A baked stuffed pumpkin recipe that is full of cheese, spinach and walnuts. A great dish for a low carb and gluten-free appetizer or main dish to share for the holidays.
This easy dish can be served as a side dish for the holidays, with the filling spooned out as a creamy sauce or dipped with bread.
The stuffed pumpkins can make a lovely center piece on your holiday table. We use the small ones for appetizers with bread rolls or a salad. The Chief Taster enjoyed this recipe, despite his misgivings about pumpkin dishes, and is now "sleeping it off". That's a good sign in this house.
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What Type of Pumpkin Can Be Used?
The large colorful carving pumpkins are not suitable for baking whole as they are too watery and thin with flesh. Pumpkins to be used for this recipe are pie pumpkin, kabocha, sugar pumpkins or Cinderella pumpkins.
The pumpkin for this recipe in the photos was a Kabocha and was about 4lbs. Adjust the quantity of the stuffing ingredients for larger or smaller pumpkins.
The Ingredients
You could vary the ingredients and spices in this dish to suit yourself. The red chili flakes are entirely optional but give the dish a small kick of flavour.
The spinach in the recipe card says fresh, but defrosted frozen spinach works just as well.
The cheeses can be varied but use a cheese that melts well for this recipe. Gruyere works well.
Add a dash of white wine to the filling for a holiday treat.
Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good
I used cheese, garlic, spinach and walnuts to stuff the pumpkin and it was delicious. Other filling suggestions are:
- Chopped cooked meat such as bacon, ham or chicken.
- Kale can be substituted for the spinach.
- Sliced cooked mushrooms
- Chopped sundried tomatoes.
How to Make Cheese Stuffed Pumpkin
This is a very easy to make and you could prepare this ahead and bake it when you are ready to eat. The larger pumpkin takes about 2 hours but the smaller ones took less time.
Scoop the seeds and string from the pumpkin and season the shell.
Mix the cheese, spinach, seasonings and walnuts in a ball.
Fill the pumpkin shells with the filling
Place the lids back on the pumpkin and bake.
Storage
Any leftovers should be stored in the fridge in a sealed container and should last up to 3 days.
How to Serve Cheese Stuffed Pumpkin
This is a versatile pumpkin dish that can be served as a main or like a fondue with the cheesy filling used as a hot dip with low carb breadsticks.
The smaller stuffed pumpkins can be a side dish or an appetizer.
The pumpkin can be used as a shell or you can spoon out the cooked pumpkin with the cheesy filling. It's almost like a fondue.
More Low Carb Holiday Recipes
Stuffed Whole Roasted Celeriac
Cheesy Low Carb Cauliflower Bake
Cheese Stuffed Pumpkin
Ingredients
- 1 medium Pumpkin
- 4 cloves Garlic chopped
- 3 Spring onions
- 8 ounces Emmental cheese grated
- 4 ounces Cheddar cheese grated
- ½ cup Walnuts chopped
- 1 cup Spinach fresh
- ⅓ cup Heavy Cream
- ½ teaspoon Chilli flakes optional
- ½ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F degrees.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper (or baking dish)
- Cut the lid off the pumpkins and place to the side.
- Scope out the seeds and stringy flesh.
- Season the inside of the pumpkins with salt, pepper and the nutmeg.
- Mix the cheese, garlic, spinach and walnuts in a bowl.
- Place the filling into the pumpkins and pack down. Push as much as you can in.
- Pour the cream over the topping, slowly, to let the cream work its way down.
- Sprinkle the chilli flakes on top of the filling.
- Place the pumpkin lids on top and bake for 2 hours.
- Eat and enjoy!
Taylor
Hello, where do the spring onions go? I don’t see them in the instructions, I assumed they’re a topping before serving? Thank you
Angela Coleby
I used them as a garnish.
Of Goats and Greens
Looks like an awesome concept!
Antonia
Hey there! This looks amazing! Do you think instead of baking them, you could out them in a slow cooker and let them sit in there for a couple hours on low?
Divalicious
HI Antonia...that sounds a great idea! Love it!!
Sandra Behn
This looks delicious! I can wait to try it.
Divalicious
Hi Sandra! Hope you enjoy it!