Meat Stuffed Pumpkin with Sage, Maple and Bourbon (2024)

Inspired by the meat-stuffed pumpkin from Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, this decadent dinner is sure to leave you stuffed! A scrumptious dish packed with the flavours of autumn.

This pumpkin recipe highlights all the best parts of fall – pumpkin, apples, and carrots, mixed with wild rice, maple syrup, fresh aromatics and dried cranberries, and of course meat.

It’s a hearty meal, fortified, I daresay (ahem… since in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom pumpkins are defence-boosting). Anyways, the dish is surprisingly not heavy-feeling at all. I think this might have to do with the fact it contains so many vegetables and fruits.

Meat-Stuffed Pumpkin in Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom: Meat + Pumpkin

I was absolutely shocked by how amazing this meat baked in a pumpkin tasted. I know, I shouldn’t be surprised given the amount of maple syrup and fat in it, but still, I was. shocked. We absolutely inhaled this, it was so good.

I dreaded making this dish for quite a while, given it it is quite a different from your average dinner recipe. If you want to impress someone, this is the dish to make -it’s delicious, festive, and looks impressive.

I looked at every stuffed pumpkin recipe I could find in reference for creating my recipe for this, and the pumpkin baking instructions varied drastically, and many were for very big pumpkins. I have a normal-to-smallish sized oven and am not feeding a family of fifteen, so I opted to use a small sugar pumpkin that could feed about 4-6 people (or provide leftovers!).

The sugar pumpkin also fit perfectly in the baking dish without any struggle and was not as heavy to lift when filled with the stuffing as I imagine a huge pumpkin would be. Warning – the pumpkin is a bit heavy with the stuffing inside it.

For the stuffing, I’ve included a slight variation on my personal turkey stuffing recipe (which usually also includes sausages and more veggies, but that seemed overkill for this recipe).

Meat-Stuffed Pumpkin

This could be the perfect autumn dinner dish you’ve been searching for! It’s a hearty show stopping dish, ready to eat in 2-3 hours. The leftovers taste great too! This recipe makes about 8 servings – the perfect seasonal festive feast.

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin:

• 1 small sugar pumpkin (about 6 inches in diameter)
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp maple syrup

For the Stuffing:

• ¾ cup dry wild or brown rice
• 1 ½ cups water
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 pound (450 grams or approx. 2 cups) ground pork / other ground meat / substitute
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1-2 tbsp minced garlic (about 4-6 cloves worth)
• 1 ½ cups chopped carrots (about 3 carrots)
• 1 cup chopped apple (about 2 medium apples)
• 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped sage
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup maple syrup or brown sugar
• 2-3 tbsp rum or bourbon
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Tools

• 1 small-medium pot with a lid
• 1 baking tray with high sides (at least 1-2 inches high)
• 1 large frying pan
• cutting board
• knife
• vegetable peeler
• (optional) bowls for the prepped ingredients
• cooking spoon
• measuring cup
• measuring spoons (tbsp & tsp)
• oven mitts
• cooling rack
• (optional) kitchen scissors, for cutting the fresh herbs

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F.

2. Measure out the wild rice and give it a rinse in a colander. Add the rice and 1 ½ clean water to a pot. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.

3. While the rice is cooking, wash and dry your pumpkin. Cut the top off the pumpkin, and scrape the back side of the lid clean. Empty the pumpkin seeds and guts out of the cavity and scrape the inside clean with a spoon.

4. Rub the inside of the pumpkin and the flesh side of the lid with 2 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp maple syrup. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt if desired. Place the pumpkin (with the lid) in a baking tray with tall sides and bake at 375˚F for 35-45 minutes.

*Save the pumpkin seeds to roast later for a great snack!

5. While the pumpkin is baking, prepare the stuffing. Peel and chop the carrots and apples, dice the onion, mince the garlic, and chop all the herbs, then place aside.

6. Add 2 tbsp of oil to a large frying pan over medium-high heat, then add the ground pork and stir fry until cooked, about 8-10 minutes.

7. Add the carrots, onions and garlic to the pan. Cook for another 5-10 minutes.

*Check on your rice about now, if you haven’t yet. Once the rice is done, drain any excess water and set aside.

8. Reduce the heat to medium, then add the apples, peas, herbs, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Let cook another 5 minutes.

9. Add the cooked rice to the stuffing mixture.

10. Add the maple syrup, butter, and bourbon, then stir. Add the dried cranberries, then remove from the heat.

11. Using oven mitts, pull the pan with the pumpkin out of the oven and set on a cooling rack. Spoon the stuffing into the pumpkin and put the pan back in the oven to bake for another 30-40 minutes.

12. Once done, use oven mitts to remove the pumpkin pan from the oven. You can serve the pumpkin in its baking tray, or transfer to a serving plate.

*If you are transferring the pumpkin to a serving plate, you might need a second person to give you a hand. The pumpkin, if too cooked, can fall apart (or the bottom fall out) so you might need someone to help you lift the pumpkin up and onto the serving plate while also holding the bottom in place with some frying spatulas.

13. To serve, you can cut the pumpkin into wedges, like you would a cake, or just scoop out the insides and the pumpkin flesh with a spoon as needed.

Fancy and Festive Autumn Feast

In hindsight it wasn’t that hard to make at all – nowhere near as difficult as I thought it might be. Carve a pumpkin, stick it in the oven, cook some rice and stir fry some meat and veggies. In a nut shell, these are the essential parts of the process.

I recommend multi-tasking for this one. Get the rice cooking, then get the pumpkin baking, then make the stuffing. Once these steps are complete, mix the rice and stuffing, put the mixture inside the pumpkin and stick it back in the oven for 20 minutes.

This recipe could also easily be adjusted to use turkey or chicken instead of pork, or a plant-based meat alternative. Whatever you like best.

Did you try making a meat-stuffed pumpkin? Let me know!