Soft, pillowy gnocchi in a creamy pumpkin sauce with mild Italian sausage, sage, and Pecorino Romano cheese. Serve with fried sage leaves and butter toasted walnuts. The perfect pumpkin recipe for Fall weeknight meals.
Why you will love this pumpkin recipe.
First, this is a great way to use up that canned pumpkin/pumpkin puree sitting in your pantry and it takes a little over 30 minutes to make.
The pumpkin puree is the key ingredient that gives this sauce body and mild flavor. The sausage, Pecorino Romano and sage provide the big flavors to this comforting Fall dish.
And, if you haven’t tried pumpkin in a savory dish, please try it now.
The butter toasted walnuts and sage!
Toasting anything in butter makes it even better! Add the walnuts and sage to a hot skillet with butter and toast until the sage is crispy and the nuts have a nice golden color. After plating the dish, toss the walnuts on top and crumble the sage between your fingers and sprinkle over the top.
Let’s take a look at how we make this pumpkin recipe.
Cook the sausage and start the pot of boiling water for the gnocchi.
You will want to prepare the fried walnuts and sage first. Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the walnuts. Stir often until golden brown for about 4 minutes. Add the sage to the pan with the walnuts and fry for about 30-45 seconds until crispy.
Remove the sage and walnuts from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on a paper towel. Sprinkle with sea salt. You will want to reserve the leftover butter for the pumpkin sauce-that is flavor right there!
After the sausage is cooked, scoop into a bowl and set aside.
In the same pan, add the reserved butter from the toasted walnuts and add in the onions. Once the onions are soft, add the garlic and herbs.
Cook the onions and herbs a minute with white wine, then add in the pumpkin. Cook this mixture for a few minutes, stirring constantly, before adding the chicken broth.
Add in the cooked gnocchi and sausage before adding the cream and cheese.
Tip tip! To loosen things up, don’t forget to use leftover water from the gnocchi. The starch from the pasta (gnocchi) water adds body and silkiness to sauce. Pasta water should be added in at the end to loosen the sauce if needed.
Top off with butter toasted walnuts and sage.
Recipe tips.
A lot of pumpkin recipes use canned pumpkin.
Canned pumpkin provides the same healthy nutrition as fresh pumpkin, making it quick and easy to add pumpkin to recipes year-round.
For this pumpkin recipe, please use 100% pure pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin) which is unsweetened and does not contain any added spices.
Fresh Sage
Fresh sage has a savory, yet sweet, earthy flavor and adds depth to this dish.
Sage is added to this pumpkin recipe with the garlic early in the cooking process and mellows out the strong flavor of this beautiful herb.
Butter fried sage crumbled over this dish along with buttered walnuts is just like the cherry on top of your ice cream sundae.
Creamy Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sausage
Soft, pillowy gnocchi in a creamy pumpkin sauce with mild Italian sausage, sage, and Pecorino Romano cheese. Serve with fried sage leaves and butter toasted walnuts.
4
servings5
minutes30
minutes35
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
1-16 ounce package of potato gnocchi
1/2 pound of mild Italian Sausage
2-3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 of a large sweet onion
2 medium sized cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup dry white wine (or chicken broth)
1 cup pumpkin puree/canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup reserved water from cooked gnocchi
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (if using Parmesan, you may need a little less)
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
fresh cracked pepper to taste
- Butter fried sage and walnuts
1/2 cup walnuts, pressed with a glass to slightly crush
6 fresh sage leaves
2 Tablespoons butter
sea salt
Directions
- Prepare butter toasted walnuts and sage
- Add butter to a saucepan that will be large enough for a single layer of walnuts and sage. Heat over medium heat.
- Once the butter has melted completely, add the slightly crushed walnuts to the pan.
- The butter will foam, continue to toast the walnuts until they are golden for about 5 minutes, watching carefully so they don’t burn.
- Add the fresh sage leaves to the pan with the walnuts and fry for about 30-45 seconds just until crispy.
- Remove the sage and walnuts with a slotted spoon and set on top of a paper towel. Salt lightly. Save the leftover butter for the pumpkin sauce!
- Gnocchi and Sausage
- Heat a large, nonstick saucepan over medium high heat and add the sausage. Using a spatula, break up into crumbles while cooking. Cook about 6-7 minutes or until no longer pink. Set aside on a paper towel.
- Heat a pot of water for the gnocchi as you cook the sausage. Once it comes to a boil, drop the gnocchi in the pot and cook for two minutes–no longer! Reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water, drain and set aside.
- In the pan used for the sausage (remove excess fat if needed), add the butter from the fried sage and walnuts. Add additional butter as needed. Heat over medium heat.
- Add the onion and cook over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until soft and a slightly golden color.
- Stir in the garlic, chopped sage, and thyme. Stir and cook another minute. Add the white wine and cook until wine is reduced about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the pumpkin and stir often for about 2 minutes. Here we are adding more flavor to the pumpkin.
- Stir in the chicken broth and salt. Cook until the mixtures starts to bubble.
- Add in sausage and cooked gnocchi.
- Continue to stir and cook an additional few minutes. Then, add the heavy cream, Pecorino Romano cheese and pepper. Add pasta water as needed for the texture you like.
- Serve with crumbled, fried sage leaves and butter toasted walnuts.
Notes
- Store leftovers in a tightly covered container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Leftover nuts and sage also should be stored in the refrigerator the same way.
- Reheat leftovers in the microwave. You may need to add a splash of chicken broth to loosen up the sauce.
- What to do with left over sage? Fried sage leaves are great sprinkled on top of squash, soups, meats. Fresh sage can be used in stuffing, brown butter sauce with pasta, sage and lemon butter for steak.
Looking for Fall recipe inspiration?
Easy Baked Delicata Squash. Baked delicata squash rounds, stuffed with sausage, mushrooms, onion and red pepper. Top with fresh cheddar and baked until melted
Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples. Brussels sprouts roasted with sweet apples and a maple Dijon vinaigrette. Perfectly caramelized and crispy.
Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal. This healthy, baked oatmeal recipe is super easy and tastes just like warm apple pie.
Oatmeal, shredded apple and apple sauce make every bite of this baked oatmeal creamy and tender, but with a slightly chewy texture. The addition of cinnamon, vanilla, and just a little brown sugar add a desert-like flavor. The apple yogurt topping is perfect on top of the warm, baked oatmeal.
Baked Sweet Potato Slices with Cranberry and Goat Cheese. Baked sweet potato slices are topped with cranberry sauce and goat cheese and finished under the broiler just until the cheese is golden brown. Serve with a sprinkle of toasted walnuts and crispy bacon.
