This creamy pumpkin mac and cheese recipe comes collectively in one pot. It’s actually fairly straightforward to make. You don’t even drain the pasta cooking water.
Because of the pumpkin, this dish is additional creamy, golden and flavorful. Naturally, it’s lighter than your typical selfmade mac and cheese. On cool fall evenings, this mac and cheese will heat you up with out placing you to sleep.
This straightforward autumnal pasta recipe will delight the entire household. Leftovers reheat nicely for the subsequent few days, and even freeze nicely sufficient for our toddler’s future meals.
This recipe is a by-product of my Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese recipe, which has been an enormous hit. Whereas that recipe depends on roasted butternut squash for depth of taste, this recipe requires canned pumpkin purée.
To make up for the roasted taste, this recipe advantages from deeply toasting spices in butter—pumpkin spice mix, garlic powder and onion powder. Then, we prepare dinner a can of pumpkin purée within the flavored butter for a minute earlier than including pasta and water. Afterward, we’ll stir in some cream cheese, sharp cheddar cheese and Parmesan. The top result’s magical.
Pumpkin Mac and Cheese Elements
You’ll discover the complete recipe under. Right here’s what it is best to learn about the important thing components earlier than you head to the shop.
Canned Pumpkin Puree
This recipe conveniently makes use of up one complete can of pumpkin purée. You should definitely purchase plain pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling, which comprises sugar and spices.
Not all canned pumpkin purée is created equal. I’ve loved this recipe with Complete Meals 365 model, and Libby’s is reliably good as nicely.
Brief-Lower Pasta
You’ve fairly just a few choices right here. For finest outcomes, select a noodle that cooks in about 8 minutes or much less, in accordance with the bundle instructions. We used casarecce for these photographs, or you may use macaroni noodles for a extra conventional mac and cheese look. Different choices embrace cavatelli, fusilli, pipe rigate, and so forth. To make this recipe gluten free, we efficiently used Jovial model’s brown rice-based fusilli.
Tip: “Brief-cut” pasta refers to compact noodle shapes, versus lengthy strands like spaghetti or fettuccine.
Cream Cheese
We’ll stir cream cheese instantly into the pot. The cream cheese makes this pasta extremely creamy, flippantly tangy, and splendid. You’ll use half of an ordinary block of cream cheese for this recipe. Unfold the additional on tomorrow morning’s toast!
Cheddar Cheese and Parmesan
Use a top quality, sharp cheddar cheese so you may actually style the cheddar in the long run end result. Parmesan cheese additional amps up the flavour. Mud your particular person servings with just a little extra Parmesan, in case you’d like.
Tip: Grate your personal cheese reasonably than shopping for pre-shredded cheese. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in powder that may trigger the cheese to clump when it melts (plus it’s dearer, per ounce).
Butter and Spices
You’ll additionally want butter, pumpkin spice mix, garlic and onion powder, water and salt. Pumpkin spice mix is totally key on this recipe as a result of pumpkin alone doesn’t provide a lot taste.
Tip: See the notice under the recipe to make your personal pumpkin spice mix from floor cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove or allspice. You can also make precisely as a lot as you want for this recipe by following the notice, or comply with my pumpkin spice mix recipe to make additional spice mix in your pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins.
Watch Tips on how to Make Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
Serving Strategies
Serve a inexperienced salad on the facet. Strive my Tremendous Easy Arugula Salad, Favourite Inexperienced Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Pepitas, or any improvised salad with a traditional French dressing.
This recipe yields a variety of pasta (eight servings). It reheats nicely for packed lunches and leftover dinners. I’ve even frozen the leftovers in this huge silicone ice dice tray—as soon as reheated within the microwave, the feel isn’t fairly the identical, nevertheless it’s nonetheless good sufficient for our toddler to take pleasure in.
Love this pumpkin mac and cheese?
Listed below are extra savory squash recipes to attempt. For pumpkin treats, try my pumpkin recipe roundup.
Please let me understand how your pumpkin mac and cheese seems within the feedback! I really like listening to from you.
Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
- Creator:
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Prepare dinner Time: 20 minutes
- Complete Time: half-hour
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Class: Pasta
- Methodology: Stovetop
- Delicacies: American
- Food regimen: Vegetarian
Creamy pumpkin mac and cheese will heat you up on cool fall evenings. This straightforward autumnal pasta recipe comes collectively in a single pot and tastes unbelievable. Recipe yields 8 servings (rather a lot!) and leftovers are nice.
Scale
Elements
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin spice mix*
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
- 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 pound short-cut pasta (pipe regate, macaroni noodles, casarecce, cavatelli, fusilli)
- 5 cups water
- 1 teaspoon advantageous salt, to style
- 4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- 8 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- ½ cup (2 ounces) finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
Directions
- Soften the butter in a big pot or Dutch oven over medium warmth. Add the pumpkin spice, garlic and onion powders and prepare dinner for two to 4 minutes, stirring usually, till the butter may be very aromatic and also you see many little brown flecks within the pan. Stir within the pumpkin and let it prepare dinner for a minute, whereas stirring.
- Pour within the pasta, water and salt. Cowl the pot and convey it to a boil over excessive warmth. As soon as boiling, take away the lid and set the timer for 8 minutes.
- Prepare dinner, stirring usually (extra usually because the time goes on), till the timer goes off. Don’t drain the water. Stir within the cream cheese. Prepare dinner till the cream cheese has melted and the pasta is al dente (cautious once you style, it’s fairly sizzling), about 4 to five extra minutes. Flip down the warmth as essential to keep away from scorching however keep a gentle simmer.
- Scale back the warmth to low. Add the cheddar and Parmesan, and stir till the combination is melted and creamy. Take away the pot from the warmth.
- Season with salt, to style (I often add ¼ teaspoon or extra). Serve the pasta in bowls with additional Parmesan grated on prime, if desired. Leftovers hold nicely, lined and refrigerated, for as much as 5 days (or freezes comparatively nicely for as much as 3 months).
Notes
Recipe tailored from my Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese.
*Pumpkin spice quantities: To make simply sufficient pumpkin spice for this recipe, use ¾ teaspoon floor cinnamon, ½ teaspoon floor ginger, ¼ teaspoon floor nutmeg, and just a little pinch of allspice or cloves.
Make it gluten free: Gluten-free pastas fluctuate extensively. Select a spiral-shaped gluten-free brown rice pasta, equivalent to fusilli, over different pasta sorts (my tester was happy with Jovial model). Stir gently and don’t prepare dinner the pasta any longer than mandatory or it might begin to lose its form.
▸ Diet Data
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