Vegan Pumpkin Alfredo Pasta
Ingredients
- vegan pumpkin sauce
- 1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree 400g, 1 small pumpkin or butternut squash*
- 1 tbsp coconut oil or vegan butter
- 2 cloves garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 5 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 cup non-dairy milk or more as needed, *see recipe notes
- 1-2 tbsp tapioca starch optional, *see recipe notes
- 3-4 tbsp cashew butter optional
- to serve (optional)
- vegan parmesan cheese
- 14 oz pasta 400g, of your choice
Preparation
Prepare pumpkin purée
To make homemade pumpkin purée, cook a small pumpkin or squash in the oven, or on the stove or microwave until soft as directed in this recipe
Cook pasta
If serving the sauce with pasta, cook the pasta according to the packaging instructions until 'al dente'
Then drain, toss with a little oil and set aside
Make pumpkin sauce
To make the sauce, sauté the garlic in 1 tablespoon oil for a minute over medium heat, until fragrant
Add the soft cooked pumpkin along with sautéed garlic, smoked paprika, salt, nutritional yeast, non-dairy milk, tapioca flour*, and cashew butter if using to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy (or use an immersion stick blender)
Pour the sauce into a large pan and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until hot and slightly thickened
Taste and adjust seasonings
If it gets too thick, add a bit more non-dairy milk to thin)
Add cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to combine
Serve with vegan parmesan cheese and fresh basil or other toppings you like
Enjoy!
Notes
You can either make your own pumpkin purée or use 2 cups of canned pumpkin purée
If you want to serve the pumpkin sauce as a vegan cheese sauce, i suggest adding the tapioca starch because it helps to make the sauce thicker and
But if serving with pasta you could also omit it
Alternatively, you could substitute cornflour or arrowroot starch to thicken but this won’t be as stretchy
You can use your favorite non-dairy milk such as almond, cashew, soy, coconut or oat milk
