Baked Fish with Pumpkin Curry Sauce

Baked Fish with Pumpkin Curry Sauce features a warm, savory sauce will go on almost anything. Fish, chicken, vegetables–anything you want to spice up a little. 

When Zach was offered the job he has now, we obviously went out to celebrate. For the first time since he finished grad school (6 months), we knew where his paychecks would be coming from. It was a great feeling.

We went to this little Italian restaurant in Morgantown. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was this really fancy…and also right below a bowling alley. 😛 Zach ordered an appetizer–scallops with pumpkin sauce. I don’t know what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t that we would be blown away. It was awesome.

So I’ve attempted to replicate the recipe. I’m pretty happy with how it came out!

I’ll be honest, this recipe makes a lot. In fact, when I originally wrote this post, I halved the recipe. I changed it back, though, so be warned–if you’re not feeding a ton of people, you’re going to be left with a ton of extra sauce. My recommendation is to either halve the recipe or freeze it and pull it out when you need to spice up dinner.

But it’s worth it.

Baked Fish with Pumpkin Curry Sauce

• 4-6 fish fillets (we used tilapia, but my favorite with this sauce is scallops)
• 2 tbsps butter, margarine, or coconut oil
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 2 tbsps curry powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste

Step 01: Start sauce first. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and curry powder. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. (Cooking your spices releases the oils and makes them more flavorful.) Add the tomatoes, pumpkin, and broth. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep the pan covered when not cooking, so it doesn’t splash out everywhere.

Step 02: While the sauce is cooking, follow the directions for cooking your fish. For tilapia, preheat the oven to 350°F and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until fish comes out flaky. I also lightly seasoned mine with salt, pepper, and sage.

Step 03: Add the cayenne, salt, and pepper to the sauce. Pour into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.

Step 04: Once the fish has finished baking, remove from oven and serve topped with sauce.

If I made this again, I would definitely add a little pumpkin pie spice (if you want to try it, I’d go with 1/2 tsp and add it with the onion, garlic, and curry powder). Otherwise, it was perfect.

This is also good on vegetables (we used it to power through the brussel sprouts) and would probably be excellent on chicken, as well.

Have you ever had anything like this? What would you put this sauce over?

Baked Fish with Pumpkin Curry Sauce

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Serves: 4-6 Prep Time: 10m Cooking Time: 20m

Ingredients

• 4-6 fish fillets (we used tilapia, but my favorite with this sauce is scallops)
• 2 tbsps butter, margarine, or coconut oil
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 2 tbsps curry powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1: Start sauce first. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and curry powder. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. (Cooking your spices releases the oils and makes them more flavorful.) Add the tomatoes, pumpkin, and broth. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep the pan covered when not cooking, so it doesn’t splash out everywhere.

2: While the sauce is cooking, follow the directions for cooking your fish. For tilapia, preheat the oven to 350°F and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until fish comes out flaky. I also lightly seasoned mine with salt, pepper, and sage.

3: Add the cayenne, salt, and pepper to the sauce. Pour into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.

4: Once the fish has finished baking, remove from oven and serve topped with sauce.

Baked Fish with Pumpkin Curry Sauce was last modified: April 24th, 2017 by Chelsey