A rich, decadent, and creamy sweet potato pasta recipe!
The smooth sweet potato pasta sauce is super easy to make (especially if you have a food processor), and is delicious pasta comfort food for busy weeknights!
I love this sweet potato pasta recipe, especially as I can get ahead and roast the sweet potato and garlic the night before.
Then, it's just a case of cooking the pasta, whizzing up the sauce in a food processor, and mixing everything together!
It's a real winner with the whole family, and best of all tastes AMAZING!
👩🍳 Love pasta? Try my baked feta pasta recipe too!
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✔️ Why you'll love this recipe!
Here's why this is the best creamy sweet potato pasta recipe!
- Decadent and creamy pasta recipe
- Easy to make
- Meat-free
- On the table in 40 minutes
- Add in vegetables
🛒 Ingredients
- Sweet Potatoes - 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 3cm chunks.
- Olive Oil - for roasting.
- Garlic Cloves - 4 cloves with skin on.
- Seasonings - 1 teaspoon each of smoked paprika, sea salt, and dried thyme.
- Double Cream - to make the creamy pasta sauce.
- Parmesan - or vegetarian hard cheese alternative
- Pasta - I use spaghetti or linguine, but you could use rigatoni or penne.
- Parsley - optional for garnish.
🔪 How to make sweet potato pasta
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post
One: Place the chopped sweet potato and garlic cloves in a roasting tin. Coat in the olive oil then sprinkle over the smoked paprika, salt, and thyme. Roast for 30 minutes or until the sweet potato is tender. You can do this the night before to save time!
Two: Whilst the sweet potato is roasting, cook the pasta according to instructions, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking water before draining. Place the cooked pasta back into the pan and set aside.
Three: Put the roasted sweet potato, garlic (squeezed out of their skins), double cream, and grated Parmesan into a food processor and blitz to a smooth consistency. Add a little pasta cooking water to thin the sauce out - a couple of tablespoons should be enough at this stage.
💡 Top Tip - if you don't have a food processor you can mash the sweet potato with the double cream, garlic, and Parmesan. It will be a slightly chunkier textured sauce, but will still taste great!
Four: Scrape the sweet potato sauce into the pan with the cooked spaghetti and stir to combine. Add more reserved pasta cooking water if needed to make a glossy pasta sauce.
Five: Serve with extra grated Parmesan and chopped parsley.
💭 Top tips
- Don't forget to reserve the cup of pasta cooking water before draining the pasta. It will help the sauce emulsify and become glossy and smooth!
- Get ahead and roast the sweet potato and garlic the night before! Store in the fridge until needed.
💡 Make it vegan by swapping the double cream for coconut cream, and the Parmesan for a vegan hard cheese alternative.
🍴 Serving suggestions
This is a really filling pasta recipe, but if you'd like to stretch it out, homemade focaccia is a good option.
I sometimes serve it with a side of green vegetables too. Air fryer broccoli, or roasted courgettes are both delicious!
📖 Variations
- Turn it into a sweet potato pasta bake by using a short pasta instead of spaghetti, and topping with breadcrumbs and mozzarella. Bake it in the oven until golden and bubbling!
- Up the veggies and add baby spinach (it will wilt in the residual heat of the pasta), chopped sun-dried tomatoes, or peas!
- Add leftover roast meat such as beef, lamb or even chopped air fryer chicken breasts.
- Cut the calories and use low fat creme fraiche in place of the double cream. You'll need more pasta cooking water to thin the sauce out.
🥡 Storage
- To Store. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- To Reheat. Microwave until piping hot.
- To Freeze. Only the sauce is suitable for freezing. Place in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
❓ FAQs
Sweet potatoes are packed with nutrients such as vitamin A, and also lower in calories and carbohydrates than white potatoes. However, this recipe uses cream and Parmesan so is not considered a healthy pasta dish (it tastes amazing though!).
In this recipe, you do need to peel the sweet potatoes prior to roasting to ensure the pasta sauce is as smooth and glossy as possible.
You could boil the sweet potatoes instead of roasting them, but a lot of the flavours of the dish come from the seasonings and garlic cloves in the roasting tin.
😋 More pasta recipes you might like
- Creamy chorizo and prawn pasta
- Hot smoked salmon and asparagus pasta
- 30 minute baked tortellini
- Creamy boursin pasta
- Penne alla vodka
Tried this recipe? Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating in the comments!
Recipe
Creamy Sweet Potato Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 Sweet Potatoes peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
- 4 Garlic Cloves leave in skins for roasting
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 150 ml Double Cream
- 50 g Parmesan grated
- 250 g Spaghetti
- 1 tablespoon Parsley chopped
Instructions
- Place the chopped sweet potato and garlic cloves in a roasting tin. Coat in the olive oil then sprinkle over the smoked paprika, salt, and thyme. Roast for 30 minutes or until the sweet potato is tender. You can do this the night before to save time!2 Sweet Potatoes, 4 Garlic Cloves, 2 tablespoon Olive Oil, 1 teaspoon Sea Salt, 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika, 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- Whilst the sweet potato is roasting, cook the pasta according to instructions, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking water before draining. Place the cooked pasta back into the pan and set aside.250 g Spaghetti
- Put the roasted sweet potato, garlic (squeezed out of their skins), double cream, and grated Parmesan into a food processor and blitz to a smooth consistency. Add a little pasta cooking water to thin the sauce out - a couple of tablespoons should be enough at this stage. If you don't have a food processor you can mash the sweet potato with the double cream, garlic, and Parmesan. It will be a slightly chunkier textured sauce, but will still taste great!150 ml Double Cream, 50 g Parmesan
- Scrape the sweet potato sauce into the pan with the cooked spaghetti and stir to combine. Add more reserved pasta cooking water if needed to make a glossy pasta sauce.
- Serve with extra grated Parmesan and chopped parsley.1 tablespoon Parsley
Notes
- Don't forget to reserve the cup of pasta cooking water before draining the pasta. It will help the sauce emulsify and become glossy and smooth!
- Get ahead and roast the sweet potato and garlic the night before! Store in the fridge until needed.
- Turn it into a sweet potato pasta bake by using a short pasta instead of spaghetti, and top with breadcrumbs and mozzarella. Bake it in the oven until golden and bubbling!
- Up the veggies and add baby spinach (it will wilt in the residual heat of the pasta), chopped sun-dried tomatoes, or peas!
- Add leftover roast meat such as beef, lamb or even chopped air fryer chicken breasts.
- Cut the calories and use low fat creme fraiche in place of the double cream. You'll need more pasta cooking water to thin the sauce out.
- To Store. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- To Reheat. Microwave until piping hot.
- To Freeze. Only the sauce is suitable for freezing. Place in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.
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Danielle Wolter
What an awesome idea for pasta sauce! This sounds just incredible, I can't wait to try it!
Mandy Applegate
A great pasta dish for all of the family!
Qashang
Omg what an addictive pasta recipe! Loved it.
Claudia Lamascolo
This really sounds delicious going to make this tonight thanks!
Gina
Great healthier idea for a mac and cheese like dish! Love the creaminess the sweet potato brings without all those extra calories!