62 Best Pumpkin Recipes For Fall

After a long, hot summer, we're so excited for fall: leaves changing to fiery colors, cool and crisp air, bonfires, cozy sweaters, and of course, pumpkins. And we don't just mean pumpkins on our doorsteps and jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween — this is the time of year when we can't get enough of pumpkin spice and pumpkin treats. Puréed pumpkin blended into muffins, soups, breads, and cakes brings sweetness and harvest color. Pumpkin pie spice — typically a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, and allspice — adds so much warming flavor to drinks and sweets, and it even pairs well with savory dishes. 

Here's a round-up of the best pumpkin recipes on Mashed, covering everything from dinner to desserts. There are plenty of fall classics here, including soft pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and creamy pumpkin cheesecakes. Want to add a little pumpkin to your mornings? Try Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats or a batch of pumpkin donuts. Starbucks is the king of autumn treats, and you can easily recreate them at home with copycat recipes for Pumpkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Scones. You can even have pumpkin for dinner with savory recipes for pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry sauce, and pumpkin spice ramen. 

Stock up now on canned pumpkin purée and jars of pumpkin spice blend, then jump into dozens of delectable pumpkin recipes. 

If you're used to buying scones at the store or bakery, you won't believe how easy they are to make at home. Pumpkin scones have fall flavor from pumpkin purée in the mix and spices such as nutmeg. Plus, they're tender and lightly sweet. The ingredients comes together in only 15 minutes: just enough handling to come together into a dough, then slice into wedges. The scones bake up quickly and are tasty with a drizzle of icing. Enjoy them for breakfast, brunch, or as a midday snack. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Scones

Here's one of the absolute best pumpkin treats. Warm slices of pumpkin bread spread with butter are sure to bring the cozy, cool weather vibes, no matter the time of year. The best thing about quick bread recipes, including this one, is that the batter mixes up quickly with no kneading required. Pumpkin bread takes just over an hour to bake, filling your home with an amazing, spicy scent as it does. Cooled loaves can be frozen and reheated slice by slice whenever you crave it. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Bread

Serve a stack of these warm pumpkin pancakes with real maple syrup, a side of bacon, and a hot cup of coffee, and you'll have a hometown diner vibe going on right in your kitchen. Just as easy to make as regular pancakes, this recipe includes pumpkin purée and pumpkin spice for lots of extra flavor. Best of all, Better Homes & Gardens shares that pancakes freeze well, so you can stash pumpkin pancakes in your freezer and easily reheat them on busy mornings or for a sweet snack. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes

Even if you haven't yet tried copycat versions of pumpkin spice latte or pumpkin cold brew, you should give this recipe for one of Starbuck's most famous menu items a try: pumpkin bread. Because it's a quick bread, it requires no kneading and it's easy to mix. Use a pumpkin spice blend, or customize the flavor with a balance of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger. For the signature Starbucks look, top your loaf with toasted pepitas. Pumpkin bread freezes well, so you can always have it on hand to enjoy with your morning brew. 

Recipe: Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin spice often brings to mind sweet dishes such as breads, ice cream, and sweet lattes — so it might be jarring at first to see a recipe for pumpkin spice ramen noodles. But the flavors of pumpkin spice, including cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and pumpkin itself are also delicious in savory dishes, such as these brothy noodles. Begin by making an easy base of vegetable broth, coconut milk, aromatics such as onion and ginger, and pumpkin purée. Simmer for just a half hour, then add the ramen noodles for a few minutes more. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Ramen Noodles

Got pumpkin? Whether you have a whole pumpkin to carve or some pre-sliced chunks from the store, it's a great excuse to make a batch of this pumpkin hummus. Roast the pumpkin pieces in the oven with a little oil and salt to bring out the sweetness as they caramelize. From there, use a blender or food processor to purée the pumpkin with classic hummus ingredients such as chickpeas, tahini, and garlic. Serve it with pita chips or crackers, or use this hummus as a spread in sandwiches.

Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Hummus

A few ingredients from the baking aisle will help you pull together a tasty and easy batch of pumpkin muffins. They're soft, fragrant, and have a crumbly, spiced, streusel topping. Boxed spice cake mix blended with a can of pumpkin purée are all that's needed to create the muffin batter: Once it's added to the muffin pan, top each one with the pumpkin spice crumble. The whole recipe including bake time is less than 30 minutes, and what a delicious breakfast or brunch treat these muffins make. Serve them with butter and jam. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Everyone should try making homemade Pop Tarts at least once in their life. They're surprisingly easy and taste a thousand times better than the store-bought ones. Why not get started with this recipe for Pumpkin Pop Tarts? The pastry dough comes together in minutes using a food processor; from there, just roll it and cut out rectangles. The filling, made with pumpkin purée, brown sugar, and spices, is sealed inside the rectangular pockets before baking. Frost your pumpkin Pop Tarts with a quick glaze, sprinkles, or a dash of cinnamon.

Recipe: Pumpkin Pop Tarts

Not all pumpkin recipes have to be sweet. This savory recipe has tender chunks of pumpkin in a savory and warming stew that's perfect for the cool days of fall. Look for precut pumpkin pieces, or buy sugar pumpkins, which are smaller and taste better than huge carving pumpkins. Filling your kitchen with the scent of garlic, ginger, cumin, and cinnamon, this stew simmers on your stovetop and is ready in less than an hour. Served with soft pita bread, it's perfect for dinner or as a make-ahead lunch. 

Recipe: Moroccan Pumpkin stew 

According to The Culture Trip, pumpkin is a traditional ravioli filling in Northern Italy; the stuffed pasta is served with a sage and butter sauce. It's perfect in the fall at the height of pumpkin season, but these ravioli can be enjoyed throughout the year. This recipe uses wonton wrappers to save time, but you can also use pasta dough if you'd rather. Stuff the squares with a blend of pumpkin purée and Parmesan, then cook and serve with butter and sage. Another traditional pumpkin ravioli component? Crushed amaretti cookies sprinkled over the tops. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Ravioli

If you have four minutes, you have time to make a sweet and creamy dip that tastes like autumn. Blend together pumpkin purée, pumpkin spice, and whipped topping (regular or dairy-free) to make this cool dip that's perfect for dunking slices of apple, graham crackers, and cookies. Pumpkin pie dip is right at home on a Halloween charcuterie board or for any fall or holiday spread. The dip can also be layered with whipped cream and crushed crackers or cookies to make cute parfaits. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Dip

Try a delicious twist on traditional curry sauce with the addition of a little pumpkin. The sauce has Thai-inspired flavors from coconut milk, garlic, red chilies, and ginger, but with the flavor and brilliant orange color of pumpkin. Serve over rice with stir-fried veggies, chicken, or beef. Use the sauce for a fresh take on English chips and curry by serving it with french fries or tater tots. The curry sauce takes only 20 minutes from start to finish. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Curry Sauce

Everyone's in on the pumpkin spice game, including McDonald's, which have a Pumpkin Spice Latte as part of its seasonal McCafé menu offerings. We think you should skip the drive-thru, however, and make a latte at home in just five minutes. Simmer together a mixture of milk, pumpkin, and spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg to make the creamy pumpkin base of this drink. Stir in your favorite instant coffee and sugar, and it's ready to serve. You can even chill the mixture in the fridge to enjoy iced pumpkin lattes. 

Recipe: Copycat McDonald's Pumpkin Spice Latte

According to Country Living, pumpkin has many surprising health benefits including generous doses of vitamins C, E, and A, as well as fiber and protein. These are excellent reasons to add pumpkin to your daily smoothie, whether it's pumpkin spice season or not. This recipe blends canned pumpkin purée with milk (use a plant-based milk if you'd rather,) banana, and spices. Top your smoothie with a dash of nutmeg, whipped cream, sliced fruit, or cream cheese-flavored baking chips for a cheesecake vibe. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Make a homey pumpkin dish that's so comforting on chilly nights. Because it's prepared in an Instant Pot, this pasta is ready in just 10 minutes from start to finish. The thick sauce is made from a blend of sautéed onions, vegetable stock, coconut milk, pumpkin purée, plus miso paste and herbs. Penne pasta cooks in the Instant Pot along with the sauce — it's so easy. Enjoy Pumpkin Pasta as a meal with a side of bread or biscuits, or serve it as a side dish for roast chicken or other meaty mains. 

Recipe: Instant Pot Pumpkin Pasta

A whole cake AND topping from only three ingredients — amazing. Create a tender pumpkin cake using boxed white cake mix plus canned pumpkin pie mix. Don't confuse this with pumpkin purée, which contains only pumpkin; pumpkin pie mix also has sugar, flavorings, and spices. For the topping just pour on some marshmallow fluff. It's reminiscent of marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole and makes a great dessert for serving at a fall gathering. 

Recipe: 3-Ingredient Marshmallow Pumpkin cake

Making homemade granola isn't just a way to save money over store-bought varieties; it also puts you in control of what goes into it. Pumpkin spice granola is full of healthful ingredients, including rolled oats, dried cranberries, pepitas, and two types of nuts. Toss these with a blend of pumpkin purée, coconut oil, and plenty of pumpkin pie spice and then bake. Your kitchen will have the most incredible aroma, and you'll have a flavorful granola to enjoy with yogurt, in smoothie bowls, or for snacking.

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Granola

No ice cream maker? No problem. This no-churn recipe only requires a freezer and a little patience. The ice cream features pumpkin purée and a pumpkin pie spice blend, which includes nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Blend everything together, then put in the freezer for eight hours. The heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk in the mixture allow the ice cream to freeze firm while staying scoopable and creamy. Enjoy pumpkin ice cream in cones, a hot fudge sundae, or to make fall-inspired ice cream sandwiches. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Ice Cream

These look just like the classic peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses in the middle, but they have a delicious twist. The cookies are made with pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice, which tastes absolutely incredible with chocolate. They have a puffed and tender texture, too. The cookies bake up in only 20 minutes and the recipe makes plenty to share or to store in the fridge for up to 10 days. Use milk chocolate Hershey's Kisses or try other flavors, including caramel-filled or white chocolate Hugs. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Hershey's Kiss Cookies

Make one of the best-loved fall baking treats even better — with chocolate, of course. Pumpkin and chocolate are an incredible flavor pairing, so it should come as no surprise that soft, spiced pumpkin bread studded with chocolate chips is absolutely amazing. The quick bread requires no kneading: Just mix everything together and pour it in a pan. The bread bakes up in just under an hour, and can be served for breakfast, brunch, or as an after-school snack. 

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Not only is this recipe full of sweet pumpkin and vanilla flavor, but it's also ready to eat in five minutes — no cooking or chilling required. The secret is instant vanilla pudding, one of the best dessert ingredients because it sets up so quickly once blended with milk. Mixed with pumpkin purée, the mousse is an easy treat to make for fall evenings or as a fun option for Thanksgiving dessert. Add toppings of your choice, such as whipped cream cacao nibs, a drizzle of salted caramel, or crushed gingersnaps. 

Recipe: 3-Ingredient Pumpkin Mousse

There's nothing quite like making a big pot of soup on a chilly day. Your home fills with a comforting, savory scent while you create enough exquisite soup to feed a crowd — or to feed yourself for days to come. Pumpkin soup is perfect for fall and early winter, but because canned pumpkin purée is in stores year-round, you can make it any time of year. Sautéed shallots and ginger simmer with the pumpkin, beans, coconut milk, and spices, and the soup is ready in only 15 minutes. 

Recipe: Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Sometimes, nothing but a homemade muffin will do, and this recipe is one you should bookmark. Pumpkin muffins are simple in appearance but wonderfully soft and full of pumpkin spice flavor. The muffin batter is easy to make, and The Kitchn shares that the most important thing to remember is to not mix it too much — doing so creates gluten that makes the muffins tough. Instead, stir the dry and wet mixtures together by hand just until they're incorporated. Enjoy warm pumpkin muffins with butter, jam, or even a little Nutella. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Muffins

Cannoli fans will be pleased to learn that it's so easy to make a batch of these tasty pastries at home. For those who are less familiar with them, Allrecipes explains that cannoli are made of fried, rolled-up pastry shells that are filled with a sweetened ricotta or mascarpone cheese filling. This recipe uses both cheeses blended with pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie spice, plus using pre-made cannoli shells saves lots of time. The pumpkin-cheese mixture needs an overnight rest to achieve the right consistency, but after that it's a cinch to fill and serve them.

Recipe: Pumpkin Cannoli

Despite what trendy oatmeal hacks would have you believe, making oatmeal the old-fashioned way is pretty easy and only takes about 30 minutes. Pumpkin oatmeal is a great example: Just add hearty, steel-cut oats to boiling water along with pumpkin purée, spices, and maple syrup. Cover and cook the oats until they're tender. This fragrant, flavorful oatmeal recipe makes six servings that you can store and reheat for breakfast all week. Add any toppings you wish, such as sliced apples, chocolate chips, brown sugar, or toasted nuts. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Oatmeal

If you've always wanted to try making Instagram-worthy macarons — or if you're a pro and want to try a new macaron flavor — this is a great recipe to get you started. Delicate macaron cookies are made with egg whites, sugar, almond flour, and a little food coloring to give them a pumpkin-like hue. Learn how to mix, pipe, and bake the macarons to crispy perfection, then sandwich them with an indulgent, pumpkin spice-white chocolate ganache. The hardest part is chilling the macarons for two days before eating them, but they're worth the wait. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Macarons

The classic pumpkin pie that we all know and love consists of a uniform layer of baked pumpkin filling sitting in a pie crust. This recipe is a twist on the classic; it performs a bit of magic as it bakes. The blended filling made from pumpkin purée, eggs, milk, sugar, and spices is poured into the crust. During baking that filling separates into two delicious layers: A silky custard on the bottom of the pie and a fluffy, pumpkin layer covering the top. Serve slices with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. 

Recipe: Layered Pumpkin Custard Pie

La Cucina Italiana shares that a traditional carbonara sauce is made with eggs, cured meat such as guanciale or bacon, Pecorino cheese, and pepper. This fall-inspired variation calls for easy-to-find Parmesan cheese, garlic, and pumpkin purée. With a little hot pasta water added in, the ingredients are whisked into a into a smooth sauce that's savory but with a little sweetness. Tossed with bacon, garlic, and pasta, it's comforting and delicious. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Carbonara

Sometimes you just need an easy dessert to make when friends are coming over or to bring to a party. This recipe for pumpkin bars requires only five ingredients, including boxed yellow cake mix, pumpkin purée, and eggs. The cake mix is for the bottom layer of these tender bars, and after pumpkin is spread over the layer, more cake mix is added to the top in dollops. Bake the bars for 40 minutes and serve them plain or with whipped cream. You can make these bars in advance as well, and keep them covered at room temperature until you need them.

Recipe: Pumpkin Bars

This moist sheet cake is simple to make but full of pumpkin spice flavor. The from-scratch batter includes applesauce, butter, and canned pumpkin pie filling, plus plenty of warming, fall spices. Bake it up in a 9x13-inch pan in only 25 minutes. The cooled cake is frosted with a cream cheese-pumpkin spice frosting. It's a perfect treat to make for a special occasion, or just to have in the house whenever you crave something sweet. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Sheet Cake

According to Taste Of Home, the ingredients used to make a traditional, Mexican mole sauce can vary, but one that's often used is pumpkin seeds (or pepitas.) Try your hand at making a slow-simmered mole, with ingredients that include pepitas, dried chile peppers, cinnamon, onion, dark chocolate, and garlic. The result is a thick, intensely flavorful sauce: Spread it on chicken before baking or braising, add it to soups or beans, or to flavor fillings for tacos, burritos, and enchiladas. 

Recipe: Authentic Mole