Pasta shells, cubes of roasted pumpkin, and a creamy garlic-and-thyme infused Parmesan sauce — this is the dish I reach for the minute winter squash shows up at the farmers market. Buy it precut and you’re maybe five minutes from the oven.

A bowl of creamy pasta shells with kale, roasted chunks of pumpkin or butternut squash, and grated Parmesan cheese, served with a fork on a light-colored plate atop a neutral cloth.

Before you start

Roasting is what makes this pasta so good — it’s not just softening the squash, it’s concentrating the sugars until the edges color.

  • Buy precut squash if you can find it. Skip peeling a hard-shelled kabocha or butternut and you’re in the oven in five minutes flat.
  • The garlic and thyme steep into the cream, not just float on top. Give the sauce a time to simmer over low heat before it hits the pasta — that’s what turns “cream with garlic in it” into one that’s layered with flavor.
  • If you’re doubling the recipe, double the sauce too. A full pound of pasta soaks up more than this batch of cream can cover, and you’ll end up with a dry pan instead of a saucy one.

Three ingredients, explained

  • Pasta shells (or another short, cupped shape). The ridges and hollow of a shell pasta like conchiglie are designed to catch the sauce and hold onto little pieces of roasted squash — a long noodle like spaghetti just lets everything slide off. Cavatappi or orecchiette work the same way if shells aren’t in your pantry.
  • Heavy cream, not half-and-half or milk. The extra fat in cream is what makes this sauce hold together instead of breaking or thinning out — cream has enough of it to reduce and cling to the pasta. Milk is too watery without a thickener, and same for half and half.
  • Kale, stemmed and torn into bite-size pieces. I toss it in at the very end, off the heat, just long enough to wilt. You can use spinach or chopped chard leaves instead.

Which squash to use (and the one to skip)

Skip the jack-o’-lantern pumpkins at the grocery store — those are technically sugar pumpkins, bred for carving and looks, and they’ll be stringy and waterlogged in a sauce like this one. Reach for a true winter squash instead:

  • Butternut squash is the easiest winter squash to find, and it roasts into the same sweet, dense texture this recipe is built around. If you’re near a farmers market, Blue Hubbard is worth grabbing too — same dense flesh, just less common on grocery shelves.
  • Kabocha is what I reach for once fall actually arrives — a Japanese winter squash with deep-orange flesh that becomes dense and velvety after roasting, not mushy. Grocery stores increasingly carry it pre-cut and frozen right alongside butternut, which turns this into a five-minute prep instead of a fight with a vegetable peeler.

Cutting up a whole squash

If you do have a fresh whole squash, here’s how to get it prepped for cooking, which involves peeling and cubing butternut the same way I do for mashed butternut squash.

  • A butternut squash is cut in half on a light blue cutting board with a knife and two round squash ends beside it.
    Trim the stem and bottom ends, then cut the squash where the round base meets the long neck. Two manageable pieces instead of one awkward whole squash — everything after this gets easier.
  • Butternut squash cut into halves and quarters on a light blue cutting board. A spoon rests inside one piece, scooping out seeds and pulp. Squash seeds and top are visible on the board.
    Halve each piece and scrape out the seeds and strings with a spoon. Then run a vegetable peeler over the skin in long strokes — butternut skin is thin enough to peel like a carrot, no knife required.
  • A peeled butternut squash is partially sliced and chopped on a light blue cutting board. A knife with a light handle rests beside chunks and halves of the squash.
    Slice into 1-inch planks, turn each one crosswise, and cut into 1- to 2-inch chunks. Keep the pieces roughly the same size — that’s what keeps them roasting evenly.

The step most people skip: steeping the cream

A saucepan filled with cream, garlic, thyme sprigs, and black pepper sits on a white surface, surrounded by bowls of salt, grated cheese, chopped potatoes, a wooden spoon, and a pepper grinder.

Most creamy sauces are made quickly — garlic hits hot oil for thirty seconds, cream gets dumped in, done. That’s how you end up with a sauce that tastes like cream with garlic adjacent to it. This one works differently, and I think it’s worth the extra twenty minutes:

  • Drop garlic cloves and thyme sprigs into the cream and simmer about 20 minutes, until the garlic softens and releases its flavor into the cream. You’ll know it’s ready when the cloves squish easily and the cream’s has a faint golden color.
  • Pull out the thyme sprigs before the pasta goes in. They’ve done their job scenting the cream, (and nobody wants to bite into a woody stem).
  • Sauce too thin? Give it another minute or two at a gentle simmer. No cornstarch needed.
4.66 from 96 ratings

Roasted Pumpkin Pasta with Parmesan Garlic Cream Sauce

Karen Tedesco
Cubes of roasted pumpkin and kale tossed with pasta shells in a garlic-and-thyme-infused Parmesan cream sauce. An easy vegetarian dinner that tastes like it took all day.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Leave a Review
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients
 

  • 2 pounds (900 g) pumpkin, approximately half of 1 medium kabocha (or butternut squash), or 4-5 cups pre-cut squash
  • ¼ cup (40 g) finely chopped onion
  • ¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1½ cups (375 ml) heavy whipping cream
  • 4 whole garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
  • 2 sprigs thyme, plus 1 teaspoon chopped
  • ¾ cup (75 g) grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 8 ounces (225 g) dried pasta shells, or other type of short pasta
  • 1½ cups (100 g) baby kale or spinach leaves

Instructions
 

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. If using a whole squash, peel it, remove the seeds and slice into 1-inch chunks. 
  3. Combine the squash and ¼ cup finely chopped onion on a large rimmed baking sheet. Toss with ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 10 or 12 grinds of black pepper. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake 25 minutes. Remove the foil and stir the squash around with a spatula. Roast 15 minutes more, or until the squash is tender and lightly browned.
  4. Make the sauce: Pour 1½ cups heavy whipping cream into a saucepan. Drop in 4 whole garlic cloves and thyme sprigs and bring to a simmer — lower the heat and watch that it doesn't boil over. Simmer 20 minutes, until the cream is slightly reduced and the garlic is soft. Remove from the heat and steep 10 minutes, then remove the garlic and thyme. Stir in ½ teaspoon salt and ½ cup of the Parmesan cheese. Transfer the sauce to a serving bowl with the butter and keep warm.
  5. Bring a 6 quart pot of water to a boil with 2 tablespoons kosher salt. Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain and add to the bowl with the sauce.
  6. Add the squash and 1½ cups baby kale or spinach leaves to the bowl and gently stir everything together until evenly coated with the sauce. Serve with the remaining cheese and chopped thyme sprinkled over the top.

Notes

  • Store leftovers in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Add a few tablespoons cream and/or vegetable broth before reheating.
  • Tip: Look in your grocery store for  1-pound bags of cut-up frozen kabocha or butternut squash to make this recipe even quicker to make.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 837kcal Carbohydrates: 76g Protein: 20g Fat: 53g Sodium: 361mg Fiber: 7g Sugar: 7g

Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.

Save to Pinterest
Tried this recipe?A star rating takes 5 seconds and helps more people find it.