I have shared plenty of pasta recipes on the blog. Pasta bakes and stovetop pasta recipes of all types can be found in the blog archives. But all of these recipes require you to boil and drain the pasta before moving onto the next step. But not this recipe! This no-boil pumpkin ziti is just that: no boil! No need to boil and drain the pasta on the stove before transferring the dish to the oven. For this recipe, the oven does all the work. All you need is a little bit of prep time and this bubbly, cheesy pasta bake is ready for dinner. While no-bake lasagna noodles do exist (and they are amazing), for this recipe you can use regular old pasta and it will still bake up like a dream!
For this recipe, I love to use ziti, penne, or rigatoni pasta. For some reason I can’t always get ziti at my grocery store, so if you can’t either these other pasta types will work perfectly fine! I use Italian sausage in this recipe, but you can also omit it to keep the recipe vegetarian or use another type of sausage. Browning the sausage is the only step of prep work that requires you turning on the stove top since this is a no-boil recipe! After browning the sausage you combine it with other sauce ingredients: tomato sauce, herbs, and a whole can of pumpkin. You can’t taste the pumpkin in the recipe, but it does give you a subtle sweetness as well as all the extra health benefits of nutrient-dense pumpkin!
This recipe truly couldn’t be easier. After browning the sausage, if using, just throw all the ingredients into a bowl, mix, transfer to baking dish, and bake! Because this pasta recipe has a longer baking time than it would if the pasta was already cooked, I add the cheese during the last 15 minutes of cooking time to ensure it doesn’t burn. Pumpkin ziti is the perfect easy dinner that the whole family will love! Serve with a salad or roasted vegetables for a complete meal.
- 1 lb. Italian sausage
- 1 lb. pasta (ziti, rigatoni, or penne work well)
- 1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 28 oz. tomato sauce
- 15 oz. canned diced tomatoes
- 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp. dried oregano
- 1½ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. dried ground thyme
- 2 tsp. dried basil
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 3 cups water.
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Brown the sausage in a skillet, breaking into pieces as it cooks. Transfer to a large bowl.
- To the bowl, add pumpkin, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, oregano, salt, thyme, basil, red pepper flakes, and water. Stir to combine, then add pasta and stir again.
- Transfer mixture to a 9 x 13 baking dish and bake for one hour until pasta is tender. During the last 15 minutes of cooking time, add mozzarella cheese and return to the oven.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Enjoy!
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