Welcome back to #AKPumpkinWeek! Today I’m sharing a deliciously creamy pumpkin pasta bake that’s gonna knock your socks off.
Admittedly, pasta isn’t something I usually go for. Growing up, it wasn’t something that was on our dinner menu all that often. If anything, I had more noodles during my college years in the form of $1 creamy chicken ramen noodles with peas and extra cayenne pepper (thank you very much).
Even when Olive Garden was the place to be in high school, I’d find myself eating their warm breadsticks and endless salad bowls instead of a big old bowl of fettuccine alfredo. (Honestly though, how good are their glorious breadsticks?!)
Later on in life, I met my now husband, who adores pasta (he’s Italian so I can’t blame him). It’s taken me a bit of time to truly adore pasta but more recently I’ve fallen in love with how I’ve been able to incorporate veggies into our main pasta dishes; and admittedly, how easy it can be to throw a pot of pasta together when I’m feeling like I just wanna watch Billions.
For example a few weeks ago, I made a super creamy thai peanut butter pasta on Instagram; it was fabulous and literally took 30 minutes from start to finish. But before I bring you that recipe, we MUST start with this baked pumpkin pasta, guaranteed to make you cozy this fall and winter.
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Ingredients in healthy baked pumpkin pasta
This delicious pumpkin pasta bake has tons of incredible flavors thanks to the homemade pumpkin meat sauce and plenty of herbs and spices. Here’s everything you’ll need:
- Veggies: olive oil, garlic, white onion, red bell pepper & baby bella mushrooms.
- Meat: lean ground turkey, Italian seasoning, paprika, red pepper flakes (or cayenne pepper), nutmeg, salt & pepper.
- Sauce: your favorite red pasta sauce (I like marinara) & pumpkin puree.
- Cheese mixture: ricotta, fresh mozzarella and freshly grated parmesan.
- Pasta: I like using ziti noodles, but feel free to use any pasta shape you’d like. Gluten free if desired, too.
- To garnish: fresh parsley or sage and extra parmesan cheese.
Customize this healthy pumpkin pasta bake recipe
- Make vegetarian: use 1 can of white beans instead of the turkey. It will still be delicious! Just stir the beans into the tomato sauce/veggie mixture.
- Make gluten free: I suggest using your favorite gluten free pasta. I love Banza pasta brand.
- Add some veggies: feel free to throw in a few handfuls of spinach for a boost of veggies!
- Adjust the spice: this recipe isn’t spicy but if you’re extra sensitive to spice simply leave off the red pepper flakes. If you love spice (like me) garnish with extra red pepper flakes before serving!
Start with the best pumpkin pasta sauce
You see, sometimes pasta requires a little love and care to make it really, really good. So for the meat sauce, I started with a pumpkin puree infused marinara sauce mixed with turkey sausage, onion, garlic, mushrooms and red bell pepper. To make it:
- Cook down the veggies. Add olive oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the veggies and cook until they’re softened.
- Cook the meat. Next add in ground turkey, break up the meat, and cook until the turkey is no longer pink. Stir in all of those seasonings.
- Mix the sauce. Immediately add in the pasta sauce and pumpkin puree, stir it up, and simmer while you cook your pasta.
The sauce is SO delicious and slightly sweet, plus you get the benefit and simplicity of using your favorite jar of sauce and a can of pumpkin puree (or make your own here)!
How to make baked pumpkin pasta
- Cook the pasta. While your sauce simmers, cook your pasta until it’s just barely al-dente. Drain it, and rinse with cool water.
- Prep your pan. Grease an 8×8 inch pan (or 9×9 inch) with olive oil.
- Make your cheese mixture. In a large bowl, stir together all of the cheese until just combined. Stir in the cooked pasta and 2 cups of the meat sauce. Add a little salt and pepper and stir it up.
- Assemble the pasta bake. Add half of the pasta mixture to the prepared pan. Top with half of the remaining meat sauce and then half of the remaining mozzarella pieces. Repeat with remaining pasta, meat sauce, and mozzarella.
- Bake & devour. Bake it up until the pasta is bubbly, let stand for a few minutes, then sprinkle with extra parmesan and parsley before serving.
I love how the cheese isn’t overdone here, it’s well balanced and doesn’t leave you feeling heavy. You’ll end up with a bubbly pasta dish packed with veggies, lean ground meat and delicious pasta. It’s creamy and SO comforting and you get a BIG serving.
Make it ahead of time
If you’d like, you can freeze this recipe for later and reheat too! It makes excellent meal prep leftovers and is paired well with my famous crunchy herbed garlic bread.
- Prep it ahead of time: feel free to make this pumpkin pasta bake ahead of time and bake it a day or two later! Simply make the recipe as directed, cover with foil and place in fridge until ready to bake. You make need to add 5-10 minutes of extra baking time.
- Freezer friendly option: if you want to make this baked pumpkin pasta recipe ahead of time, simply make the recipe as directed, put it in a freezer-safe container pan like these, cover and place in the freezer until you’re ready to bake. Once ready to bake, thaw out the pumpkin pasta bake in the refrigerator overnight. Once thawed, bake as directed!
Storing tips
Store any leftover pumpkin pasta bake in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Simply reheat leftovers in the microwave until warm. Otherwise, follow the freezing instructions above!
More healthy pumpkin recipes you’ll love
- Slow Cooker Black Bean Pumpkin Turkey Chili
- Spicy Black Bean Chicken Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sour Cream Sauce
- Nourishing Yellow Chickpea Pumpkin Curry with Coconut Brown Rice
- Slow Cooker Pumpkin Peanut Butter Chicken Soup
- Vegetarian Spinach Pumpkin Lasagna
Get all of my pumpkin recipes here!
I hope you love this saucy baked pumpkin pasta recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Saucy Baked Pumpkin Pasta
Ingredients
- For the sauce:
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 white onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms
- 1 pound 94% lean ground turkey*
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or a dash of cayenne pepper)
- Pinch of nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 (25 ounce) jar marinara pasta sauce (or whatever sauce you love best)
- 1 cup pumpkin puree*
- 8 ounces ziti or pasta of choice (use gluten free pasta if GF)
- For the cheese mixture:
- 1 cup part-skim ricotta
- 6 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into small bite sized pieces and divided (you can also use about 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese)
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- To garnish:
- Fresh chopped parsley or sage
- Extra parmesan
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a large pot and place over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onions, red bell pepper and mushrooms and saute until onions begin to soften and mushrooms cook down, about 4-5 minutes.
- Next add in ground turkey, breaking up the meat, and cook until turkey is no longer pink. Add in the seasonings: italian seasoning, paprika, red pepper flakes, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Stir for about 30 seconds. to incorporate seasonings into the meat, then immediately add in the pasta sauce and pumpkin puree. Stir together, and reduce heat to low and simmer while you cook your pasta.
- Add water to a large pot of water and add a pinch of salt. Once boiling, add your pasta and cook until pasta is just barely al-dente. We want the pasta to have a nice bite to it. Once pasta is cooked, drain, then rinse with cool water.
- While the pasta cooks: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 inch pan (or 9x9 inch) with olive oil. Set aside.
- Next make your cheese mixture: In a large bowl, stir together the ricotta, ½ of the mozzarella pieces and parmesan cheese until just combined. Stir in the cooked pasta and 2 cups of the meat sauce. Add a little salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.
- Add half of the pasta mixture to the prepared pan. Top with half of remaining meat sauce and then half of remaining mozzarella pieces. Repeat with remaining pasta, meat sauce and mozzarella.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until pasta is bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with extra parmesan and parsley before serving. Serves 6-8.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
71 comments
Does this work with brown rice noodles?!
Sure!
Does this work with brown rice noodles?!
Sure!
This looks so good! 🙂 Trying to pin it and keep getting “Sorry! This site doesn’t allow you to save Pins.” I’ve tried using the Pinterest link on the photos and also this link https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/saucy-baked-pumpkin-pasta/ on the Pinterest website with the same message. Any ideas? Thanks!
Hi Ana! We’re working on a fix for the Pin buttons, but for now you can click here to pin the recipe 🙂
This looks so good! 🙂 Trying to pin it and keep getting “Sorry! This site doesn’t allow you to save Pins.” I’ve tried using the Pinterest link on the photos and also this link https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/saucy-baked-pumpkin-pasta/ on the Pinterest website with the same message. Any ideas? Thanks!
Hi Ana! We’re working on a fix for the Pin buttons, but for now you can click here to pin the recipe 🙂
Haha YES to the breadsticks! I haven’t dined at Olive Garden in a VERY long while but I am craving their breadsticks and a bowl of their whole wheat linguine with vegetables and their classic pasta sauce. This pumpkin ziti looks like such a dream. My mother used to cook up baked ziti for dinner, but it’s also been a CRAZILY long while since those days too! Fortunately, we can change that!
Haha YES to the breadsticks! I haven’t dined at Olive Garden in a VERY long while but I am craving their breadsticks and a bowl of their whole wheat linguine with vegetables and their classic pasta sauce. This pumpkin ziti looks like such a dream. My mother used to cook up baked ziti for dinner, but it’s also been a CRAZILY long while since those days too! Fortunately, we can change that!
Classic Olive Garden! This one is super easy and delicious 🙂
Wow! This one is a keeper. It was every bit as tasty as my time consuming and labor intensive lasagne, but it is way healthier and so much easier to prepare! Loved it!!!
I’m so glad you loved it! A little quicker than lasagna 😉 but I’m sure yours is delicious.
So I used butternut instead of pumpkin, and also got away with simply mashing it with a fork instead of blending it up. And we did the white beans ’cause turkey isn’t readily available here. An absolute hit with my hubby and two toddlers! It really was divine, thank you!
That sounds amazing! Glad everyone loved it 🙂
My mom is skeptical about pumpkin things, but I got her to try this recipe with me. She loved it! The pumpkin isn’t too noticeable in the taste because it blends well with the other ingredients. Saucy is a good description–so delicious and perfect for a cold, rainy evening! Thank you!
Love this cozy meal when it’s cold and rainy! Glad your mom loved this one, too 🙂
Hi! I am also having trouble pinning any recipes from your site. 🙁 I’m going to make this for Sunday dinner! Looks SO good!
Hi Valeria! We had a tech glitch that is now resolved 🙂 enjoy!
Hi! I am also having trouble pinning any recipes from your site. 🙁 I’m going to make this for Sunday dinner! Looks SO good!
Hi Valeria! We had a tech glitch that is now resolved 🙂 enjoy!
So tasty! So cheesy! I doubled the recipe so I could freeze one. I felt like I had more sauce than I needed, so I kept some aside to freeze for an easy dinner in the future. I’ve got three kids (2 months, 2 years, 4 years), so I love a recipe that lets me invest about one hour of time and get three tasty dinners.
Perfect! This one’s perfect for meal prepping for the family 🙂
So tasty! So cheesy! I doubled the recipe so I could freeze one. I felt like I had more sauce than I needed, so I kept some aside to freeze for an easy dinner in the future. I’ve got three kids (2 months, 2 years, 4 years), so I love a recipe that lets me invest about one hour of time and get three tasty dinners.
Perfect! This one’s perfect for meal prepping for the family 🙂
Monique you have done it again! Fabulous recipe my family and I enjoy this very much. I made my homemade tomato sauce and it taste great with the pumpkin. Can’t wait to try another recipe.
So happy to hear that, Lisa! Homemade tomato sauce is the best. Hope you find some more recipes here the family loves 🙂
This is going to sound horrible, but – do you think I could make this without cheese and it would still be as delicious? For high cholesterol I try not to eat cheese too much (which is SO hard, I adore it). Would this just be missing that oomph without any cheese or do you think it would still be good? Anything I could add instead that might add a little something without cholesterol?
I think you could definitely leave out the mozzarella, but would probably suggest using a dairy free ricotta in place of the regular ricotta. There are a few good DF ricotta recipes on Google to try!
OMG. I made this last night and am so incredibly happy with how it turned out! Such a delicious recipe and so cozy for the start of fall! Thank you!
Amazing! So happy to hear that 🙂 Perfect for fall!
So good! I made this with out mushrooms and the whole family loved it!
Perfect! Happy to hear that 🙂
Made exactly as listed and it was delicious! I used a 2 Quart dish and it was filled to the brim. I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms so I may leave them out or mince them next time. Thanks for another great recipe!
Perfect! Yes, feel free to leave out the mushrooms next time if you’d like – it will be just as delicious.
Hi! This looks delicious! Do you think it would work with tofu instead of ground turkey? Thanks!
Hi! Absolutely, cubed tofu will work or you can simply leave out the turkey and enough without any meat or substitute.
Fantastic, loaded with veggies, and a wonderful take on comfort food. I loved it, husband loved it (and ate most of it), and toddler refused to eat it because of the noodle shape 🙄. Next time, he can pick the noodle shape.
Absolutely! Such a great dinner. Yes, you’ll have to try a fun shape next time 😉
Oh my YUM! This is so good! I didn’t have ground turkey on hand so I went with white beans as suggested and it was delicious! My meat eating boys loved it!
Perfect! So glad it’s a hit!
Delicious and full of flavor. The pumpkin isn’t too strong if that’s what is stopping people from trying this. I’m so glad I made it. I used the exact amounts of ingredient, but mine fit into a 9×12 pan if that helps anyone else making this.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
My husband is a pasta purist, so I was nervous that he would notice the pumpkin in this recipe and turn his nose up. He loved it! After he had a few bites I told him about the pumpkin, and he said he didn’t even notice. I love the added boost of nutrition it gave- I would definitely make this again!
Amazing! I’m so glad 🙂 such a great dinner!
Saucy Baked Pumpkin Pasta looks so delicious and yummy.
One of my favorite pasta dishes. Last time I added in some eggplant too. Delicious.
So happy to hear that! Love that idea.
I can’t wait to make this! If I use the same amount of ingredients, but put it in a 9×13 dish should I adjust the baking time? Thank you!
You could likely bake for 10-15 minutes less!
This is my family’s favorite ziti recipe! We make it at least once a month. We usually add in more noodles and just mix everything together without bothering to do the layering and it turns out delicious.
I’m so glad! Such a great, cozy dinner 🙂
Huge hit with my ten month old and my husband! Will definitely make again.
I’m so glad!
This dish is so yummy! We’ve tried it with ground turkey and ground sausage – both are both delicious. It’s one of our favorite fall meals!
Yay!! So glad to hear you guys love this dish 🙂
Delicious! The red pepper flakes definitely add a kick. Great as leftovers, too.
Yes, I love a little heat! Happy you enjoyed it!
Any ideas for subbing the mushrooms?I can’t stand them lol.
Totally fine to leave them out or replace them with extra peppers!
We loved this! The whole family approved and it was easy to make. Thank you!
I made this last night with my own homemade marinara I had made the night before. I used vegetarian “beefless” ground beef” from Trader Joe’s…only a half package because I don’t like a terribly meaty sauce and I used lots of mushrooms. I used whole wheat rotini, lowfat ricotta and mozzarella. Spices were garlic, rosemary, basil and cayenne. I used wine in the sauce. The pumpkin gave such a nice flavor without being overdone.
I mixed the cheese and pasta, layered with sauce, with the reserved cheese on top. It was so good. Since there are only two of us, we have a couple of dinners and a lunch for my husband.
I will definitely make this again.
That all sounds incredible! Thanks so much for sharing, I’m glad you loved it 🙂
Loved this! The texture and flavor were fantastic and worked out really well making it ahead.
So glad to hear that, Katie! Thanks so much for the review 🙂
My husband is not the biggest pumpkin fan, but he loved this recipe. A great compromise meal for when I want to start eating more “fall”.
Yum! I made a few tweaks to make it vegan and it was still yummy. No meat, used miyoko’s cashew mozzarella and tofu ricotta. Delicious and great leftovers!
Yum! Sounds delicious, so glad you this recipe is a hit!
This is better than regular baked ziti! I used the whole can of pumpkin and my family had no idea it was in there. The flavors are delicious. It’s so creamy and cheesy. I will definitely make this over and over!
Right?! I love how nourishing it is! Glad you all loved it 🙂
going to try this with beef?