Actually, I had planned another post for today. However, this pasta got in my way and it was so good that I could not withhold it. Spaghetti carbonara, but with a special twist: Pumpkin Carbonara.
I had a vision of this dish when I stood in front of a mountain of Hokkaido pumpkins and every cell of my body resisted to make pumpkin soup again. Don´t get me wrong, I love pumpkin soup. Just the same as oven pumpkin. But it has to be more to do with this vegetable than these two things. And so I improvised — also due to a lack of alternatives — threw various ingredients into the pot. The result was this pasta dish, which everyone loved so much that I had to recook it twice since then.
Short information in advance: since I am a serious Pumpkin Spice Latte junkie lover, I already had pumpkin puree at home. This is incredibly easy to make: if you use Hokkaido, you don’t even need to peel the pumpkin. I wash it off well, halve it and seed it with a spoon. Then place them the cut side down on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake for about 45-50 minutes until the skin is wrinkly. I puree the pumpkin halves with a hand blender, and that’s it!
In the sense of saving time you can also prepare and freeze larger quantities in advance.

Pumpkin Carbonara
Zutaten / Ingredients
- 200 g pumpkin puree
- 300 g pasta (spaghetti)
- 2 egg yolks
- 80 g cubed bacon
- 70 g parmesan cheese grated
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp parsley finely chopped
- salt, pepper
Anleitung / Instructions
- Put up a large saucepan of lightly salted water for the pasta for cooking.
- Peel the garlic clove and chop it finely. In a larger saucepan (in which the pasta have enough space), fry the bacon cubes over medium heat in a little olive oil. Add the garlic and slightly roas. Remove from the heat after 1-2 minutes.
- For the sugo, put the pumpkin puree in a bowl and mix well with the egg yolks. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.
- As soon as the water boils, add the spaghetti and cook them until they are al dente.
- Once the pasta is ready, drain and add to the pan with the bacon-garlic mixture. Stir well, so that the pasta is covered with the oil. Quickly stir in the pumpkin sugo so that it binds until it has a smooth consistency.
- If desired, sprinkle with a little fresh Parmesan cheese and the freshly sliced parsley and serve quickly.
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