This quick and easy recipe for Pumpkin Pasta Casserole is perfect for chilly, fall evenings.

If you are a gardener, you may only have to buy 2 ingredients to make this recipe: pasta and cheese. If you aren’t a gardener, it is still frugal as most of the produce is on sale right now.

You can’t taste the pumpkin in the casserole. It adds a natural sweetness, nutrients, and color, but it takes on the other flavors of the recipe. The natural sweetness means you don’t have to add any sugar to offset the tartness of the tomatoes. My kids were at first horrified at the idea of pumpkin in a casserole. I think they were imagining the flavors of pumpkin pie and lasagna mixed together. I convinced them to try it and they loved it, but then they were disappointed that they couldn’t actually taste the pumpkin. Go figure!

I used diced tomatoes in this recipe, if you have kids that don’t like chunks of veggies in their casseroles (I’ve gone through that with all three of my kids!), you can put the diced tomatoes in the blender before creating the sauce.