This recipe is a 20+ year tradition in our house. I cannot remember when I started making it, but I know it’s been over 20 years ago. My oldest son is going to be 25 years old and to the best of my knowledge we have been enjoying Dinner in a Pumpkin each fall season as long as he has been eating table food. Boy, that was a long time ago. All 3 of my kids and even their significant others still enjoy eating this every October.
Most people don’t think about cooking in let alone eating the same pumpkins you can turn into jack-o-lanterns. Pumpkin is an amazing vegetable, that tastes great cooked and is very good for you. Orange vegetables are full of fiber, betacarotene and vitamin A, just to name a few of its benefits. What’s really great about this recipe, if you have younger kids, you can use acrylic paint to decorate the pumpkin before baking and have a dinner in a jack-o-lantern if you choose to decorate.
The recipe is very simple and takes about 30 mins of prep and 1 hour of cooking time. Your kids will be thrilled to see a pumpkin on the table for dinner. Scoop it out and enjoy! Do you have any family traditions you follow in the fall or for Halloween? Let us know what happens in your home.
- Medium size round pumpkin
- 2 lbs lean ground beef browned with onions, peppers, mushrooms and garlic. Drained
- To Stir in meat
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
- 3 cups cooked rice
- 2 cans cream of celery soup.
- Wash the outside of the pumpkin.
- Cut top of the pumpkin off and remove the seeds and pulp.
- Fill hollowed out pumpkin with meat mixture and bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for one hour.
- Pumpkin should be soft.
- Scoop out onto plates and enjoy!
About Michele Brosius
What a cute tradition! We always make a day of going out to the pumpkin patch to pick our jack o lantern, but this year I think we’ll have to get a pumpkin to eat as well.
Thanks, Mer! We have been enjoying dinner in a pumpkin for over 20 years! Hopefully our kids will pass on the family tradition!
LOVE it! But I do have a question. How much of the now cooked pumpkin’s meat do you eat in this meal? Can you/do you save the leftover pumpkin meat for another meal? I know there are things like pumpkin chili you could make. I will have to give this a try once I decide what to do with the leftover pumpkin. I hate wasting good food.
Oh and I use the guts to make pumpkin bread an roasted pumpkin seeds too.