Does NIST really recommend PBKDF2 for password hashing?

The recommendation is for PBKDF2 to be used as an algorithm for generating a cryptographic key from a password, not for hashing a password for safe storage for authentication purposes. (I trust you're salting as well?) So the answer is no, for your use case there is no such recommendation. This doesn't mean it's not suitable, but there isn't a NIST recommendation to cite.

I think you are finding this:

Verifiers SHALL store memorized secrets in a form that is resistant to offline attacks. Secrets SHALL be hashed with a salt value using an approved hash function such as PBKDF2 as described in [SP800-132]. The salt value SHALL be a 32 bit (or longer) random value generated by an approved random bit generator and is stored along with the hash result. At least 10,000 iterations of the hash function SHOULD be performed. A keyed hash function (e.g., HMAC), with the key stored separately from the hashed authenticators (e.g., in a hardware security module) SHOULD be used to further resist dictionary attacks against the stored hashed authenticators.