Tieghan Gerard Names The Underrated Pasta Ingredient You Need To Use In The Fall - Exclusive

Bring out your spooky decorations and Halloween costumes, because pumpkin season is officially on the horizon. While pumpkin spice lovers rejoice, there are also apple pies and tarts being baked en masse and the addition of fall ingredients and warming spices to your favorite entrees. And Tieghan Gerard, known for her Half-Baked Harvest recipes, has no shortage of ideas on how to spice up your dinner when the leaves change colors.

In an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, the food blogger revealed the underrated pasta ingredient you can't skip over this year. "I love to do things like pumpkin and butternut squash, and pumpkin is something that people don't use enough in a savory way," she explained. When you first think of a pumpkin recipe, do you automatically think of pumpkin pie? Us too. However, the cookbook author added, "People try to bake with it always, and I think it's actually really great savory."

Pumpkin, especially canned pumpkin, is a versatile ingredient that can easily go beyond baked goods. Tieghan Gerard told us, "I have a great pumpkin feta cheese sauce, and I have a few really good pumpkin pastas, and also pumpkin pizzas." Some of the influencer's tastiest pumpkin pasta creations include a brown butter pumpkin tortellini alla vodka and a sage brown butter pumpkin pasta alfredo. If pesto is more your style, Tasting Table has a delicious and easy pumpkin seed pesto pasta recipe that may suit your taste buds.

If a pumpkin pasta dish catches your eye, you could even consider adding it to the Thanksgiving table this year — in addition to the traditional pumpkin pie, of course. Gerard recently partnered up with Home Chef to bring her recipes right to your doorstep in the form of meal kits, but sadly, none of the aforementioned pumpkin pasta recipes are included. You'll just have to try her mouthwatering one-sheet pesto chicken instead and save the pasta for a night when you have time to gather ingredients yourself!

You can now order Half-Baked Harvest recipes on the Home Chef website. The "Nine Favorite Fall Things" giveaway will be available to enter on September 13 at 12 p.m. CT. Keep up with Tieghan Gerard's latest recipes on her Instagram page.