Dinner in a Pumpkin
A whole pumpkin stuffed with sausage, chicken, rice, almonds, and vegetables, then baked until tender. A stunning fall centerpiece dinner that serves 10 and includes scoops of cooked pumpkin in every bowl.
YIELD
10 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
1 hrsREADY
1 hrsImagine setting a whole pumpkin on the dinner table and scooping everyone’s meal right out of it.
This showstopper is stuffed with browned hot sausage, chicken, rice, blanched almonds, onion, celery, and green bell pepper, all bound together with chicken noodle soup mix and baked inside the pumpkin until the shell is soft and scoopable.
Every serving gets a generous portion of the savory filling plus sweet, tender pumpkin flesh.
It feeds 10 and is an absolute knockout for fall gatherings and Halloween dinners.
Chef Tips
- Choose a medium pumpkin with a flat bottom so it sits steady on the baking sheet without tipping
- Scrape the inside walls clean of all seeds and stringy pulp so the filling cooks evenly
- Stir the filling halfway through baking to make sure the rice cooks through
- Don’t overbake or the pumpkin walls will get too thin and collapse; check for tenderness with a fork at the one-hour mark
Ingredients
Directions
Cut off the top of the pumpkin and thoroughly clean out the seeds and pulp.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Brown the sausage, breaking into small pieces as it cooks.
Drain grease and add onion, celery and green pepper.
Cook a few minutes. Add soup mix to boiling water and cook a few minutes.
Combine all ingredients and pour into the clean pumpkin shell.
Replace pumpkin top and place pumpkin on a baking sheet.
Bake one hour or until pumpkin is tender. Stir once halfway through.
Remove pumpkin lid and serve, scooping out some of the cooked pumpkin into each bowl.
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