Vegan Pumpkin Ricotta Tortelloni

This vegan pumpkin ricotta tortelloni is the perfect shareable dish for the holiday season. Each bite of pasta is stuffed with creamy pumpkin ricotta, boiled to perfection, and drizzled with a simple butter sage sauce. The good news? The stuffed pasta can be made days or even weeks in advance, frozen, and cooked just before serving. The best news? Nasoya's Vegan Round Wraps mean there's no reason to fuss over homemade pasta. Read on for the full recipe!

This post is sponsored by Nasoya. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Blissful Basil!

It's hard to believe the holiday season is upon us. This year has flown by, and it feels like we were taking warm-weather bike rides through the forest preserve just the other week.

I'll admit, I'm a bit behind on planning for the holidays. Months ago, Dan and I agreed to host Thanksgiving.

Now that we have a house to spread out in, hosting big family gatherings feels a bit less daunting than when we lived in a condo in the city.

When we hosted Thanksgiving a few years ago, we had to rent tables and chairs and smush all the living room furniture to one side of the room to accommodate our modest 14-person Thanksgiving gathering.

Between the cramped space and the oven running without pause, the condo quickly heated to a steamy 78 degrees forcing everyone to abandon their sweaters and take intermittent cooling breaks outdoors.

It was a little stressful at the time but also very fun. Definitely a memory I look back on with (mostly) fondness.

Here we are signed up to host again, and up until this week, I had yet to do a speck of planning. Mostly because we've been tied up with a variety of other exciting things recently—more on that (hopefully) in a few weeks.

But this week I've been planning... in the form of pumpkin pasta testing. Tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

When Nasoya asked me to create a holiday themed, shareable recipe using their new vegan Dumpling Wrappers, the thought of pumpkin pasta immediately came to mind.

Many years ago, every Sunday after Thanksgiving it was tradition for me, Dan, my mom, and my step dad to collectively drop off present donations at an adoption agency downtown and then head to a quaint Italian restaurant in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.

Sadly, the restaurant is no longer there, but the fond memories persist. Wine, laughter, cozy lighting, and lots of delicious homemade pasta.

My favorite dish on the menu was "pope's hat" pasta stuffed with ricotta, tossed in buttery sage sauce, and finished with crushed amoretti cookies. That last bit sounds odd, but trust me here. So good.

Although I didn't replicate the cookie garnish, I did come up with a vegan version of the pasta and sauce for you here. This shareable pasta dish wraps up the comforting flavors of fall in delicious, bite-size packages.

Although the pasta stuffing is labor intensive, I find it to be calming and therapeutic during the hustle-inducing holiday season.

Plus, you can stuff the pasta ahead of time, freeze it, and cook it on demand in a matter of minutes.

To make this vegan pumpkin ricotta tortelloni, you'll start by preparing the tofu ricotta.

Add one block of Nasoya Super Firm Tofu to a food processor along with a bit of nut//seed parmesan, cashews, olive oil, nutritional yeast, garlic, and lemon juice.

Pulse until combined and the texture resembles thick ricotta cheese.

Transfer the tofu ricotta to a large mixing bowl. Add a can of unsweetened pumpkin purée (or use homemade if you prefer), a bit of freshly grated nutmeg, and sea salt.

Stir, stir, stir until thoroughly combined.

The mixture should have a beautiful glowing orange hue.

Now, it's time to stuff the pasta.

As noted above, this recipe makes enough to comfortably serve a crowd. You'll have enough filling to stuff about 180 Nasoya Vegan Round Wraps (i.e., 3 packages).

The process of forming the tortelloni or "pope's hats" can be a bit confusing to grasp in words, so in addition to detailed recipe instructions, I've also included step-by-step images.

Here's what the pope's hats pasta-stuffing process looks like:

1. Place one Nasoya Round Dumpling Wrapper on a clean work surface.

2. Scoop one level teaspoon of pumpkin ricotta filling into the center of the wrapper.

3. Use your fingertips to moisten the edges of the wrapper with water.

4. Fold the round wrapper in half over the filling to form a half moon shape and press down on the edges to seal.

5. Then, pull the corners inward toward each other, overlapping one with the other and press to adhere.

Transfer the tortelloni to a parchment-lined pan.

If you're preparing the pasta ahead of time and planning to freeze, simply transfer the stuffed pasta to a large airtight container and place a sheet of parchment paper between each layer of pasta.

Once you're ready to cook the pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Drop the vegan tortelloni into the boiling water in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pot.

Boil for two to three minutes, or until the pasta floats to the surface. Scoop the pasta out of the water using a wire pasta straining ladle and transfer to individual bowls or a large serving platter (depending on how you want to present the pasta to your guests).

Repeat until the desired amount of pasta has been cooked.

While the pasta boils, prepare the vegan buttery sage sauce.

Melt the vegan butter in a large sauté pan. Once melted, add a bit of dried sage to the pan and simmer for 2 minutes, or until fragrant.

Drizzle the buttery sage sauce over the cooked pasta, and generously garnish with vegan nut//seed parmesan cheese, roasted pumpkin seeds, and pomegranate seeds.

If you make this vegan pumpkin ricotta tortelloni for your holiday celebrations, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #blissfulbasil on Instagram.

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5 from 2 votes

Vegan Pumpkin Ricotta Tortelloni

This vegan pumpkin ricotta tortelloni is the perfect shareable dish for the holiday season. Each bite of pasta is stuffed with creamy pumpkin ricotta, boiled to perfection, and drizzled with a simple butter sage sauce. The good news? The stuffed pasta can be made days or even weeks in advance, frozen, and cooked just before serving. The best news? Nasoya's Round Vegan Dumpling Wrappers mean there's no reason to fuss over homemade pasta. Read on for the full recipe!

Course Pasta

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Holiday, Thanksgiving, vegan

Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 15 people

Author Ashley

Ingredients

Pumpkin Ricotta Tortelloni

• 1 recipe Vegan Nut // Seed Parmesan Cheese, divided*
• 1 (16-ounce) block Nasoya Super Firm Tofu, drained
• ½ cup raw cashews, soaked for two hours and drained*
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
• 1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 (15-ounce) can unsweetened pumpkin purée (about 1 ¾ cups
• 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• Sea salt, to taste (I usually add around 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons)
• 3 packages Nasoya Vegan Round Wraps**

Vegan Buttery Sage Sauce*

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) vegan buttery spread
• 1 teaspoon rubbed dried sage or ¾ teaspoon dried sage
• Salt + black pepper, to taste (I use about ¼ teaspoon)

Garnishes

• Remains of the Nut // Seed Parmesan Cheese
• Roasted pumpkin seeds
• Pomegranate seeds

Instructions

For the Pumpkin Tortelloni

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Prepare a clean work surface for shaping your pasta, and place a small bowl of water within reach of it.
• Add the tofu, cashews, ¼ cup of the parmesan cheese, olive oil, nutritional yeast, garlic, and lemon juice to a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are combined and the texture resembles thick ricotta cheese.
• Transfer the tofu ricotta to a large mixing bowl. Add the pumpkin purée, nutmeg, and salt, and thoroughly stir to combine.
• Place a Nasoya Round Wrap on your prepared work surface.
• Scoop a small teaspoon of the ricotta pumpkin filling into the middle of each wrapper, being careful not to overstuff—less is more here.
• Using your fingertips or a pastry brush, moisten the edges of the wrapper with a small amount of water.
• Fold the circle in half over the filling to form a half moon shape, pressing down with your fingers to seal the edges.
• Pull the two corners inward towards each other, overlapping one with the other. Press down on the tips to adhere them together. Transfer to the parchment-lined pan. (See note*** if you're preparing in advance.)
• Repeat with the remaining dumpling wrappers.
• Gently boil the tortelloni in batches (being careful not to overcrowd the pot) for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they float to the surface. Use a wire pasta straining ladle to scoop the pasta from the water and transfer to individual bowls or a large serving platter.

For the Vegan Buttery Sage Sauce****

• Melt the buttery spread in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat.
• Once melted, add the sage and gently simmer for 2 minutes, or until fragrant.
• Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To Assemble

• Drizzle the cooked pasta with the buttery sage sauce. Generously garnish with the remaining nut//seed parmesan, pumpkin seeds, and pomegranate seeds.
• Serve immediately.

Notes

*No nuts? No problem. To keep this recipe nut-free, use raw pumpkin seeds to make the parmesan and and soaked raw pumpkin seeds in place of the cashews in the ricotta.

**If you're unable to find Nasoya's Vegan Round Wraps, use their square vegan wonton wrappers instead. FYI, they're a bit bigger than the round wraps, so you'll be able to fit more filling instead each.

***If you're preparing the pasta ahead of time to cook on a later date, transfer the stuffed pasta to a large airtight container and place a sheet of parchment paper between each layer of pasta. Freeze the pasta for up to one month and boil frozen. Note: the pasta will likely require 3 to 5 minutes to cook through as opposed to 2 to 3 minutes.

****This recipe makes enough sauce for about half of the pasta or a very light coating for the full recipe. Consider doubling the recipe if you like a generous amount of sauce and are making for a crowd.