Pasta with Italian Sausage and Pumpkin Sauce

This a great way to use pumpkin in your cooking rather than your baking. The flavor of the pumpkin doesn't come out very strong and if you didn't know what was in it, you probably wouldn't even realize it was pumpkin. But it makes a great creamy pasta sauce with a different type of flavor.

• Preparation Time: 15 mins
• Cooking Time: 25 mins
• Total Time: 40 mins
• Calories: 426 Calories

Ingredients

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• ½ cup half-and-half
• ½ onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
• ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning, or to taste
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1 (16 ounce) package campanelle pasta

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Cook and stir Italian sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the meat is browned, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks, about 10 minutes. Drain excess grease. Stir onion and garlic into sausage and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.

Step 2

Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Stir in campanelle and return to a boil. Cook pasta uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cooked through but still firm to the bite, about 10 minutes; drain.

Step 3

Stir pumpkin puree, chicken broth, half-and-half, sour cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and black pepper into the sausage mixture and cook, stirring often, until sauce is creamy and thick, about 5 minutes.

Step 4

Transfer cooked campanelle pasta to a large pot and pour sausage and pumpkin mixture over pasta. Place over medium-high heat and gently stir until pasta mixture is heated through, 4 to 5 minutes. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.