Fresh Erica

cooking, food, and health-supportive recipes

Penne with Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Sage Sauce

by

I made this sauce for the first time on a chilly November evening when I was short on time and happened to have half a can of puréed pumpkin hanging out in my fridge begging to be used. I eyeballed the ingredients I had on hand, tossed them into the blender, blitzed the contents until it was completely smooth, and had one of those cooking miracles where a shockingly satisfying dinner came together in literally 10 minutes. And it only took that long because the pasta had to boil! Since that night, my spouse requests this dish regularly throughout the year, but I tend to save it for the cooler months, when the tannic, herbaceous taste of sage paired with a simple can of pumpkin purée feels extra comforting. It’s vegan, but almost by accident—you won’t miss the dairy at all.

This recipe first appeared in In Harmony: Autumn, my fall-focused and meal-prep-appropriate recipe e-book. If you'd like to take a look at that, head here. And if you'd like to purchase all four of the In Harmony seasonal ebooks at a big discount, you can head this way.

Interested in seeing me cook this dish as a part of a HUGE meal prep for fall? You can take a peek at this video. And you can get the lowdown on the entire meal prep including the game plan, the rest of the recipe links, and some suggested remixes by heading this way...

Print Recipe

Penne with Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Sage Sauce

Cook Time10 mins

Ingredients

  • 12 oz. box penne (or short pasta shape of choice)
  • 14 oz. can unsweetened pumpkin purée
  • ½ cup raw cashews (see note)
  • ½ cup plain almond or oat milk
  • 2 sprigs fresh sage stems discarded
  • 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 2 tsp unseasoned rice vinegar (seasoned will be fine as well)
  • ½ tsp sea salt (plus more to taste)
  • Freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

  • Cook penne to al dente per package instructions.
  • Meanwhile, combine pumpkin purée, cashews, milk, 3-4 leaves sage, nutritional yeast, rice vinegar, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper in your blender. Blend on high until the consistency is very smooth.
  • Transfer the sauce to a small pot and heat over medium heat on the stove until it’s lightly simmering. Upon serving, toss the pasta with the sauce and top with additional sage leaves for garnish.

Notes

Note: if you have a very high powered blender (like a Vitamix or Blendtec), you can add your cashews in raw. If your blender isn’t quite as strong, plan ahead and soak your cashews either overnight in a quart of water, or by bringing a quart of water to a boil, adding the cashews, turning off the heat, and allowing them to soak 1-2 hours.
Meal prep storage: Store the pasta and sauce separately until you’re ready to serve. To reheat, toss the pasta with sauce and heat in the microwave or on the stove. You may want to add 1-2 tablespoons milk of choice to the sauce/pasta prior to reheating to adjust the texture to your liking.