Or does that make you want to hurl fresh, summer tomatoes at me? Trust me, I am NOT one to rush summer. Or spring or fall for that matter. However, we all know it’s only a matter of a few weeks or so, until pumpkin EVERYTHING shows up in our news feeds, our coffee shops, and our farm markets. Not one to necessarily avoid a trend, I just like to think on it first. I love pumpkin everything. I do. I love fall. I do. I am sickened by winter, and the fact that people will even think too much about Christmas (other than travel planning) before October/November completely blows my mind because I love summer so much. Pumpkins, though. Pumpkins in August. Why not pre-plan a delicious autumn meal? A mind-blowing Pumpkin Stew baked in a pumpkin.
You can also bake the stew in a casserole pan, if you don’t happen to have The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in your house. And trust me, I once asked Cassidy to make this stew in January for a dear friend with a new baby, and you just can’t buy whole big pumpkins year-round. Who knew? Well probably, everyone but me. That’s the great thing about this pumpkin stew, though.
My first experience with the stew was when I was pregnant with Scarlet, but I didn’t know it yet. My father-in-law, Larry, made it so I call it “Grandpa Larry’s Pumpkin Stew.” At the time, he cooked it in a casserole pan, and we only found out about the pumpkin way later. I’ve been wanting to write a photo tutorial on this for ages, but I thought I would have to wait until actual fall. Well, I’m in luck because when Cassidy made the stew at our old apartment, he took photos of the whole experience.
[Tweet “So for your pleasure, I present you with the recipe for “Grandpa Larry’s Pumpkin Stew”.”]
Ingredients:
Pumpkins – one double the size of the other. My larger one is around 17lbs.
1 can corn
2-3 cans of beans – I use cannellini and lima or pinto.
1.5lbs sausage (I used Applegate Farms skinless organic chicken/turkey)
2-4 cups cooked wild rice (I use a lot)
1-2 boxes of low sodium chicken broth (approx. 4 cups)
fresh rosemary
nutmeg
1-2 cups chopped carrots
3-4 cups potatoes
1. Cook potatoes (peeled or not peeled depending on how you like ‘em), carrots, rice, and brown sausage. Nothing needs to be cooked well done. Al dente everything since it will have two hours in the stew. You could also cook all this stuff well ahead of time, even a day before.
2. Take the smaller pumpkin and cut into quarters. Take out pumpkin “guts” and with a knife, carefully remove outside skin. Chop pumpkin meat into 1″ cubes – you want 6-8 cups. Steam pumpkin cubes until a little soft but not cooked. Alternately, you could microwave them in a ceramic bowl covered with water in it just to get them a bit soft but not mushy.
3. Take the larger pumpkin and remove the top (make sure you are cutting at an angle so lid doesn’t fall in when cooking). Take out all pumpkin guts. NOTE: be careful right at the bottom center of the pumpkin – some have holes there and if you scrape too much you’ll expose the hole and stew will pour out. I just scraped one layer off inside because you want the walls to be as thick as possible to hold stew.
4. Once all that is done, pour an entire box of broth in a large stew pot on medium-high heat. Add in all other ingredients you want to use. Heat to almost boiling, but it doesn’t need to boil since you’re just mixing everything here and getting it pre-warmed. In my photo tutorial (below), you’ll see that I didn’t add the rice or sausage to this mix. I could have done it but they were already warm. There are only two spices I used – a LOT of finely chopped rosemary and a lot of nutmeg (I would say a TBSP of each easily, maybe more). These two create a real “autumn” flavor. Spice your stew to taste. When the pot is warmed, taste it – then add any salt and pepper to taste. Some of these ingredients have salt in them so I wait until it is all mixed to salt it.
5. Mix everything into your large pumpkin and stir it up. Take one last taste. If it is too thick, you can add more broth.
6. Put lid back on pumpkin.
7. Coat outside of pumpkin with olive oil. Wrap foil around handle (protects it from cracking). Place in an oven safe pan. I used a glass dish, shown below.
8. I cooked it for two hours at 335. This may vary, depending on your oven.
9. Remove from oven, remove foil from handle, open and stick a ladle in there!
10. Note: Recipe is VERY flexible. It can feed a small party or a very large family, so you might have leftovers! If you like one vegetable, rice, meat, spice, etc., substitute or increase/decrease levels. It is hard to go wrong. And now, for your viewing pleasure, and if you’re a better visual learner. Pumpkin Stew recipe in 20+ photos:
Let me know if you have any questions or comments! I’ll answer them fully…err.. I mean, I’ll forward them to Cassidy to get you good answers. I’m no foodie, but I do know a great recipe when I see (eat) it. This one is a hit. We once built a whole pumpkin party based around this as a main course. Friends brought pumpkin snacks, appetizers, side dishes and desserts to go with it. It was a blast. Cassidy also once made this and we brought it right to a potluck party IN the pumpkin! It remained warm and was of course a conversation piece to have us waltz in there carrying a giant pumpkin, simmering with delicious stew inside. Try it this fall – and let me know how it goes! To all my friends – thanks for urging me to turn this into a blog post/recipe/tutorial.
I have never had a pumpkin stew. Actually I don’t think I’ve really had anything pumpkin that wasn’t sweet. This looks like a dream… I may have to try it this fall. It looks delicious and fairly simple.
I didn’t have savory pumpkin until a few years ago! It was a delicious pumpkin soup with a dollop of sour cream at a restaurant in SF. I haven’t had anything like it since but I’ve looked!
Ok, you know we share this love for all things pumpkin and swear I was smiling (as much as you know I am not ready for summer to be over by any means), when I saw you shared this pumpkin recipe recipe here tonight. You know I have pinned and will so be trying giving you full credit in my household now!! Love you and thank you tons and until we can share a pumpkin spice latte face to face now, this will have to tide me over 🙂 xoxo!!
I’m smiling because I know it will happen. Soon. And pumpkin spice lattes come out when it’s still summer so we can have them and it can still be our summer! Look at Google maps!
And now I am smiling and sounds perfect to me too! Will totally look 😉
Look up that park I mentioned! Looks gorgeous.
I will 😉
I absolutely LOVE this….ESPECIALLY with the step by step instructions accompanied with photos, Tamara! You guys rocked this! Everything and anything is good with sausage 🙂 Just let us know what time dinner is next time because would like to be there. We would bring an accompaniment of course 🙂
Will it be pumpkin themed? And we can set a place at the kids table for Phoenix!
Yes, most definitely on pumpkin themed but caution…Phoenix might take advantage of the little ones and their food. Sneaky kid of mine even though he knows he’s not supposed to get any. Grandpa Larry really had a dandy here and it’s obviously darn healthy and hearty to boot! 🙂
Athena does that too! She staked out near some grilled cheese last night and waited for a lapse in attention from Scarlet, and then she pounced!
Oh – thank you for sharing this!!! I’m in no hurry to rush into fall but the first cool day I’m going to try this!!!
Let’s hope that’s still far in the future! I am still completely traumatized by winter. Never again!
I would love to try this! I’m not sure I could pull off making it. Who knows. One of my favorite snacks is roasted pumpkin seeds. Yum!
Yes!!! They are so good!! Loved roasted seeds. This is fairly easy, and you probably know I can’t cook at ALL.
YOU TEASE!!!! Your dirty little tease!!! It’s only August 4!!!!! GRRRRRRRR!!! I LOVE FALL AND PUMPKINS AND THANKSGIVING SOOOOOO much! This pumpkin stew is SHOOTING MY MIND AROUND A ROLLERCOASTER right now! lol
Ha! I know. I was going to wait for September.. I did see a few people talk about Christmas lately. Christmas!! I don’t have that much time on my hands at least. Trying to live in the present.. Except for this stew.
Which is delicious, by the way! Think of it on a cool October night. In Wyoming. Did I lose you yet?
I cannot even think about a COOL FALL NIGHT! Los Angeles is suffocating me with it’s heat! LOL!
We’ve had a cool weekend here but… Six more weeks of summer in MA!
Oh my gosh, this looks to DIE for!! I loved the step by step photos, those always get me super hungry for a recipe cause I can see all the tastiness come together. I am SUPER JEALOUS though because here in AZ we’re nowhere NEAR fall. I have to wait till late Oct/early Nov for any kind of fall weather to start happening. I guess I’ll just turn my a/c way up one day and put on some sweaters and make this, haha!
I want eternal summer, trust me. Although October is so amazing in Massachusetts. And now that this is in the back of everyone’s minds, six more weeks of summer. Wheeee!
I love the orangey colors!! And 17lbs pumpkin! WOW. No wonder why it’s a hit, looks really delish! A pumpkin party is a great idea. My friends and I organize a themed dinner from time to time and I’m gonna suggest this. Thanks for sharing!
It’s fun! Although we needed a wagon to tote around the pumpkins! And an affordable place that doesn’t charge by the pound. So much fun! Pumpkin Parties rock!
I am a sucker for anything pumpkin. This one looks amazing and I am so going to try this as soon as I can get my hands on a good pumpkin!
Me too! About pumpkin. I have really only discovered savory pumpkin stuff in the last several years. My friend used to make a pumpkin soup in little pumpkins used as bowls after they came out of the oven! I should find that recipe too!
What a great recipe. Tamara…I will try it with the yummy vegetables !!!
Yes! It can totally be vegetarian and vegan. You can use a veggie broth. Yum.
I love that you put this recipe on here! I was wondering if you would after you told us about it a while back. Family recipes are the best! It’s awesome to have the step by step instructions too, because it can be daunting. It’ll be a while before we get pumpkins here, but this sounds like it’s up our alley, so I may just have to try it!
We grow pumpkins in our garden and they’re definitely not there yet. I’ll have to check if they’ve even started. I was totally going to wait on this but I keep hearing to do it and also thinking about what we learned at BlogU to do these things a little early. Not Christmas early, though!
Yum! I will confess that I probably would not try this in a big pumpkin, because I tend to flow recipes and ruining a huge pumpkin would be expensive and shameful. But in a pot the first time around, absolutely! Mmmm… Pumpkin.
Definitely in a pot! I think we did it first in a pot. I shouldn’t really give myself any credit. I’m just writing the post and Cassidy has done all the work! I would never cut a pumpkin myself!
Omg, I’m pretty obsessed with everything pumpkin, it gets pretty bad right around September! I did a pumpkin soup last year which was an instant favorite, I will definitely be giving this a try, too! Thanks for the inspiration!
I remember going to a pumpkin party once and the host was baking pumpkin soup in little tiny pumpkin bowls and that was how we ate it. It was so cool!
Oh dear lord, I am hungry.
Me too! Only it’s breakfast time for me.
This sounds like a recipe for Frank to play with because he has no issues cutting up a pumpkin. I would probably ruin the pumpkin! (He is in the kitchen right now making spaghetti from scratch – which means it won’t be ready until tomorrow because tomato sauce needs to simmer overnight!)
I can’t wait to hear more about the spaghetti! So the pasta is from scratch too? That sounds delicious. I have to be honest, I hesitated to post any kind of recipe or food post because everyone knows I’m not a foodie or cook at all! I once went to urgent care because I couldn’t cut an avocado without slicing my finger open.
Pasta won’t be from scratch because I am not letting him do it…. it would take forever and the kiddos are begging for spaghetti! Post should be up Friday!
Can’t wait to read!
YES!!! I’m so glad you shared!!! I’m such a sucker for fall, and ALL things pumpkins. Don’t get me wrong summer is nice, but it’s not fall. I don’t think I will get much fall here in South Carolina 🙁 I’m not the biggest winter fan, but I think I may miss winter living here…. okay, I’m kidding 🙂
Thanks again for sharing I WILL try this!
XO
I have only ever been to South Carolina in the summer and I was just a kid so the heat didn’t bother me. I wonder what it would be like now! Probably I would think that our New England winters are brutal, because they are. Fall here is famous, though. New England foliage is such a road trip thing. Actually people fly in from all over the world to see it. And it’s in my backyard. I don’t always appreciate it though, because I hate winter just that much!
Other than the fact that I am not strong enough to carve a pumpkin without feeling it for days, this is GENIUS and looks delicious. Look at you posting a recipe!!
I know, right? I have done a few in the past and one of my food posts was even featured on BlogHer once. Which is incredibly funny to everyone that knows me since I’m a terrible foodie and an even worse cook. This is an area in which Cassidy and I make a great team. He does the cooking and recipe writing and I do the photographing and blogging.
At first, I did want to throw fresh tomatoes and zucchini and berries at you because I cannot even fathom thinking about fall yet!! I’m starting to see back to school stuff and it’s kind of freaking me out. But, I will admit that this recipe looks amazing. I will definitely have to try i.
I know. I’m the worst because my mom and I always say that the holiday police should arrest people for thinking about holidays too soon. However. Pumpkin everything starts September 1st on the dot!
Ken is going to be so excited! I can’t wait to show him this!! Thanks for posting it (even if I’m not ready to think about Fall yet!)
I know! The thought of fall makes me sick! I don’t want to be doing this! Somebody made me do it.
I’ve never had pumpkin stew but this recipe has got me craving it!
I can almost smell fall when I saw this. Definitely will make this fall!
Thanks so much for sharing.
xoxo
It was very surprising to me when I found out you can eat pumpkins in a savory way, and not just their seeds roasted. That said, I’m still going to forget about it for another month of summer.
I’m going to try this in the Fall. I’ll probably add more beans and veggies to make up for the grains I can’t have, but I still thiqnk it will be yummy. Thanks for sharing.
Definitely! That’s why I love this recipe so much. Some of my blogging friends are vegetarian or vegan or like you, cutting down on dairy or grains. This can suit all kinds.
Jeez is that time already around the corner?? As much as I love it, Fall is my favorite season, it’s scares me how fast time is flying. It’s already August damnit!?!? On another note – that looks PHENOMENAL! I HAVE to try this 🙂 It looks like heaven in a beautiful pumpkin! What’s great is this is a pretty affordable dish to make since none of the ingredients are over the top, my kind of recipe! Tell Cassidy I said: thanks for sharing and MY MAN (if you listen to the Kane Show it’s from there :D)! Happy Monday Tamara 🙂 -Iva
Oh yes. No breaking the bank here! The expensive part, depending on where you get pumpkins and if they charge by the pound or not, is the larger of the pumpkins. And that can be remedied by just baking in a casserole dish instead.
What? A casserole dish? THAT’S CHEATING and defeats the purpose ENTIRELY. Ha we got this we’ll go to a pumpkin patch and make a fun day out of it woot woot 😀
That’s the spirit!
I love pumpkin and that stew looks so hearty and tasty. I probably won’t start cooking with it for another month, but I love the flavor. The summer is going by too fast for me!
I totally hear you! It’s clam chowder and ice cream for me for at least another month.
I’ve never had pumpkin stew but after reading this, I want it now!!! This looks so delicious and I love pumpkin!
Me too! And you don’t have to make it the most complicated way. Really just a pumpkin baked in a casserole dish is really good.
This is the first time I’m seeing a recipe on your blog and I’m loving it! I’m so pinning this and trying it one day! I love that it’s chicken or turkey sausage and everything else too. It looks hearty and delicious and spectacular! Thanks for sharing it with us, Tamara!
Yes! My father-in-law used a completely different sausage. We used one that was already fully cooked and organic. I’m not sure it’s very healthy, but it was tasty!
I’m so glad you shared the recipe!!! My husband would be nice to me for MONTHS if I made this for him. He loves loves pumpkin everything. Thanks, Sweets, for sharing! You rock!!
Months!! It’s worth it. I want someone to be nice to me for months. I guess Athena is.
This looks amazing! My family prefers sweet pumpkin dishes, but I think I’m going to have to make this anyway because it just looks so good, and I love that it can be served in the pumpkin 🙂
I hear you. I didn’t even know you could get very savory with pumpkin, other than roasting their seeds, until a few years ago when I went to my first pumpkin party. Now I like to throw a good pumpkin party!
I absolutely can not wait to try this. Thank you for posting as I was a requester 🙂 and the 20 pictures are totally brilliant!
I’m so glad he did them! That’s what made this post possible because otherwise I’d have to wait until we procured a giant pumpkin to recreate the whole thing.
Well you certainly have outdone yourself with this one Miss Tamara!!! I don’t think I’ve ever been this intimidated by a recipe before!! Haha!! I really WANT to try this but I’m thinking I had better let someone else & I’ll just do the eating!!!
I hear that! Notice I never mentioned myself cooking it.. ever?
Also you can always do it in the casserole dish. That’s pretty fantastic too.
Ooh, this is the perfect fall recipe! And nothing wrong with being ahead on the trends 🙂 as much as I love summer, fall is by far my favorite season. Plus it’s refreshing to see a pumpkiny food that actually has pumpkin in it! (Unlike, say, a delicious but actually lacking-in-pumpkin pumpkin latte!)
Right?? So inauthentic. And delicious, though. I honestly love summer so much and will make the best of August, but it’s nice to think of this.
This looks SO tasty. I must try this, as I love pumpkin. I’m not sure if Tom would eat it, but he’s incredibly picky. He’s weird.
Haha! I’m weird too. Although this is something I am not picky with. I love pumpkin.
I’ve never had pumpkin stew before, but I LOVE pumpkin! My favorite thing about fall is pumpkin everything! To serve this IN a pumpkin…ADORBS!! Even if it turns out badly because I am a horrible cook, I’m making this. My family doesn’t think I have this kind of presentation skills in me. They will be FLOORED because it’s so awesome looking in the pumpkin itself. They better watch out! They are about to be amazed!! –Lisa
Oh, I think you have it in you! Knock ’em dead. Prove them wrong! I have to admit that I have terrible cooking skills and I’ve never attempted this, but I bet I could.
I just completely love how ahead of the trends you are!! I have never tried pumpkin stew but I totally trust your recommendations so so I will bookmark this for the perfect fall meal for the family!
Trying here! One thing I learned at BlogU was to be a bit ahead. Who knew??
Thanks for trusting me!
I soooo want to make this for my family. They will be in awe, I’m sure. It sounds like since Jason can’t eat beans I can just put in some extra meat and veggies and it will still be fine. I can’t wait!
Oh yes! It suits all kinds of diets. It can be made to order.
SCORE! I was hoping you would post this! Totally pinning this!
I’m so glad I did! It’s totally good.
Too early for pumpkin? Not here, either! Today I poured Pumpkin Chai, Sweet Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Caramel Latte and Pickin’ Pumpkin. Wish I had room in my kitchen to cook, because I’d try these recipes – but, right now, my kitchen is filled with pumpkin candles.
Woohoo! That’s a regular party and I wish I could smell each one. Maybe I will order!
This year we grew our own pumpkins as previous years cost us a lot of money for my love of decoration. I have not tried any recipes or have made a dish from pumpkin…this feature shows a lot of effort and decoration, interesting, I admit I was relieved that it has sausages in it!
We grow our own too, but we haven’t had a lot. Last year we had a very big one, though. Way too big for our oven!
Consider my mind blown :). I remember you or Cassidy writing about this in an AAF (?) post and I was hooked. Thanks so much for sharing and this is definitely a conversation piece and I love that it’s with simple ingredients!
Yes! The question was about what dish I think represents each season. It was a very unique question and I talked about the pumpkins stew. People started asking more questions. So a post was born!
I love this idea!! and I love all things pumpkin too. I will be one of the first in line for the Pumpkin Spice Latte and won’t apologize.
this is almost as cool looking as our beer bottom chicken! 🙂
I think I usually show up a day too early! I think Starbucks is often laughing at me. I want to hear more about your amazing recipe!
get a whole chicken. shove a can a beer up its’ butt. slow roast on bbq. enjoy with new cold beer. 🙂
we keep it simple up here. ha
I’m glad you specified to enjoy with a new cold beer! And not the warm one that’s been up a chicken’s ass..
LOL
We call it the magic cooler. beers must exit the cooler in even numbers. One for chicken butt, one for you. 😉
Sounds like perfection. What time should I stop over?
Me, too. Time and place, please. To my email right now 🙂
Hahahaha! Be careful what you wish for.
Admittedly, I’m torn. The idea of pumpkin stew sounds delicious, but summer took so long to get here that I want to savor every last drop of it before even considering fall-ah recipes. Thank goodness for Pinterest right? Pn now, eat later. Plus, I have a feeling that the kids would love helping out with a dinner cooked inside a pumpkin. (Just don’t let them know that pumpkins are a kind of squash)
I honestly am so with you. I am nauseated by the thought of summer ending. I just wanted to put that out there early because it is so delicious!
I never would have thought to make a stew in a pumpkin–what a novel (and brilliant!) idea. I’d love to veganize this by adding some meat-free sausages and maybe potatoes and veggie broth. Sounds delicious for a cold winter’s night–thank you!
I think veganized stew would be so delicious! And it’s hard to think of cold nights, since I feel like we just got out of that wicked series of them, but the truth is that it will happen sooner than I’d like!
I love, love, love pumpkin everything. It’s one of my many favorite things about fall! Not sure I’m ready for it all yet but I won’t hurl tomatoes at you. 🙂 I’ll just save this for when I am ready!
Good thinking! I will not be making it anytime soon either.
I love fall so much. Lately I’ve been feeling sad that summer is more than half over. Remember before it began? BlogU? Sigh.
Holy Pumpkin Batman! That’s pretty spectacular! Wow…I can’t wait for it to cool down…like in December so I can try this! Pinning!
December!! So lucky! We are spending some time in St. Augustine this winter and I’m hoping for warmth!
Um, this is AMAZING! Totally pinning this all over the place!!
Thank you!! You’re such a Pinterest pro that it means a lot.
Wow! That serioisly looks amazing! Great presentation amd I love pumpkin!
Thanks! Was so happy to finally share it.
OMG, Tamara, that looks amazing! Your photos are lovely! Just seeing pumpkin carving brings back memories or Octobers past. I will try this soon when our pumpkins are harvesting. Sweet!!
I can’t wait to hear about people making stew!! It’s something I really look forward to about fall.
Oh my goodness! Is it time for pumpkins already?! I’m not ready for the Fall yet, but I could totally give this stew a go! It looks so delicious. I’m definitely going to be pinning and saving for future use. Thanks so much for sharing this deliciousness with us! 🙂
It’s totally not time! So I felt a little funny doing it early but I figured it would get everybody all psyched up for Fall, because it’s so sad that summer ends!
Gosh- I am SO hungry for this NOW!!! Crap. You know how I get late at night. Now I will want nothing but THIS and anything I eat will never be fulfilling. BUT- is it really all the work? I’m not a good cook. I’m actually a very lazy cook… so eh…what’s Cassidy doing in say a few days or so? 😉
Ha!! I’m sure he would want nothing more than to go help the most loveliest of you. It is a lot of work, but mostly just with the cutting of pumpkin. Everything else does its own thing. You can put it on autopilot. I am total crap in the kitchen.
1. This feels all paleo. I bet cavemen did it.
2. When I saw sausage in the ingredients, I wondered what you’d do …
3. You’ve officially gotten a spot in my COOK! file.
I am so proud. I never thought this would happen for me!
Interesting baking it inside the pumpkin. I bet this would make an amazing centerpiece to family dinner around thanksgiving!!
It’s funny because we have never made it for Thanksgiving! I think we will try it this year.
Holy cow this is the king of all pumpkin recipes! I’ve never seen anything like this!
It’s insane!! Totally insane!
Oh. My. Yum.
It really is!!
I am 100 % with you on the whole early talk and action for Christmas etc. Just why? But pumpkin? Not a problem. Coming from Germany I have never been to big on it, but once I tasted pumpkin soup and baked pumpkin while living in Australia, I was sold. No question: I will try yours, ah, Cassidy’s, no wait, Larry’s pumpkin recipe when Charlie Browns become available. Thanks a lot for posting the recipe and photos to follow along.
I feel the same way! Christmas, I cannot think about. Pumpkins, I can always think about. No Charlie Brown’s yet! I guess it really is too early for pumpkins.
I’ve never tried pumpkin stew, but your step-by-step guide might give me the inspiration I need to venture into new territory.
I can’t say I’ve ever tried to make it, but it sure is amazing to eat.