This pumpkin rigatoni recipe is for the days when you want a seriously delicious bowl of pasta but truly cannot be bothered spending hours over the stove. Pumpkin, garlic, shallot and sage are roasted until soft and slightly caramelised, then tossed straight in the roasting dish with rigatoni, butter and pasta water to create the easiest self-saucing pumpkin pasta.

And because we aren’t stopping there, it gets finished with big dollops of creamy stracciatella and a very toasty walnut pangrattato for crunch. The result is creamy, cheesy, nutty, and wonderfully cosy without requiring a blender or a separate pot for the sauce.

Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Rigatoni

The pumpkin basically makes its own sauce. There’s no blending required. Pasta water, butter, and vigorous tossing break down the roasted pumpkin until it coats every piece of rigatoni.
Most of the work happens in the oven. Once you’ve chopped everything, the pumpkin, shallot, garlic, and sage roast away largely unattended.
The textures are SO good. Soft pumpkin and creamy stracciatella meet chewy rigatoni and crunchy toasted walnuts.
It uses a classic flavour combination. Pumpkin and sage are forever a favourite, especially once butter gets involved. Enjoy similar flavours in my pumpkin fettuccine with brown butter, sage, and goat cheese, too!
Perfect comfort food. The sauce is intentionally thicker and more substantial than a blended pumpkin sauce, making this ideal for a cosy evening in. For another seriously comforting squash pasta, try my squash ditalini with crispy pancetta.

Ingredients and Notes

For the Pumpkin Sauce

Pumpkin – I use a Kent pumpkin that’s approximately 750g, but you can use your preferred variety. There’s no need to peel it before roasting!
Garlic – Smash four or five cloves but leave them whole. They’ll roast alongside the pumpkin until beautifully soft and mellow.
Shallot – Cut one shallot into eighths so the pieces can nestle amongst the pumpkin as everything roasts.
Fresh sage – Two sprigs roast with the vegetables and infuse everything with earthy, savoury flavour. It’s one of my favourite pairings with pumpkin, and I use the same combination in my casoncelli di zucca with brown butter and sage.
Extra virgin olive oil – Be liberal here! We want everything well coated before it goes into the oven.

For the Stracciatella

Buffalo mozzarella – Tear one ball into small pieces to create the base of our homemade stracciatella.
Thickened cream – The cream combines with the torn mozzarella to create a gloriously rich, creamy burrata-style filling.
Salt – Season the stracciatella to taste before refrigerating.

To Finish

Walnuts – These get ground into a rough crumb and toasted until deeply nutty. I originally went back and forth between walnuts and hazelnuts but, frankly, hazelnuts in savoury dishes are a personal ick of mine. If they’re your thing, though, feel free to substitute accordingly.
Rigatoni – Those large tubes become edible barrels of pumpkin sauce, and I genuinely don’t think another pasta shape does quite as good a job here.
Unsalted butter – Butter helps the pumpkin and pasta water emulsify into a rich sauce that clings to the rigatoni.
Pasta water – SAVE IT. You’ll need anywhere from about ½ to 1 cup to transform the roasted pumpkin into the sauce.

How to Make Pumpkin Rigatoni

Roast the Pumpkin

Prepare the pumpkin. Cut the pumpkin into cubes, leaving the skin on, and arrange the pieces in an ovenproof dish or on a baking sheet.
Add the aromatics. Nestle the shallot, smashed garlic cloves, and sage amongst the pumpkin.
Season. Drizzle everything liberally with extra virgin olive oil and season with a little salt. I like to use my hands to toss everything together until the pumpkin is well coated.
Roast. Transfer to a preheated oven until the pumpkin is extremely soft, starting to break down and ever so slightly caramelised.
Make the stracciatella. While the pumpkin is roasting, tear the buffalo mozzarella into small pieces and place them in a bowl. Pour over the thickened cream and stir to combine, season to taste, cover, and chill in the fridge.
Prepare the walnut pangratto. Grind the walnuts in a mortar and pestle or pulse them in a food processor until you have a rough crumb. Toast in a dry pan gently over low heat, stirring frequently, until deeply toasted and very nutty-smelling. Immediately remove the walnuts from the hot pan so they don’t continue cooking.

Tip: I like to take the walnuts pretty far here, almost to the brink of burning. The goal is to move completely away from that raw walnut flavour and develop as much toastiness as possible.

But watch them closely! Turn away for a second and, much like an avocado, it’ll all be over.

Turn the Roasted Pumpkin into Sauce

Once the pumpkin is extremely soft, there’s no need to transfer it to a blender or make a separate sauce.

Cook the rigatoni. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the rigatoni until al dente, making sure to reserve plenty of pasta water before draining.
Combine. Add the cooked rigatoni directly to the roasted pumpkin along with the butter and ½ cup of pasta water. Stir and toss everything vigorously. The soft pumpkin will begin breaking down while the butter and starchy pasta water emulsify around it.
Adjust. Continue adding pasta water as needed, up to about 1 cup total, until the pumpkin has dispersed into a thick sauce that coats the rigatoni.

Note: The finished sauce won’t be as silky-smooth as one made in a blender. The natural texture of the roasted pumpkin makes it feel more substantial and hearty!

My Top Tips

Roast the pumpkin until VERY soft. You’re relying on it to break down into the sauce, so this isn’t the time for firm roasted pumpkin cubes.
Let it caramelise slightly. A little colour around the edges gives the pumpkin more depth and sweetness.
Don’t throw out your pasta water. You need quite a lot for this recipe, so reserve at least a cup before draining.
Add the pasta water gradually. Start with ½ cup, toss thoroughly, and judge from there.
Really toss the pasta. Vigorous agitation helps break down the pumpkin and emulsify it with the butter and pasta water.
Keep the stracciatella cold. I love the contrast between the hot pumpkin rigatoni and cool, creamy cheese.

What to Serve with Pumpkin Rigatoni

This pumpkin rigatoni recipe is already rich and substantial, so I don’t think it needs much alongside it. A crunchy green salad dressed with something bright and acidic would be perfect for cutting through the butter and creamy stracciatella.

If you want to lean fully into the comfort-food situation, serve some good bread, such as my easy sourdough or focaccia, alongside it to mop up the pumpkin sauce left at the bottom of your bowl.

Storage and Reheating

This pasta is at its best immediately after assembling, particularly because of the contrast between the hot pumpkin rigatoni and cool stracciatella.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. If possible, store leftover stracciatella separately from the pasta.

Reheat the rigatoni gently in a pan over low-medium heat with a splash of water to loosen the pumpkin sauce. Once hot, serve with the cold stracciatella and toasted walnuts.

Ingredients

For the sauce

Approx 750g Kent pumpkin or your preferred variety
4-5 garlic cloves smashed but left whole
1 shallot cut into 1/8 lengths
2 sprigs of fresh sage
Extra virgin olive oil

For the stracciatella

1 ball buffalo mozzarella
250 ml heavy/thickened cream
Salt to taste

To finish

1/4 cup raw walnuts
360 g rigatoni
50 g unsalted butter

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Start by preheating your oven to 190c/170c Fan forced/375f.
Cut the pumpkin up into cubes, leaving the skin on. Arrange in an oven-proof dish or baking sheet.
Nestle the shallot and garlic in and around the pumpkin, as well as the sage.
Drizzle liberally with olive oil, and season with a little salt.
Use your hands to toss it all together and coat the pumpkin with the oil, then roast for approx 60 minutes or until the pumpkin has softened and broken down, and it is ever so slightly caramelised.

Stracciatella

While the pumpkin is roasting, make the stracciatella.
Tear the mozzarella into small pieces and add to a bowl.
Pour over the heavy cream and stir to combine.
Season to taste with salt, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Walnut pangrattato

Grind the walnuts in a mortar and pestle (or blitz to a rough crumb in a food processor).
Add to a completely dry frying pan and toast gently over a lowish heat until very toasted and super nutty in smell. Make sure you move the walnuts around in the pan frequently to avoid any hot spots.
Remove from the heat and decant from the pan quickly so as not to burn/take too far, and set aside.

Finishing touches

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, salting generously.
Cook the rigatoni until al dente.
With the pumpkin now out of the oven, add the rigatoni to the pan along with the butter and lots of pasta waster. Start with 1/2 cup of pasta water and add as much as a cup – we want this to disperse the pumpkin into a sauce so judge by eye here.
Stir and toss this all vigorously, allowing the butter and water to emulsify with the pumpkin until the broken down flesh coats the pasta.
I like to serve this family style as pictured – drop big dollops of the stracciatella all over and finally sprinkle with the toasted walnuts.

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Pumpkin Rigatoni with Sage & Stracciatella

Why You’ll Love This Pumpkin Rigatoni