Another 30 minute meal is headed your way! But make it FALL appropriate. This Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Sage Sausage is rich, satisfying, comforting and a great dish to make for guests.
This baked ziti is covered in a creamy pumpkin sauce and uses Italian sausage kicked up a notch with EXTRA fresh sage sprinkled in. We use a couple of secret ingredients to make this ziti pumpkin sauce extremely decadent...
How To Make Pumpkin Sauce
This pumpkin sauces uses a couple of things to make it out of this world. First up is creme fraiche. What is creme fraiche? In my onion it would be what you get if cream cheese and sour cream had a baby.
If you can't find it, sour cream or greek yogurt would be a great substitute!
The other ingredient that just sends the sauce over the top is garlic bullion base. Its a super concentrated, savory garlic paste that will make it taste like you slaved over this dish but you didn't have to! I like to use the Better Than Bouillon Brand.
How To Make Sage Sausage
So for the base of the sage sausage we are going to use Italian sausage. You can get it in the casing and remove it or just buy a tube of it! The Italian seasonings in it pair so well with our creamy pumpkin sauce.
Not only that but Italian seasonings just scream fall! To make this sausage a sage sausage we are going to add a LARGE bunch of fresh sage, finely chopped. By adding it in fresh instead of dried it makes this whole dish so fragrant and delicious.
How To Make Baked Pumpkin Sausage Ziti
So a baked ziti dish is basically a really rustic lasagna. You take pasta that is in a tube shape (very technical, I know). I like to use penne or rigatoni because then the sauce gets into all of the pasta and makes for a great bite!
You also need CHEESE! So in addition to the creme fraiche, we are also going to use a 4 cheese blend to layer in between the sausage, pumpkin sauce, and pasta.
Layer those things one after the other (pumpkin pasta, sausage, cheese, pumpkin pasta, cheese) and then bake!
Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Sage Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork Italian sausage
- 1/4 cup fresh sage finely chopped
- 7 oz creme fraiche
- 1 can pumpkin puree
- 1 tablespoon garlic bouillon base
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 16 oz cooked rigatoni or penne pasta
- 1 cup 4 cheese blend shredded cheese
- 1 onion
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to box and set aside. Reserve the pasta water.
- In a large skillet brown the sausage and add in the sage. Set on a plate to drain excess oil when done.
- In the same large skillet, sauté the onion.
- Add the pumpkin, garlic base, and 1 ladle full of pasta water. Whisk.
- When that is smooth add in half of the creme fraiche and whisk. You may want to add another ladleful of pasta water as well.
- Sprinkle in salt and pepper then stir in the pasta.
- In a baking dish layer 1/2 of the pasta with sauce, add all of the sausage, all of the shredded cheese, and top with the remaining pasta.
- Scoop 4 dollops of the remaining creme fraiche over the top.
- Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
- Add a little extra black pepper over the top and enjoy!
Are u sure only 6oz. Of rigatoni for 6 people?
Yes, I used half of a 12 oz bag and it was the perfect amount! There is also the sausage + a lot of pumpkin sauce in the layers so the casserole dish filled up quite quickly. But, if you and your family would enjoy it with a bit more pasta - go for it! It would still be delicious.
Hello Paula, I hope this finds you well! After some feedback on this recipe, a lot of people said they felt like it needed more pasta. So I have updated the amount of pasta to be used as well as the amount of cheese for topping. Thank you for taking the time to give feed back as it was very helpful to me!