Name: DINNER IN A PUMPKIN Two Ways
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 120 min
Ingredients: 1 onion (chopped); 1 bunch asparagus (cut into thirds); 4 oz fresh mushrooms (sliced); 2-3 Tbsp oil (for cooking veggies and chicken); 2 large chicken breasts (cut into small chunks); 4 Tbsp. soy sauce; 4 Tbsp. brown sugar (packed); 1 can corn (15.25 oz., drained); 1 1/2 cans cream of chicken soup (10.5 oz. cans); 1/4 cup pine nuts; 2 cups prepared white rice; 1 medium pumpkin (cleaned out); 1 onion (diced); 1 cup carrots (sliced); 1 cup zucchini (seeded and cut into chunks); 4 oz. fresh mushrooms (sliced); 2 Tbsp. olive oil (for sauteeing vegetables); 2 lbs. ground beef; 4 Tbsp. soy sauce; 4 Tbsp. brown sugar; 1 can corn (15.25 oz, drained); 1 1/2 cans cream of mushroom soup (10.5 ounce size); 8 oz. sliced water chestnuts (drained); 2 cups prepared white rice; 1 medium pumpkin (cleaned out)

My friend, Misty, talks about this Dinner in a Pumpkin every Fall and makes it for her family every chance she gets. I FINALLY got the recipe from her to try. We did it as the recipe says, with chicken and asparagus, and another pumpkin with hamburger, carrots, and zucchini. The kids thought it was so fun and everyone loved it! We liked both the chicken and the beef, but I think I like the chicken best.

Dinner in a Pumpkin two ways graphic with pictures. Meat, veggies, and rice baked inside a pumpkin shell.

I think we will make this a Halloween night tradition. It is FULL of veggies, is warm, and a total comfort food. The perfect dinner on a chilly evening that ends in lots of candy. 🙂 This recipe is easily adaptable to anything you have one hand. I think it would be so yummy with ground sausage. Any veggies you have will work as well.

Dinner in a pumpkin. Two plates, one with chicken, asparagus, mushroom, rice. One with ground beef, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms. Both have corn as well.

What you will need to make this yummy DINNER IN A PUMPKIN:

1 onion, chopped
1 bunch asparagus, cut into thirds, OR 2 cups sliced carrots and zucchini
4 oz. sliced mushrooms, fresh
oil (2-3 Tbsp. to saute vegetables and chicken if using)
2 large chicken breasts, cut into small chunks, OR 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
1 can (approx. 2 cups) corn
1 1/2 cans (10.5 oz. size) cream of chicken
8 oz. can of sliced water chestnuts OR 1/4 cup pine nuts
2 cups prepared white rice
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium pumpkin, cleaned out and seeded

PUMPKINS

Our pumpkins were approx. 10 lbs. before cleaning. Just make sure it fits in your oven. We used 2 different types of pumpkins from our garden, I have no idea what variety they are, but they both tasted great.

Some of our ingredients…

VEGGIE PREP

Here’s the two different combinations of veggies we used.

Sauté the onion, asparagus, and mushrooms in a couple of tablespoons of oil. OR sauté onion, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms in oil. Whatever veggies you have and like will work great.

MEAT

In a separate pan, sauté the chicken in a little oil until cooked through. OR brown the hamburger and drain excess grease when cooked. The pan the chicken is in is my Pampered Chef 12 inch Stainless Steel Nonstick Skillet and I LOVE it and love that it has a lifetime guarantee! I did the ground beef in my new Pampered Chef Cast Iron Skillet. How have I lived this long without these amazing pans??? Oh, and the Mix ‘N Chop is the BEST for ground meats.

MULTITASKING

We made two different pumpkins with two different types of meat and veggies which meant we had FOUR pans on the stove at the same time. I DO NOT recommend this unless you are really amazing at multitasking. haha!

SAUCE

Stir in the brown sugar and soy sauce to either chicken or beef, whichever you are using, and sauté for a few minutes while stirring. My Mini Measure All Cup from Pampered Chef was perfect for measuring the brown sugar on one side and soy sauce on the other.

Combine the meat with the sautéed vegetables. We added the pine nuts to the chicken at this point, but you could definitely wait until the end.

CORN AND SOUP

Now it’s time to add the corn and soup. It was easy to do one and a half cans in each since we did two pumpkins, but if I were just doing one pumpkin I would probably just do one can or two. I hate trying to figure out what to do with a little left in a can.

Simmer for about 10 minutes then add the rice and water chestnuts OR pine nuts and mix well and set aside. We used basmati rice that we had cooked in the pressure cooker the day before.

Place your pumpkin on a foil-lined baking sheet and oil the outside of the pumpkin to reduce burning. We also sprinkled the inside of our pumpkins with salt and pepper.

Spoon the chicken or beef mixture into the pumpkin, replace the top, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until fork tender.

Two Dinner in a pumpkin pumpkins in the oven baking on a foil lined baking sheet.

READY TO EAT

Scrape out some of the pumpkin from the inside when serving. The pumpkin is tender and flavored and adds a richness to the dish.

Have you tried Dinner in a pumpkin before? It will be a regular on our Fall menu for sure!

The kids thought this was so fun to make together and they gobbled it up too!

Dinner in a pumpkin. Ground beef, rice, carrots, zucchini, corn, mushrooms, baked inside of a pumpkin.

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram if you aren’t already, and SUBSCRIBE to be notified of new Huckleberry Life posts.