thickens enough to loosely coat the back of a spoon.
- Add in pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne, oregano, vinegar and bouillon paste. Whisk until well combined.
- Add salt to taste.
- Add cooked pasta and reserved water to the sauce and mix well.
- Add in caramelized onions.
- Lastly, add in as much crushed red pepper, lime juice and cilantro as your heart desires.
