Recipe: Delicious Creamy Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

Creamy Pumpkin Mac & Cheese. Made with wholesome ingredients like pumpkin and cashews, this Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese is vegan comfort food at its finest. Creamy, cheesy, and secretly healthy pumpkin mac and cheese. I've probably mentioned more than once on this blog how much I love macaroni and cheese.

This easy pumpkin mac and cheese bake is filled with delicious pumpkin flavor for a sweet and savory dinner. Creamy Pumpkin Mac & Cheese Recipe: Nuggets of pumpkin are nestled in a super creamy, super cheesy sauce for the ultimate fall comfort food. Pumpkin puree adds savoriness and creaminess to cheesy macaroni. You can cook Creamy Pumpkin Mac & Cheese using 12 ingredients and 8 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Creamy Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

1. You need of rigatoni.
2. Prepare of onions, finely chopped.
3. You need of garlic, minced.
4. It's of paprika powder.
5. It's of dried thyme.
6. Prepare of small (600 g) pumpkin, cubed.
7. It's of vegetable broth.
8. You need of spinach.
9. Prepare of grated cheddar.
10. Prepare of grated old cheese.
11. Prepare of salt and pepper.
12. It's of pumpkin seeds (optional garnish).

This Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese is the perfect healthy comfort food! It's super delicious, cheesy, low-fat, and filled with plant-based ingredients. The recipe is very easy and quick to make. I decided to make a Pumpkin "Mac & Cheese" - a creamy, flavourful and delicious pumpkin sauce with your favourite pasta.

Creamy Pumpkin Mac & Cheese step by step

1. Boil plenty of water in a saucepan with a lid for the rigatoni and cook the rigatoni, covered, for 13-15 minutes. Then drain but keep some of the cooking water. Leave to steam without a lid..
2. Cut the onion into half rings. Crush or chop the garlic..
3. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan with a lid over medium heat and fry the onion, garlic and paprika powder for 2 - 3 minutes. Add the pumpkin cubes and the dried thyme and stir fry for 4 - 6 minutes. Deglaze with the stock and cook, covered, 8-11 minutes, or until the pumpkin cubes are soft..
4. Puree with a hand blender. Add a splash of milk or some cooking water if the sauce is too thick..
5. Add the spinach, 3/4 of the cheddar, 3/4 of the old cheese and the rigatoni to the pumpkin sauce and stir well. Season with salt and pepper and heat for 1 minute more..
6. Transfer in an oven dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake the pasta dish in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned..
7. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan, without oil, over medium heat and roast the pumpkin seeds until they start to pop. Use to garnish..
8. Enjoy! :).

It definitely tastes like fall and Thanksgiving to me. Creamy Pumpkin Mac 'n Cheese: This is hands-down the best, moistest, and probably the healthiest mac 'n cheese I have ever tasted. If your kids love cheese, but hate vegetables. give this one a try. Mac and Cheese is my favorite comfort food dish. I often make Broccoli Mac and Cheese, but for the Fall I love this Pumpkin version.