My Gnocchi with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce recipe is a cozy dish that is a beautiful celebration of harvest season. Combining pumpkin, brown butter, sage and comforting gnocchi this is a delicious and satisfying dinner idea. Save the recipe to Pinterest now so you can make it!
Harvest season is a season I’m generally pretty fond of on the farm. We almost always grow our own pumpkins and I love the last minute abundance of the fall days. Every year I tell myself I’m going to make a pumpkin sauce that I love. I’ve always tried in in restaurants and I’ve been a little luke warm on it in the past. Generally, I’m not a huge fan of sweet in my savory but this year I seem to be breaking that idea with all my fall recipes like Maple & Plum Pork Chops {HERE} and Apple and Gouda Stuffed Chicken {HERE}. This year I’ve loved experimenting with bring the sweet flavors into the realm of savory and I believe I’ve hit on a pumpkin sauce recipe that does just that!
Once I knew I was going to come up with a pumpkin sauce recipe I gathered my ingredients and excitedly told Kevin about it. He groaned and said something to the effect of “Ugh.” He is not a fan of pumpkin. He does not like it in baked goods, pastas, chili, soup or anything. But I do. So i shrugged my shoulders and went ahead with my plan to make a Gnocchi with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce recipe. When it was done and we sat down to eat, he went back for thirds… 🙂
What is Gnocchi and why did I use it here?
If you are not familiar with Gnocchi is a potato pasta that tastes similar to a dumpling. Usually made of flour, salt, potatoes and egg. It is the best of both worlds for potato and pasta lovers. They’re extremely tender and somehow still feel light in your mouth. Typically you see a pumpkin gnocchi in restaurants this time of the year and usually it is dressed in a brown butter sage sauce. However, while I didn’t have time to make a pumpkin gnocchi right now, I thought I could surely make a creamy pumpkin sauce recipe to go with the package in my refrigerator.
The creamy pumpkin sauce coats the gnocchi ridiculously well and as long as you have the pumpkin, it comes together in about 20 minutes.
The pumpkin to use
I use homemade pumpkin puree to make my creamy pumpkin sauce recipe. You can find a recipe for that {HERE}. Homemade pumpkin puree is so easy to make that I’ve never gone back to using canned pumpkin since making it years ago. I recommend using homemade pumpkin puree in this so you have the freshest ingredients for the creamy pumpkin sauce recipe.
That said, if you cannot make pumpkin puree at home, you can use canned pumpkin. Make sure to buy 100 percent, unsweetened pumpkin though. Don’t get anything with added sugar or maple.
My other ingredients
So, I started making this and ended up making a bit of a brown butter with my shallots and garlic before adding my pumpkin. The brown butter and pumpkin are often found together in a gnocchi dish but not often in the same sauce. I decided to combine them by creating a creamy brown butter pumpkin sauce recipe. When this is finish you should really be able to taste the two flavors together in the sauce – along with others.
Once I have the butter slightly browned I will add the cream and mix it well. Then the pumpkin goes in. At this point the sauce may look clumpy and a little chunky. Keep mixing it with a wooden spoon and add about 1/4 cup of chicken broth or vegetable broth. This will help to loosen it up and feel more sauce-like.
Next I add in a little cream cheese. I really wanted that creamy flavor to be something you could see and taste and the cream cheese makes that happen. That said, you can leave this out if you don’t want the cheese. Just season it with salt and pepper and then taste it to see if you want to add it in.
Finally I’ll add in some fresh herbs and about 1/3 cup of pasta water from the gnocchi. The sauce will no be fairly thin but you can let it simmer while the gnocchi cooks and it will thicken. It will also start to thicken as it cools.
Tips for making my Gnocchi with Creamy Brown Butter Pumpkin Sauce
- Make sure to use salted butter and stand by it while it begins to brown. There is a fine line between browned butter and burnt butter. Browning it will toast the milk solids in the butter and releases a bit of a nutty flavor that is lovely with the pumpkin. The full instructions are in the recipe below.
- Again, I favor homemade pumpkin over canned pumpkin. It will ensure you are using the freshest ingredients and give you the best flavor.
- Season with chunky sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. You can also add on a little parmesan cheese if you like but I didn’t feel like it needed it (which frankly shocked me).
- I added crispy pancetta to this to help with the salt. I didn’t add too much salt to the overall creamy brown butter pumpkin sauce recipe but once it was done I felt like I needed a little more salt and a bit of crispiness. I also added on some crispy fried sage, which I made in the pancetta pan when it was done so I didn’t have to dirty another pan.
Looking for more pumpkin recipe or more fall recipes?
Looking for more pumpkin recipe or more fall recipes?If you are a pumpkin lover or a cozy season food lover, try these recipes too!
- Pumpkin Chorizo Soup {HERE}
- Salted Caramel Pumpkin Pie Milkshake {HERE}
- Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte {HERE}
- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting {HERE}
- Homemade Pumpkin Bread {HERE}
- Creamy Apple Sausage and Gouda Pasta {HERE}
- Oktoberfest Stew {HERE}
- Cider maple Oven Roasted Cornish Hens {HERE}
Thank you so much for visiting today, friends! I hope you love my Gnocchi with creamy pumpkin sauce recipe. You can find a full, printable recipe below with all the ingredients and steps. Happy Eating!
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Gnocchi with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium shallot, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic grated
- 3 Tbsp butter, salted
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/3 cups pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup broth (chicken or vegetable)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/3 cup pasta water
- 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 Tbsp chopped sage
- 4 oz pancetta
- 2 pieces of crispy sage or chopped sage leaves per plate
- Additional sea salt and pepper to taste and thyme leaves for topping
- 16-20 oz of Gnocchi I used 16 but honestly I could have added more and just didn't have another bag. You could probably add up to 30 oz.
Instructions
For the Gnocchi and Creamy Pumpkin Sauce recipe
- Heat a large pot of salted water on the stove in preparation for the gnocchi. Bring to a boil.
- Add extra virgin olive oil to a large pan or non-stick skillet and heat on medium until it is shimmering. Then add the shallot and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Then reduce the flame and add the butter. Deglaze the pan by scraping the brown bits as the butter melts. Cook on a low flame until all the butter has melted. Whisk gently with the whisk the whole time to ensure it doesn't burn.
- Once completely melted the butter will foam and it will form brown bits. It might be hard to see since we deglazed the pan but the butter itself will also take on a deeper yellow hue or turn a light brown. Once you see that, add the heavy cream and whisk well. Simmer it altogether for 2 minutes.
- Add the pumpkin and mix to incorporate it. Then add the broth, sea salt and pepper and mix again. The mix will be slightly clumpy but that is okay. Simmer for 3 minutes over medium heat.
- Turn the heat to low and add in the cream cheese. Mix to incorporate it as it melts. Add in the thyme and sage and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the gnocchi to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes or per package directions. Remove the gnocchi as soon as it starts to float. I like to use a slotted spoon.
- Mix in the pasta water to the sauce and incorporate well. Simmer for about 2 more minutes. Then remove it from the heat and add the gnocchi.
- Serve with additional salt and pepper to taste, pancetta, crispy sage and thyme.
For the Pancetta and Sage
- In a small skillet pan add the pancetta and cook until it starts to get a deeper red tone similar to bacon. Remove and set aside on a plate with a paper towel to drain the excess oil.
- In the same pan, add the sage and cook it in the pancetta grease over a medium to low flame. If you don't think there is enough grease you can add in 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Once you see it start to darken and curl a bit, flip it over and cook for another 30 seconds. Then add it to the plate with the paper towel to cool.
Just cooked Gnocchi with Creamy pumpkin sauce tonight and it was a hit! You did a great job with this dish. Meal prep was very easy, everything went together very quickly. Substituted two rotisserie chicken breasts for the pancetta. To lighten the sauce, used half and half instead of heavy cream and only half of butter. The dish still had plenty of flavor. My husband says this will definitely be on our supper roster this winter.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!