Explore Cuisine: Pumpkin-Sage Pasta with Seitan Sausage

Quick note: This is a sponsored post, thanks to my friends at Explore Cuisine — makers of organic protein-packed pastas made from beans, lentils, rice and peas. I don’t do a lot of sponsored posts, generally opting instead for more objective review posts where I can say whatever I want. But when I do agree to work with a company on a sponsored post, you can trust that it’s a company I REALLY believe and support. #UseYourNoodle

I have a love/hate relationship with fall. I LOVE Halloween. My birthday is in October (Libra power!), and Thanksgiving is my fave holiday. But I can’t get over the fact that fall feels like a prelude to winter. I hate cold weather. I’ll take a 100-degree, humid summer day and mosquitos any time, thank you very much.

But at least we have pumpkin to make fall seem a little more bearable. I love, love, love pumpkin. Typically, we find pumpkin used in sweet applications, like PSLs, pumpkin pie, and Trader Joe’s famous vegan pumpkin rolls. But I also love pumpkin in savory dishes, and not a year goes by that I don’t make pasta with pumpkin sauce at least once. This recipe was inspired by a recipe in Sarah Kramer’s La Dolce Vegan! I’ve made my own adaptations over the years, but the idea for a savory pumpkin pasta sauce came from Sarah.

Explore Cuisine’s Chickpea Fusilli is perfect for this recipe because the spiral noodles soak up that thick, creamy pumpkin sauce. Plus, this gluten-free pasta has 11 grams of protein per serving, so it’s super-filling. I add vegan seitan sausage to really bump up the protein factor. 

For this recipe, I used my homemade seitan sausage (recipe is in my cookbook, Cookin’ Crunk). But here’s a very similar version on One Green Planet if you want to make your own. You can also use Tofurky or Field Roast sausages for this recipe.

Pumpkin-Sage Pasta with Seitan Sausage

Yields 4 servings

1 box Explore Cuisine Organic Chickpea Fusilli

1 onion, chopped

2 3.5-oz vegan sausage links, sliced

1 can pumpkin puree

1/2 cup water, divided

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. rubbed sage

1/4 black pepper

Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse.

Saute the onion in about 1/4 cup water until soft, about 5-7 minutes. If water begins to dry up, add a few drops more to keep the pan slightly wet and prevent sticking. Add the sausage and saute another 5 minutes or so until sausage is browned and water in evaporated.

Stir in the pumpkin, the other 1/2 cup water (or more to reach desired sauce creaminess) salt, sage, and pepper and cook another 5-7 minutes or until heated through. Stir sauce into pasta and serve. I love to top my bowl with a little vegan cheese!