This Dinner in a Pumpkin recipe is made with Italian sausage, wild rice, and vegetables – a fun, healthy, and delicious way to celebrate Halloween!
Looking for more pumpkin recipes? Try Pumpkin Cake, Pumpkin Waffles, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins, or Pumpkin Pie!
Why I love this recipe:
- Fun – Every kid will remember eating dinner out of a pumpkin! I make this baked stuffed pumpkin recipe every year in the month of October, sometimes on Halloween night.
- Delicious – Flavorful sausage cooked with vegetables and rice is picky eater approved.
- Easy – Only a few ingredients and simple steps to make such a fun Halloween dinner memory eating out of a pumpkin. You can even make the filling and stuff the pumpkin ahead of time, so dinner is ready for the oven.
How to make Dinner in a Pumpkin:
Prep Pumpkin: Cut the top off of the pumpkin, leaving a large enough opening to fit your hand and a spoon inside to removed seeds (like you would a Jack-o-lantern). Clean out the seeds and insides of the pumpkin until the inner walls of the pumpkin are smooth. Season the inside of the pumpkin with some salt and pepper.
Make Filling: Remove casings from sausage and add to a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, breaking it into small pieces, until browned. Use paper towels to blot out some of the grease, if necessary. Add onion, carrots, bell pepper and celery then sauté for 8-10 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage and salt and pepper. Stir in cooked wild rice.
Bake: Spoon mixture into pumpkins then place the lid/stem back on top. Place the pumpkin on a lined or greased baking sheet then place it on the lowest rack of your oven (or whatever rack positions the pumpkin to cook in the center of the oven). Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the inside pumpkin flesh is tender when poked with a fork.
Serve: Scoop some of the delicious cooked pumpkin from the sides of the pumpkin as you spoon the sausage dinner in a pumpkin into bowls. Top with hot sauce then additional salt and pepper, if desired. Don’t forget to roast your pumpkin seeds!
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: The meat and rice filling mixture can be made up to 2 days ahead of time, stored in the fridge. Add to pumpkin before baking. The entire pumpkin, with filling could be assembled a day ahead of time and stored in the fridge.
To Freeze: Spoon the mixture in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 2 months.
Recipe Variations:
- Wild Rice: I love using wild rice in this dish, but any type of rice or quinoa would work.
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Recipe
Dinner in a Pumpkin
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 (6 inch) pumpkin pie pumpkins (or 1 regular medium-size pumpkin)
- 1 pound Italian sausage mild, or hot, casings removed
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 cup red bell pepper , diced
- 1 large carrot , shredded
- 2 ribs celery , chopped
- 4 cloves garlic , minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme , chopped, (or ¾ teaspoon dried thyme)
- 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary , chopped, (or ¾ teaspoon dried rosemary)
- 2 teaspoons fresh sage , chopped, (or ¾ teaspoon dried sage)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
- 2 cups cooked wild rice
Instructions
- Prep Pumpkin: Cut the top off of the pumpkin, leaving a large enough opening to fit hand and spoon inside to remove seeds (like you would a Jack-o-lantern). Clean out the seeds and insides of the pumpkin until the inner walls of the pumpkin are smooth. Season the inside of the pumpkin with some salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Brown Meat: Remove casings from sausage and add to a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, breaking it into small pieces, until browned. Use paper towels to blot out some of the grease, if necessary.
- Add Veggies: Add onion, carrots, bell pepper and celery and sauté for 8-10 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage and salt and pepper. Stir in cooked wild rice.
- Spoon mixture into pumpkins and place the lid/stem back on top.
- Bake: Place the pumpkin on a lined or greased baking sheet and place it on the lowest rack of your oven (or whatever rack positions the pumpkin to cook in the center of the oven). Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the inside pumpkin flesh is tender when poked with a fork.
- Serve: Scoop some of the delicious cooked pumpkin from the sides of the pumpkin as you spoon the mixture out into bowls. Top with hot sauce and additional salt and pepper, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe October 2015. Updated November 2020, and October 2023.
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I’ve made this recipe several times and I like it! But I made it again tonight and it feels like it’s missing something. Was there a sauce that binds it all together because I swear there was? Am I going crazy?
This is delicious! I didn’t have any celery on hand, and I used heat & eat wild rice blend from Uncle Ben. Everyone loved it -even my sister, the pumpkin hater.
Tried this recipe and it turned out great. Used the leftover stuffing for a bisque like soup . That was even better
I had two small pumpkins for decoration and didn’t know what to do with them. I made this tonight. The only thing i changed was swapped out the meat with some nuts. Delicious!! Thanks for the idea and the recipe
Love the idea! But we weren’t huge fans of this recipe. Maybe I was expecting a bit more of a wild rice soup?
Hi – I love this idea for a fun family dinner – I am wondering if I can use smaller pumpkins and serve individually?!! Do I need to adjust baking times?
Yes, I love to use small pumpkin pie pumpkins and serve them individually. I’d check on them around 45 minutes, but imagine they will stay take closer to 50-60 minutes!
I only had part of a pumpkin so I just cut it up and sauteed with the rest of the veggies, then added the meat back and added sauce cooked down in the pan. It was delicious!
Love this idea!