Alfredo Sauce – creamy, rich, garlicky and an Italian restaurant standard in most every Italian chain restaurants  in America.

This recipe for Cavatappi with Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce takes the base, the traditional white creamy and garlicky sauce and adding a Fall twist, by the addition of pureed pumpkin. Pumpkin puree, most associated with Pumpkin Pie recipes can be made into savory dishes as well. You can most certainly choose to puree pumpkin from scratch, but I have found that the store-bought canned pumpkin puree is just as good.

With the addition of the slightly sweet pumpkin puree to the alfredo sauce, I also added a bit of ground nutmeg to elevate that pumpkin flavor without making the dish taste too much like pie. What comes out is an even creamier, a bit richer sauce, that has a great hint of sweetness from the pumpkin and earthy underlying flavor of nutmeg in the background.

And the bright orange color is perfect for this time of year, and definitely elegant enough to be served in your upcoming Thanksgiving feast.

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Cavatappi with Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients

1 lb of Cavatappi pasta – cooked to Al Dente

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

4-5 cloves of garlic – minced

1 pint of heavy whipping cream

1.5 teaspoons of Kosher Salt

Cracked pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

2 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese

1.5 cups of pumpkin puree

Chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

Heat a large sauce pan on medium heat with olive oil and butter.

Add the minced garlic and saute for about 2 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn.

Add the heavy whipping cream and heat through for about 3-5 minutes and add the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the Parmesan cheese and stir until sauce thickens, about another 3 minutes.

Add the pumpkin puree and gently whisk in the sauce until fully incorporated. Taste for seasonings and pour over Cavatappi pasta (or any choice of pasta).

Stir and garnish with chopped parsley, and serve.

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