Stuffed Pumpkin – my first dish of the festive season! Wahoo! 

One of my favourite things about Christmas is the food. I love eating such a variety of dishes and trying bits of everything. The main Christmas event for a lot of families tends to be sitting around the table enjoying a Christmas lunch or dinner, pulling Christmas crackers, catching up with everyone and having a laugh, and possibly having a few too many wines. And all of that really just wouldn’t be the same without the food. It provides the motivation for everyone to gather around the table in the first place. Plus people are generally happy when there’s food involved and their bellies are full. 

But if you’re vegan often you can find yourself having know idea what to make and then realising that when you sit down to eat the only vegan item on the table is that one side dish you made. Vegetarianism can be hard too, but a vegan Christmas.. Let’s just say it more than often gets put in the too hard basket for non-vegans. 

But not this year! As I said this is my first Christmas recipe of the season, but there will be more! Have a go at making this yourself or even forward it onto a family member or friend. 

This meal is the epitome of Christmas as it’s all the flavours you associate with Christmas crammed in together – in the best way of course. And christmas flavours mean that when it’s in the oven cooking away your house or kitchen will also smell of Christmas! 

This stuffed pumpkin is a great crowd pleaser as it caters to vegetarians,vegans, coeliacs or those with a gluten intolerance and anyone who avoids dairy. So if you’re cooking for a big group and you aren’t entirely sure what they’re dietary requirements are, this is your go to.

It’ll make around 6 small main serves. But you could also halve those again and serve this as a side. 

If you are wanting to do some meal prep before the big day to make things a bit easier, this is one where you can prep most of it in advance. You can roast the pumpkin, and make the stuffing the day or night before. Then simply pop the stuffing into a container, and the pumpkin into another (much larger) container and into the fridge overnight. When you’re ready to finish off the stuffed pumpkin, put the stuffing into the pumpkin skin and then into the oven to heat up. Note in my instructions it says to put the stuffed pumpkin back into the oven for 15 minutes once you’ve put the stuffing into the skin, but if you are heating this up from cold after it has been in the fridge overnight, it will need longer than that. I’d say at least 20-25 minutes but just keep an eye on it, 

What kitchen tools will I need to make stuffed pumpkin?

Luckily, you don’t actually need a lot for this recipe and you likely have everything you need already! This is what you’ll need to get started:

Knife – I love a good santoku knife for this recipe like this one

Chopping Board – something for cutting up the pumpkin as well as the onion and garlic

Frying pan – For frying up the onion, garlic and spices

Mixing bowl – Something big enough to mix up your pumpkin stuffing

Potato Masher – nothing fancy, just something for mashing up the pumpkin

What are “Christmas Flavours”?

I guess Christmas flavours could be different for everyone. But for me it’s things like pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cranberries, rosemary and pine nuts.

So, in this stuffed pumpkin is of course pumpkin which is pretty much THE Christmas vegetable. I’ve added cinnamon and allspice as well as dried cranberries, rosemary and toasted pine nuts. I also added pistachios as they have a really nice green colour which I think adds a Christmas touch, similar to the red of the cranberries, and the two of them look super Christmassey together!

I’ve added some additional ingredients too which aren’t what you would generally associate with Christmas, but add some really great flavour and make this meal more filling. Things like onion and garlic, chickpeas and sage. 

How do I make stuffed pumpkin?

Don’t let the time required to make this recipe fool you. Yes it does take a while, but more than an hour of that time the pumpkin is in the oven and doesn’t actually require your attention at all. This leaves you free to make another meal at the same time, or perhaps play with your dog, read a book or even just blob on the couch. The point is while the pumpkin is roasting away for an hour you can chill for most of that time! 

So, onto making the stuffed pumpkin. You first need to cut the pumpkin or squash in half (lengthways if you’re using squash). Remove all the seeds and discard them, or you could clean and dry them and save them for roasting later. Then bake the pumpkin halves, skin down for one hour. 

While the pumpkin is cooking you can fry a diced onion with 3 cloves of diced garlic, some ground cinnamon allspice and dried sage and then set aside. 

Once your pumpkin is roasted, you’ll want to leave it to cool slightly so you’re able to handle it without burning yourself, about 10 minutes will probably be enough time. When it’s cool enough, scoop out all the flesh and put it into a large bowl then mash with a potato masher. Next you’re going to add those onions, garlic and spices you just fried up, along with half a can of chickpeas, some pistachios, dried cranberries, pine nuts and a good seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix that all up and then put the stuffing back into the pumpkin skins. Press the stuffing down so it’s nice and firm, this will help you to get as much stuffing in as possible. Return to the oven for about 15 minutes until the stuffed pumpkin is nice and hot. 

Then to serve, sprinkle over some more pistachios, pine nuts and cranberries if you like.

This will last in the fridge for a couple of days, just cut it into wedges then heat it up in the microwave or oven.