This fall, San Giorgio has inspired me to spend more time with family and friends, (with the common bond being) bonding over good food. The brand ran their #SanGiorgio4Good Buy One, Give One campaign. For every purchase of San Giorgio pasta between August 14 and September 10, the brand donated a serving of pasta to an area food bank. This campaign made people feel good while helping those in need feel good too, just by eating pasta!
For National Pasta Month in October, I created a Caprese Pasta and #SanGiorgio4Good continues by bringing friends and family together with another delicious Fall recipe!
Fall is all about spending time with family and incorporating pumpkin into as many dishes as possible, right? Well this Pumpkin Pasta will surely meet your pumpkin quota for the week and will give you lots to talk about at the dinner table!
Before getting started, I consulted my Instagram followers with a poll to see how they felt about Pumpkin Pasta, and..well..they weren’t into it…at all. The results were 23% yes, and 77% no. I was half surprised and half not surprised. People are obsessed with pumpkin, so why wouldn’t they be into a Pumpkin Pasta?
Well I decided to defy the general consensus and make it anyways. And am SO glad I did. I’ll definitely be bringing this Pumpkin Pasta to Thanksgiving dinner this year. You hear that, mom?!
This Pumpkin Pasta combines all my favorite things like ricotta, spaghetti, smoked paprika, nutmeg, and of course, pumpkin puree. All to make a super creamy pumpkin pasta sauce that screams Fall!
Let me just tell you how many tries it took to get this photo. Today Luna decided to hop on the basic girl train of pumpkin spice and wouldn’t stop eating the pumpkin puree!
As I mentioned earlier, this is the dish I’ll be bringing to Thanksgiving dinner this year. So I knew it had to be something simple enough to make for a large group. Originally I wanted to make this a Carbonara pasta, which traditionally uses eggs to make it creamy. Making a Carbonara for a large group of people isn’t exactly ideal since the eggs need to be added so delicately, and so I went a different route.
I still wanted this pasta to be creamy like a carbonara but not as heavy as an Alfredo. This Pumpkin Pasta recipe uses a fraction of the amount of heavy cream as an Alfredo recipe but is still creamy enough to make your tummy smile! Mixing the pumpkin pasta sauce with bacon and crispy sage makes it the ultimate savory pumpkin dish, and if you’ve never had crispy sage – you’re in for a treat!
What are you doing to bring your family together and meet your pumpkin quota this fall? Tell me in the comments!
Pumpkin Pasta With Bacon & Crispy Sage
Ingredients
- 6 boxes San Giorgio thin spaghetti
- 10 cans pumpkin puree (8 oz each)
- 2 heads garlic, minced
- 2 large bunches of sage (about 25 leaves)
- 3 yellow onions, diced
- 24 oz. thick cut bacon
- 2.5 tbsp. butter
- 5 cups ricotta
- Freshly shredded Pecorino Romano – to garnish
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 10 tsp. smoked paprika
- 10 tsp. nutmeg
- ½ tbsp. red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp. dried sage
- 10 tbsp. lemon juice
- 5 tbsp. olive oil
- Salt to taste
Directions
- Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat with 2 tbsp. of olive oil, add bacon and cook until crispy. The bacon will crisp quicker if it’s not overlapping, so you may need to work in batches.
- When bacon is finished cooking, transfer to a plate to cool and blot with a paper towel. Use the bacon grease in the pan to fry the sage leaves. This happens quickly so keep an eye on them!
- In a large pot, cook pasta according to box directions. While it cooks, chop onions, shred cheese, and chop bacon into bite size pieces.
- Drain the bacon grease from pan and heat on medium with 2.5 tbsp. of olive oil and 2.5 tbsp. butter. Add onion, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Cook until onions become translucent. Then mix in pumpkin, heavy cream, lemon juice, ricotta cheese, nutmeg, smoked paprika, salt, and ¼ cup reserved pasta water. Reduce heat to a simmer, stir until all ingredients are combined and sauce has thickened to desired consistency.
- Drain pasta water from pot and transfer pumpkin sauce to the pot with pasta. Mix until noodles are coated completely.
- Top with bacon, freshly shredded Pecorino Romano, and crispy sage.
Want to try this Pumpkin Pasta With Bacon & Crispy Sage?
Wow! I just need to buy some pumpkin at the market tomorrow and I’ll make the dish asap 🙂
Let me know how it turns out!!