Sausage Stuffed Pumpkins

directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Wash & Dry outside of pumpkin. Using a sharp knife carefully cut small pie pumpkin into four equal size pieces.
  3. Use a spoon to scrape out seeds & membrane. Set seeds aside.
  4. Place cleaned out pumpkin quarters on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil cut-side down.
  5. Roast pumpkin for 20 minutes until somewhat softened. Remove from oven & flip each piece cut-side up to create “bowls” to stuff.
  6. Sauté sausage over medium heat until browned, breaking up with a spoon into large crumbles.
  7. Add diced celery to sausage and sauté for a few minutes until slightly softened. Remove from heat to slightly cool. There is no need to drain this sausage as there is very little oil left in skillet and the small amount there is adds to the flavor of the stuffing.
  8. In a large mixing bowl toss together the breadcrumbs, sausage mixture, dried cherries, and pecans.
  9. Mix orange juice & broth together and pour over ingredients in bowl. Stir gently to combine. Bread cubes will soak up most of the liquid. Season with salt & pepper.
  10. Fill each “pumpkin bowl” with the sausage stuffing. Pour any liquid left in mixing bowl over filled pumpkin quarters. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
  11. Serve with a sprinkling of roasted spicy pumpkin seeds if desired.
4
servings
30 - 40 mi
prep time
30 min
cook time

ingredients

1 small pie pumpkin (about 8 inches in diameter, now in farmer’s markets & supermarkets)

½ lb Swaggerty’s Farm roll sausage

2 cups whole wheat bread cubes (for a gluten-free recipe use gluten-free bread slices)

1/3 cup each: diced celery, dried cherries or cranberries, pecans

Juice of one large orange

½ cup chicken broth

1 generous tsp dried sage

Salt & black pepper to taste

Optional: roasted spiced pumpkin seeds

To Serve

n/a