Recipes / Dinner

Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese - Dinner Version

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Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese - Dinner Version

Heather
The Cook
8 Servings
16 Ingredients
23 Comments

This hearty macaroni and cheese side dish can also sub as a main dish for a delicious fall meal.

Read More
8 Servings
16 Ingredients
23 Comments

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces Elbows
  • 1 cup Reserved Pasta Water
  • ¼ cups Butter
  • 3 tablespoons Flour, All-Purpose
  • 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoons Nutmeg
  • 2 ½ cups Skim Milk
  • ½ cups Pumpkin, Canned
  • 2 cups Cheddar Cheese, Shredded
  • ¼ cups Swiss Cheese #1
  • 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Salt
  • ½ teaspoons Black Pepper
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 1 cup Bread Crumbs
  • 1 cup Swiss Cheese #2

Containers

  • 2 8x8 Baking Pans

Supplies

  • Foils
  • Labels

Cooking Instructions

Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions

Stovetop

These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).

Why would I want to freeze this?

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions

Bake

These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.

  1. Thaw: In fridge
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Make It Now Cooking Directions

Stove Cook

These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
  2. Reserve indicated amount of pasta water, then drain macaroni.
  3. Put macaroni back into pot and add reserved water. Set aside.
  4. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.
  5. Gently whisk in flour, cinnamon and nutmeg until smooth.
  6. Whisk in milk.
  7. Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to simmer.
  8. Whisk in pumpkin and stir in cheddar cheese and swiss cheese #1.
  9. After cheese melts, add brown sugar, salt, and pepper.
  10. Pour sauce into pot with macaroni and reserved water.
  11. Mix well, then pour into a 9×13 baking pan.
  12. Mix olive oil, bread crumbs and swiss cheese #2 in a bowl.
  13. Top macaroni and cheese with topping.
  14. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until bubbly.

Categories

traditional, winter, fall, vegetarian, nut-free, egg-free, kosher, fish-free, shellfish-free

Categories

traditional, winter, fall, vegetarian, nut-free, egg-free, kosher, fish-free, shellfish-free

23 Comments

Join the discussion

    1. Hi Maggie – it refers to the two different amounts of swiss cheese in the recipe – in the sauce and in the topping. I added more information to the directions, hopefully to provide some clarity. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

  3. I made this for dinner tonight, no swiss cheese as I don’t like it (and thus had none)- it was delicious! All four of us (two adults, a 3 year old and 1 year old) cleaned our plates!! Thank you! I’ll be saving this one for the next time I need to take a meal to a new mom, this would be a hit for sure.

  7. Dies the pumpkin flavor come through very strong? I would love to make this but my husband is not a pumpkin fan – so I’m wondering if he will notice or not…

    1. Bailey, I made this menu just last weekend and my husband isn’t a huge fan of pumpkin either. He devoured it!!

  8. I made this ahead of time for my 14 month old and husband….my hubby called to say he couldn’t keep up with feeding the baby…he gobbled it up! My husband was also a fan. A fall hit for sure! thanks!

  9. This recipe is a keeper! I made a gluten-free version for a GF dinner party and it was excellent!(I used GF pasta, cornstarch in place of the flour, and toasted a GF baguette for the bread crumbs. Fantastic!)

  10. I made this dish for dinner tonight. It was very good. I used Panko bread crumbs on top to add a little crunch. Thanks for the recipe!!

  11. I was hesitant, but I made this tonight. I thought, “Brown sugar in macaroni and cheese? Uh uh.” Let me tell you, it was AMAZING! I told all my friends about it. I was short a some of the cheese but nobody missed it. What a great dish!

    1. Melanie – Yes you certainly can. Any other squash or even sweet potato puree will work just fine.

  14. Hi Heather, just to say that DD said ‘my favourite in the world’ and DS said ‘mac n cheese–yay!’. Whoa, this recipe is great. The pumpkin is so good in it. Thanks to Terri for commenting that the cinnamon tastes good, because I was also on the fence about adding it. Glad we did! We used WW spirelli and added almost 1 teaspoon tumeric since it’s a healthy spice and it disappeared completely. We didn’t use the brown sugar since my preschoolers are so young I had hoped I could get away without it. Yep. We used locally available cheeses like Gouda, gruyère and cheddar. I noted to double the recipe for next time. Can’t beat a winner!