This creamy brown butter pumpkin pasta might just be the ultimate fall comfort food. Pumpkin purée gets cooked down in brown butter, before being combined with mascarpone, parmesan and warm spices to make the most delicious pasta sauce. Add some crispy herby breadcrumbs and you’ve got yourself a pretty wonderful pasta dish that comes together in less than 30 minutes. It’s incredibly indulgent but we all deserve a treat once in a while!
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Ingredient Breakdown
- Why Brown Butter is a Game-Changer
- The Perfect Pumpkin Purée
- The Crispy Topping: A Textural Masterpiece
- Recipe Notes and Variations
- Final Thoughts
- More Creamy Pasta Recipes
Introduction
When the autumn chill starts to settle in, there’s nothing quite like a bowl of warm, creamy pasta to comfort your soul. This Creamy Brown Butter Pumpkin Pasta is the epitome of indulgence, combining velvety mascarpone, savoury pumpkin purée, and rich brown butter to create a sauce that’s hearty, comforting, and packed with fall flavours. Topped with crispy herby breadcrumbs, this dish strikes the perfect balance between richness and texture, and it all comes together in under 30 minutes.
Ingredient Breakdown
- Day-old bread: Perfect for making the crispy, golden breadcrumbs that give the dish a delightful crunch.
- Extra-virgin olive oil: Helps crisp up the breadcrumbs while adding a subtle richness.
- Fresh chives: A mild oniony flavour that brings freshness to the crispy topping.
- Butter: The key to making the brown butter, which adds a deep, nutty flavour to the sauce.
- Pumpkin purée: This brings earthy sweetness and body to the sauce. Whether tinned or homemade, it’s the backbone of this dish.
- Dried sage: Warm and slightly peppery, sage complements the richness of the pumpkin and butter.
- Ground nutmeg: Adds warmth and depth, making the sauce feel extra cosy.
- Mascarpone: The rich, creamy base of the sauce that makes it so indulgent.
- Parmigiano Reggiano: Brings a salty, umami flavour to balance the sweetness of the pumpkin.
- Dried pasta: Choose your favourite shape—something like rigatoni or farfalle works well to catch the sauce.
Why Brown Butter is a Game-Changer
If you’ve never made brown butter, prepare to fall in love. The simple process of cooking butter until the milk solids caramelise gives it an intense, nutty flavour that takes this pasta dish to a whole new level. Once the butter melts, you’ll see bubbles as the water evaporates, followed by a deepening of colour as the milk solids turn golden brown. The aroma alone is enough to make your kitchen smell like pure comfort.
In this Creamy Brown Butter Pumpkin Pasta recipe, brown butter pairs beautifully with the pumpkin purée, adding a complex richness that transforms the humble squash into something extraordinary. The sauce will initially appear separated, but with a bit of patience and stirring, it will come together into a smooth, luscious base for the mascarpone and spices.
The Perfect Pumpkin Purée
For convenience, you can use tinned pumpkin purée in this Creamy Brown Butter Pumpkin Pasta recipe. I always use Libby’s. However, if you’re feeling adventurous, homemade pumpkin purée will give the dish an extra layer of flavour. Simply roast a small pumpkin, scoop out the flesh, and blend until smooth. The natural sweetness of the pumpkin will shine through, making the sauce even more satisfying.
Pumpkin’s mild, slightly sweet flavour works beautifully in this pasta, especially when combined with brown butter, mascarpone, and parmesan. Together, they create a sauce that’s luxuriously creamy without being too heavy, making it a perfect dish for autumn evenings.
The Crispy Topping: A Textural Masterpiece
While the sauce is the star of this creamy brown butter pumpkin pasta, the crispy topping really steals the show. Made from day-old bread blitzed into breadcrumbs, then fried in olive oil until golden, it adds a fantastic contrast to the creamy pasta. The chives (or your choice of fresh sage or rosemary) bring a burst of freshness that cuts through the richness, making each bite perfectly balanced.
The crunch of the breadcrumbs provides that textural contrast that creamy pasta dishes often lack, elevating it from a simple comfort food to something much more exciting. You could even experiment with different herbs in the topping to match the season—sage or rosemary would give it an extra wintry feel.
Recipe Notes and Variations
This Creamy Brown Butter Pumpkin Pasta recipe is designed to be indulgent, so the portions are slightly smaller than usual. With only 300g of pasta, you might think this serves three people, but the richness of the sauce makes it perfect for four. Each portion feels satisfying without being overwhelming.
You can also play around with the herbs in the breadcrumb topping. Fresh sage or rosemary would work wonderfully, but since they’re more potent than chives, I recommend halving the amount to avoid overpowering the dish. If you’re feeling creative, you could even add a bit of garlic to the breadcrumbs for an extra punch of flavour.
Final Thoughts
Creamy, rich, and full of autumnal flavours, this Creamy Brown Butter Pumpkin Pasta is the kind of dish you’ll find yourself craving again and again as the weather gets cooler. It’s indulgent, yes, but sometimes that’s exactly what you need—especially when it only takes 30 minutes to make.
Whether you’re treating yourself after a long day or impressing guests with minimal effort, this dish is sure to hit the spot. The combination of brown butter, pumpkin, mascarpone, and crispy herby breadcrumbs is pure comfort in a bowl. So grab your pasta, pop open a tin of pumpkin, and enjoy a taste of autumn in every bite!
More Creamy Pasta Recipes
If you’re a fan of rich, creamy sauces, you’re in luck! Here are some more indulgent pasta recipes from my kitchen, each one bursting with flavour and perfect for those comforting weeknight meals.
- Creamy Tomato and Harissa Pasta: My most viral recipe, with good reason! The recipe adds a punch of heat with harissa and balances it out with a luscious cream sauce.
- Sausage Vodka Pasta: A sausage-y spin on the Italian American classic.
- Caramelised Fennel and Sausage Pasta: Sweet caramelised fennel pairs beautifully with sausage and cream in this luxurious pasta dish, perfect for an autumn dinner.
- Creamy Tomato and Pepper Pasta: Sweet roasted peppers and tomatoes come together in a velvety sauce that’s perfect for a satisfying midweek dinner.
- Creamy Roasted Garlic Pasta: Roasted garlic is the star of this creamy sauce, bringing depth and richness to a simple yet incredibly delicious pasta dish.
Creamy Brown Butter Pumpkin Pasta
This might just be the ultimate autumn comfort food. Pumpkin purée gets cooked down in brown butter, before being combined with mascarpone, parmesan and warm spices to make the most delicious pasta sauce. Add some crispy herby breadcrumbs and you’ve got yourself a pretty wonderful pasta dish that comes together in less than 30 minutes. It’s incredibly indulgent but we all deserve a treat once in a while!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 50g day-old bread
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh chives, very thinly sliced (see Notes for substitutions)
- 75g butter
- 150g tinned or homemade pumpkin purée
- 1 tsp dried sage
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 150g mascarpone
- 30g parmigiano reggiano
- 300g dried pasta of choice
Instructions
- Blitz the bread into coarse breadcrumbs using a food processor.
- Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan set over a medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, or until crisp and golden. Add the chives and cook, stirring often, for a further minute, then transfer to a plate for later.
- Wipe out the pan, set it over a medium heat and add the butter. Once melted, it will bubble for a couple of minutes. As the bubbles die down, the milk solids will sink to the bottom and turn brown as they caramelise. When it gets to this stage, add the pumpkin purée and stir until well-combined. It will look split at first but after a minute or two of stirring, it will come together in a smooth paste.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes, then add the dried sage and ground nutmeg and cook, stirring almost constantly, for a further minute.
- Add the mascarpone and stir to melt. Season well with salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Cook your pasta in plenty of generously-salted water according to the package instructions, then drain, reserving 250ml of the pasta cooking water.
- Return the sauté pan to the stove over a medium heat. Add the drained pasta to the sauce, along with the parmigiano reggiano and half of the pasta cooking water. Toss over a medium heat until the sauce nicely coats the pasta, adding more pasta water as necessary (you’ll need more than usual as the sauce is quite thick).
- Divide between bowls, top with the crispy topping then serve – enjoy!
Notes
- Ordinarily, this amount of pasta would feed 3 but as it’s very, very rich, I think it serves 4 quite nicely.
- Instead of fresh chives, you could use fresh sage or rosemary. I recommend halving the amount.
10 Responses
Perfekt for autumn!
I’m glad you agree!
Delicious and filling. Whole family enjoyed this meal.
I’m so glad everyone loved it! Thanks for giving it a go 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight and it came out great! I added some smoked chili flakes because I like a bit of heat in pretty much everything, and they fit with the sage and nutmeg really well.
I’m so happy to hear it! Love the addition the smoked chilli flakes. Thank you so much for your review 🙂
So delicious! Perfect balance of buttery, sweet, and salty – the textures of the silky sauce and crunchy topping are everything!
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much. Thank you for the positive review 🙂
Lovely weekday dinner. Followed recipe exactly and came out great with minimal effort. The whole family devoured it. Don’t cut corners on the breadcrumbs, they really do make a difference. Also, splurge on some good pasta that holds the sauce well. I went with some good riccioli and was great.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂