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This could be my fav meal on your site. Whole family loves it and it was taken in a thermos for school lunch the next day!!
Lori
But November?!
Oh my gosh, it’s somehow already sweet, cozy November. It was like Sage just finished up being a ghost for Halloween while I took pictures and ate five million KitKats and then BOOM. Just like that. November and all its chilly pre-winter feelings were just HERE.
Do you have candles burning right now? Please tell me you have candles burning.
I know November can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, including but not limited to over-use of bootie slippers even when it’s not necessary (but obviously it IS necessary), pre-holiday ordering of minty mochas with pre-holiday listening to Christmas music – you think I don’t know you BUT I KNOW YOU, more and more and more candles, and a three second crush on the first supercold days of winter because the whole hats-and-mittens vibe really does start out being really adorable and fun. Key words: start out.
For my fellow Hungry Hungry Pumpkin Eaters, November means that we have entered the season of the year when it’s more than okay to embrace mashups of flavors, textures, and colors in recipes like Pumpkin Spaghetti with Garlic Kale. 😍 –> See also: Dinner Every Night for the Foreseeable Future.
And let’s be honest – that’s why I really love November.
How To Make Our Pumpkin Spaghetti:
This pumpkiny spaghetti sauce is totally not my genius. More like it’s inspired by my very regular laziness. I saw a jar of pumpkin sauce at Target when I was grocery shopping and it looked like a great way to NOT really have to fully make dinner from scratch and to create opportunities for us to eat pasta all in one fell swoop. Tried it, loved it, read the list of ingredients, and attempted to recreate it.
Pumpkin and tomato together in one sauce? Slow down, friends. I had the saaame questions and concerns.
Don’t let the weirdness on paper deter you.
This has been one of my favorite fall meals hands-down and you KNOW I’m serious about my sauces.
FYI: we first made this with spaghetti. Like, noodles. YUM. Then we made it with spaghetti SQUASH to be healthy, which was healthy and a little bit less perfect because, um, it’s spaghetti squash. And it gets watery and sad, unlike real carb noodles which love you truly madly deeply with their chewy-soft, sauce-soaking texture. So we made it ahhhgain with noodles. And it’s going to be pretty hard for me to go back to any sort of vegetable noodle situation after how hard I fell in love with the carb-sauce combo here (but I will confess that since the sauce is so good, it really does make a great pair for veg noodles of all types).
Okay now crew.
Let’s keep those candles burning, put on the bootie slippers (already wearing! you know me, always one step ahead! 🏆), and enjoy yoself a plate of steamy noodles with luscious pumpkin tomato sauce, spicy ground turkey, a dusting of Manchego, and a side of sautéed garlic kale.
November is the ultimate.
Creamy Pumpkin Spaghetti with Garlic Kale
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Creamy Pumpkin Spaghetti with Garlic Kale – this is the most crazy good combination! Spicy turkey, creamy pumpkin sauce, and pasta!
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Sauce
- 1 cup sun dried tomatoes packed in oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 sage leaves, minced
- 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
- 1 cup tomato puree or tomato sauce
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 cup cream or half and half
- teeny tiny pinch of cinnamon
For the Pasta
- 8 ounces bucatini, perciatelli, or spaghetti (I used DeLallo perciatelli)
- 1 lb. lean ground turkey
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
For the Garlic Kale
- 2 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil (see notes)
- 1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves chopped
- Manchego or Parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions
- Sauce: In a large pot over medium high heat, add the sun dried tomatoes and a few tablespoons of the oil. Add the onion, garlic, and sage with the sun dried tomatoes and saute until soft and fragrant. Add the pumpkin puree, tomato puree, chicken broth, basil, and cinnamon. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, adding more water or broth as needed to keep the sauce from getting too thick. Puree in a blender or with an immersion blender directly in the pot until mostly smooth. Stir in cream and season to taste with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes for heat.
- Pasta: Boil the pasta according to package directions. While the pasta is boiling, brown the turkey in a large skillet with the onion, chili powder, and garlic powder. Add a few tablespoons of water if necessary to keep everything moist.
- Kale: Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the kale and saute until wilted.
- Toss the turkey, sauce, and pasta together. Serve with the kale. Top everything with the cheese.
Notes
You don’t have to use garlic infused olive oil, but that was the easiest way I found to get a nice light garlic flavor without having little pieces of garlic in the kale. If you don’t have garlic oil, just use regular minced garlic cloves and throw it in with the kale. Another option: gently heat the oil, add the whole smashed garlic cloves whole and saute for a few minutes to impart some flavor, and then remove the cloves before adding the kale.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: pumpkin spaghetti, pumpkin and kale spaghetti, pumpkin noodles, pumpkin pasta
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of yummy kale recipes. Check it out!
Yum, looks so delicious!
Thanks Lawrence!
Wow, this looks so good. I have a bunch more pumpkins to roast and turn into puree. I think this just seems like the natural thing to have for dinner when doing that.
Looking forward to dinner.
Thanks Karen! 🙂 Love that you make your own puree!
I might just go for the gold here and use spaghetti squash in lieu of pasta. My butt just doesn’t need the extra carbs right now and honestly and truly, I feel like I can’t tell the difference these days between pasta and spaghetti squash. This recipe of course looks most excellent in a November way. And yes, I ate those Kit Kats too, and Twix. And Mallow cups. Oh save me from myself.
Hope you like it with the squash Laura!
No one honest review from the first 30 -5 star reviews from anyone who actually made your recipe…just other blogger praising how good it sounds or your plating photos…not a true 5 star review at all…its a shame
Welp, Connie… I’m only a reader of this blog, not a blogger, and tonight is the second time in a couple weeks that I’ve made this delicious meal for dinner because my whole family loved this soooooo very much! It’s autumnal family dinner perfection! That’s my authentic review as an authentic, unpaid reader whose only motivation is to praise this recipe and thank Lindsay and all the folks at Pinch of Yum! This recipe is PERFECTION! 5 authentic and enthusiastic stars!
Laura,
Have you ever put Twix in the freezer? Goodness! I ate six of the mini ones yesterday! So good….except for my butt, and abs ,and everything else.
Be gone Halloween candy!
I think I’ll just split the difference and go with shirataki noodles for no carbs or calories! Ever try Miracle Noodles? They are really good, if you prepare them correctly!
This looks fantastic! I love cooking with pumpkin and butternut squash in the fall, and of course garlic kale is a no brainer. Might need to try this out tonight to combat this rainy, chilly Monday.
Rainy day perfection!
Noodles, pumpkins sauce..GARLIC KALE?! This is the comfy weeknight dinner of my dreamzzzz! I actually LOVE pumpkin in savory applications so my hungry mouth is wanting a plate of this STAT. Pinned!
me too! savory for the win.
I love spaghetti–and what a unique addition with the pumpkin! This definitely makes it more appropriate for fall and November. : ) Yum!
Thanks Madeline!
This looks like just the meal for the cozy feel I need on this yucky rainy Monday. Perfeeecctttt thank you for not forgoing the meat on meatless Monday, because me neeeeds dee’ meaty situation today.
sometimes I love meatless, and sometimes I love meat. 🙂 you know how it is.
Looks delicious and cozy and warm. I bet the pumpkin and tomato sauce are fantastic together!
Thanks Emily! 😀
So I was a bit skeptical about tomato/pumpkin, but I’m going to take your word for it–I bet this is amazingggg. Oh and I’m always on board with garlic kale. Also, how is it November?!
I know. I was too. WORTH IT tho!
The pumpkin/tomato combo sounds intriguing – and now I have to try it myself! The garlic kale sounds delicious as well! This is such a warm, cozy November meal! 🙂
Dani | http://www.styledvariety.com
Thanks Dani! Hope you like it!
Is it a bad thing that it is not even 9am and I am dreaming of endless bowls of sauce soaking noodles piled high with creamy pumpkin sauce?! UGHHHH. Nailed it! Such a perfect fall meal to kick November off with.
Thanks Melissa! 🙂
I’ve never had pumpkin and tomato together, but I love squash and tomato together. This looks like exactly what November needs.
Right? November speaks and I listen.
I just can’t get on the spaghetti squash train – regular noodles all the way! And this sauce looks magical.
Agreed! Thanks Nicole!
This looks so cozy and comforting – perfect for a day when we’re getting our first real snowfall of the season. I like the idea of putting sun dried tomatoes in the sauce!
LOVE sun dried tomatoes! if you can’t tell 😀
Oooooooo this looks amazing and cozy and good for you and lots of other nice things. I’m especially attracted to dishes that are comforting but relatively healthy for you at the same time. In the past I wouldn’t have touched this because it uses pumpkin but I’m getting to quite like pumpkin and butternut squash hidden in sauces now 🙂
Yay Laura! Welcome to the pumpkin club!
I seriously can not stop eating kale, it is out of control. But don’t worry, I ate about a million mini snickers and reeses yesterday so….balance. I can’t wait to eat this!
Yes – Balance is the name of the game! 🙂
I definitely want to try this but want to omit the meat- do you think it’s still going to work? Worth making any vegetarian substitutions? (Eggplant, tofu, chickpeas…they all seem weird, but then so does the tomato-pumpkin!)
I think it could be good with eggplant, if you like eggplant 🙂 It would also be good without meat. We had it that one for one of our trial runs and it was still super tasty.
Would you recommend increasing the amount of pasta if you leave out the meat?
Probably not necessary, but could definitely be done!
I made this tonight! 5 star!! Delicious!!
Loving this! Definitely going on the dinner menu next week. Candles, fuzzy socks, and oversized sweaters are all currently happening, and I might never leave the house again!
Yay Lindsay! November vibes!
I found a similar winter squash pasta sauce @ Trader Joe’s recently and also fell in love with it – pumpkin in savory preparations is totally legit! We used it as a pizza sauce topped with bacon and kale – delish! Can’t wait to try your version!
Whitney! That sounds AMAZING.
This looks so so good and I love the unique plating of having the spaghetti and kale stand on their own. It make the plate look so pretty too 🙂 Great fall recipe!
Thanks Jessie! I liked eating them sort of one bite at a time. 🙂
This looks like the perfect meal to have the night before a run. Will try and make this this week. Easy recipe!
Hope you like it Jacqueline!
I agree!!! 🙂 I will have to “no-meat-athete” the recipe first – it will be super easy to vegan-ize!
This looks amazing… but hubby hates pumpkin! (How?!?!?) Does it taste pumpkin-y, or could I pass it off as a regular tomato sauce, while secretly gloating that I got him to eat some of the dreaded squash? Regardless, I’m making it – there may just be more for me! 🙂
Hi, Carrie! My husband is the same way.. Are they crazy? 😉 This does have the taste of pumpkin, but there are other flavors there as well. You could try decreasing the amount of pumpkin to see if that appeases him. 🙂
Hubby went on a trip – which was my cue to make this! So our verdict: 1) first, the pumpkin is definitely noticeable (and delicious), so it’s out as something that I can cook for him — but as a bonus, that means that the frozen leftovers are ALL MINE! 2) Except that I may have to fight the kids for them. This was a HUGE surprise hit with the picky 7- and 3-year olds (it may have helped that I called it “pumpkin pie pasta!”) 3) Hypothetically speaking, if I had loved the sauce so much that I pretended it was soup and ate a few spoonfuls right out of the pot (only because the recipe made a ton!), would you judge? 😉 No, of course you wouldn’t! Anyway, thanks, we loved this and will definitely make again!
That’s so great, Carrie! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
I just cannot agree more with you! November gets me so excited for Christmas! Especially with carols playing in every corner of the streets and most importantly – the LIGHTINGS!!!!! They look so pretty and festive! Love it!
I am loving this pasta!!! Pumpkin + Tomato is the best combination ever and I know I’m going to be slurping a lot when eating these! Salivating already!
Enjoy, Samina!
Sage was adorable as a ghost for Halloween!!! Seriously adorable snaps of her… They made me smile all night. Thanks for sharing those! 🙂 Today really felt like the first day of fall here in CA because it stormed all day, complete with a few moments of lightning, and now I’m craving all kinds of comfort food. And pasta? Definitely at the top of that list! I love how you recreated Target’s pumpkin sauce — gotta love Target!!
Enjoy, Amy! 🙂
I’m not a fan of pumpkin but I’m willing to try this recipe. Did you use fresh pumpkin or canned? I don’t have an pumpkin at home.
We used canned pumpkin puree in this recipe.