Pumpkin Stew
This special pumpkin stew is a meal our kids look forward to every Fall and has become one of our favorite Fall food traditions. This meal is a delicious and fun way to serve traditional beef stew.
When you start talking to people about their family traditions, food seems to be a common theme. It only makes sense though – what else brings family together faster than a delicious meal? I remember my Grandma saying that if you want people to always want to come over to your house, then always have good food around. So true, so true. One day my husband was talking about food, or our blog, or traditions (not really quite sure what they were talking about) but his co-worker told him how every year his Grandma makes the most delicious stew that is baked in a pumpkin. It sounded dreamy……..savory stew with creamy pumpkin in every bite. Wow. The amazing woman who makes this magical dish every year is Ludene Barton, and although I have never met her she has changed my life a little bit with her baked pumpkin stew idea. What a cool thing to have a food that even your adult grandchildren look forward to every year. This is definitely going to be a Fall food tradition around our house!
How to Cook Pumpkin Stew
I read up quite a bit before I made this because I wanted it to turn out just right. From what I read, the best way to do this is to cook your stew first. Otherwise it will take way too long to bake and your pumpkin will end up leaking everywhere.
Start by chopping up all your veggies.
Brown your meat in a dutch oven or large stockpot. Add the rest of your ingredients and let your stew simmer for about 2 hours, until all the veggies are soft and your meat is cooked through.
In the meantime, prepare your pumpkin. Begin by cutting the lid off. You will need a smaller but sharp knife. Instert it at the top at a slight angle so that the lid can sit on the hole you cut out.
Pull the lid off and cut all of the ‘guts’ off the lid.
Using a large metal spoon, clean that puppy out until there is not a string or seed left in site.
Lightly oil the outside of the pumpkin. Are you getting excited yet??
Place your pumpkin in a sturdy baking dish. Then ladle your hot stew into the pumpkin.
Place in the oven at 325 degrees F for an hour……..longer if your pumpkin is bigger. You want the inside to soften so that when you ladle stew out, you get a bit of soft pumpkiny goodness to go with it.
The pumpkin will start to turn a beautiful golden brown color and fill your kitchen with the most delicious smell. Take your pumpkin out of the oven and be prepared for your kids to want to dive right in!
My girls wanted to eat it right out of the pumpkin…..and since it was just for our family and it was in the name of tradition, I let them.
This is the perfect meal to serve on a festive occasion to fill your home not only with delicious food, but lasting traditions.
Pumpkin Stew
Ingredients
- 2 pound beef stew meat
- 3 medium russet potato
- 4 medium carrot
- 1 medium onion
- 3 clove garlic
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 29 ounce beef broth
- 14 1/2 ounce diced tomatoes, canned
- 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon rosemary, dried
- 1 teaspoon oregano, dried
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, ground
- 8 pound pumpkin, raw
Instructions
- Cut beef stew meat into 1-inch cubes.
- Peel and cube potatoes. Slice carrots. Dice onion, and mince garlic.
- In a Dutch oven or large stock pot, saute onions and garlic in oil until soft. Add the stew meat and cook until brown.
- Add beef broth, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and spices. Cover and simmer for 2 hours.
- Wash pumpkin; cut a circle around top stem. Remove top and set aside; clean out pumpkin with a large metal spoon.
- Place pumpkin in a shallow sturdy baking pan. Ladle stew into pumpkin and replace top.
- Brush outside of pumpkin with oil.
- Bake at 325° for 1-2 hours or just until the pumpkin is tender (do not over-bake).
- Serve stew from pumpkin, scooping out a little pumpkin with each serving.
Nutrition
www.superhealthykids.com
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
Learn More about Natalie
How fun this will be to serve up around Halloween?! My kiddos will love this!
What a cool idea! We are going to have to try this out. 🙂
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I love this idea and was wondering if you think it would work using the mini pumpkins to make individual servings for kids. I know it sounds a bit too much but my 3 littles are so picky this might be a trick worth trying. How cool to eat out of your own pumpkin.
That is a great idea! I’m sure my kids would love it too!
Ok, stupid question, but do you just use a regular pumpkin for this? Or does it need to be a baking pumpkin that you use for baking?
Not stupid! We have used both and they work great either way.
It’s also fun to pen or paint a face on the pumpkin when it has cooled. I’ve been making a similar stew every Hallowed since my 47 y/o Daughter was in pre school. We would add apples just before stew was fully cooked and cinnamon too!
sounds fun Linda!
The first year I made this, it turned out great! The pumpkin does get soft, so handle with care when removing it from the oven. It is really hard to take off the pan it is cooked on. The second time I did it, I could not find any big pumpkins, so I used individual “pie” pumpkins. It turned out great, and they were REALLY cute! But to make one for each guest at Thanksgiving was a LOT of work! Cleaning out so many pumpkins was hard.
Thanks for sharing! I bet pie pumpkins would be adorable!