This year, I am taking Mac & Cheese to the next level! I am making a Spiced Pumpkin Mac & Cheese. This recipe is flavorful, fun, and perfect for fall! Spiced just means that this recipe has a lot of flavor, such as pumpkin and nutmeg, and many other seasonings. It’s so good! Trust me on this one! You’ll want to try this recipe out this Fall! Make it with me!
Pumpkin Mac & Cheese
It seems weird, I know. I thought so too when I first started seeing Pumpkin being used in dinner recipes. But then I thought, why not? Butternut squash is often used in ravioli or tortellini, so why can’t pumpkin? Thus, Spiced Pumpkin Mac & Cheese was born.
I started playing around with this recipe and I LOVED the results. It may be my favorite recipe from MOMP pumpkin palooza. The pumpkin adds a beautiful color and a nice sweet flavor. We have been loving this Spiced Pumpkin Mac & Cheese.
Pumpkin Pasta
You can see in these pictures that I found the cutest Pumpkin Pasta! I found these noodles at Harmon’s and I knew I wanted to use them this week for a recipe. Look around at your local grocery store this time of year and see if you can find fun holiday shaped noodles.
For this recipe, I used canned pumpkin! If you wanted to, you could cube and roast a whole pumpkin, then add it to the food processor. I think it’s easy to open up the canned stuff to be honest. Just be sure that you buy pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling!
What You’ll Need
salt
elbow macaroni or pasta of choice
butter
flour
whole milk
canned pure pumpkin
garlic powder
dry mustard
cayenne pepper
pepper
nutmeg
grated yellow cheddar
grated parmesan
chives, for serving
Pumpkin Palooza
This recipe is part of my Pumpkin Palooza series! Each day starting on October 20th, I’ll be sharing a new pumpkin themed recipe!
Check back after October 27th to see the full collection of Pumpkin Palooza Recipes!
Like this recipe and want to save it for later? Pin it to Pinterest here!
Spiced Pumpkin Mac & Cheese
This year, I am taking Mac & Cheese to the next level! I am making a Spiced Pumpkin Mac & Cheese. This recipe is flavorful, fun, and perfect for fall!
Ingredients
- Pinch of salt
- 1 lb. elbow macaroni or pasta of choice
- 4 tbsp. butter
- 4 tbsp. flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 can (14.5 oz.) pure pumpkin
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. dry mustard
- 1/4 tsp. cayenne
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
- 3 cups grated yellow cheddar
- 1 cup grated parmesan
- Finely chopped chives, for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Salt the water and add the pasta. Cook until 1 to 2 minutes shy of the package directions.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet or medium pot, melt the butter over medium to medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour, then slowly whisk in the milk. Bring to a bubble. Cook, whisking often.
- Reduce heat to medium-low. Whisk in the pumpkin.
- Add the garlic powder, dry mustard, cayenne, pepper, and nutmeg.
- Add the cheeses. Stir until the cheeses melt into the sauce, a minute or two.
- Scoop out 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. Drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the sauce. Add the cooking water a little at a time if the sauce is too thick.
- Top with the chives.
