Cheesy Stuffed Pumpkin with Sausage and Fennel
By Jessica RudolphPublished on November 8, 2025
Time
3 hours
Yield
Serves 4 to 8
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Sugar pumpkins usually have a darker orange exterior than carving pumpkins. Their flesh has more flavor and is also denser and drier than that of bigger pumpkins. Look for a pumpkin with a relatively short stem, about 3 inches or less. This recipe serves four as a main course or a large side, or six to eight as part of a larger holiday spread. You can serve the pumpkin out of the baking dish or carefully transfer it to a serving platter.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with vegetable oil spray. Use pointed knife to cut out 4-inch lid around stem of 1 sugar pumpkin; reserve lid. Use knife and spoon to scrape seeds and pulp from pumpkin interior (discard pulp and discard or save seeds for another use). Sprinkle pumpkin interior with ¾ teaspoon table salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
- Arrange 2 cups baguette cut into ¾-inch pieces on rimmed baking sheet and bake until crisp and beginning to brown, about 12 minutes; transfer to large bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook 4 ounces hot Italian sausage, casing removed, and ½ cup finely chopped fennel in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up sausage with wooden spoon, until sausage is browned and fennel is tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add 1 cup shredded Gruyère, 1 teaspoon chopped sage, 1 minced garlic clove, and sausage mixture to bowl with bread and toss to combine. Stuff bread mixture into pumpkin, packing tightly to ½ inch below inside rim of pumpkin (you may have some bread mixture left over). Place pumpkin in prepared baking dish.
- Whisk 1 cup heavy cream, ¼ cup chicken broth, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon cayenne, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in liquid measuring cup and slowly pour over bread mixture in pumpkin. Replace pumpkin stem. (Assembled pumpkin can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.)
- Roast until pumpkin is fully tender and tip of paring knife inserted into flesh meets no resistance, about 2 hours. Let cool for 15 minutes. To serve, scoop out stuffing with large spoon, scraping pumpkin flesh from bottom and sides with each scoop.
- If you want to feed more people, don’t buy a bigger pumpkin: They tend to be tougher and drier. Instead, buy two 3- to 3½-pound pumpkins, double the recipe, and bake pumpkins in one large or two separate baking dishes.
to serve a crowd
Time
3 hoursYield
Serves 4 to 8Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
This Thanksgiving dish was inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good. We used a medium-size pie pumpkin, which we cleaned out jack-o’-lantern style and seasoned thoroughly on the inside. We then stuffed it with a rich, creamy, bready, cheesy filling: toasted cubes of baguette (their higher ratio of crust to crumb helped the cubes keep their shape), shredded Gruyère cheese, Italian sausage, fennel, sage, garlic, cream, and a splash of broth to add savory depth and help cut the richness. We also seasoned the mix with nutmeg to complement the squash and cayenne for warmth. We replaced the cap and baked it all together until completely tender. The pumpkin slumps slightly in the oven but maintains most of its stature, resulting in a proud, iconic-looking fall centerpiece. Diners scoop out the stuffing from the hole at the top, scraping up some of the baked pumpkin along with it.
Before You Begin
Sugar pumpkins usually have a darker orange exterior than carving pumpkins. Their flesh has more flavor and is also denser and drier than that of bigger pumpkins. Look for a pumpkin with a relatively short stem, about 3 inches or less. This recipe serves four as a main course or a large side, or six to eight as part of a larger holiday spread. You can serve the pumpkin out of the baking dish or carefully transfer it to a serving platter.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with vegetable oil spray. Use pointed knife to cut out 4-inch lid around stem of 1 sugar pumpkin; reserve lid. Use knife and spoon to scrape seeds and pulp from pumpkin interior (discard pulp and discard or save seeds for another use). Sprinkle pumpkin interior with ¾ teaspoon table salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
- Arrange 2 cups baguette cut into ¾-inch pieces on rimmed baking sheet and bake until crisp and beginning to brown, about 12 minutes; transfer to large bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook 4 ounces hot Italian sausage, casing removed, and ½ cup finely chopped fennel in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up sausage with wooden spoon, until sausage is browned and fennel is tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add 1 cup shredded Gruyère, 1 teaspoon chopped sage, 1 minced garlic clove, and sausage mixture to bowl with bread and toss to combine. Stuff bread mixture into pumpkin, packing tightly to ½ inch below inside rim of pumpkin (you may have some bread mixture left over). Place pumpkin in prepared baking dish.
- Whisk 1 cup heavy cream, ¼ cup chicken broth, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon cayenne, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in liquid measuring cup and slowly pour over bread mixture in pumpkin. Replace pumpkin stem. (Assembled pumpkin can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.)
- Roast until pumpkin is fully tender and tip of paring knife inserted into flesh meets no resistance, about 2 hours. Let cool for 15 minutes. To serve, scoop out stuffing with large spoon, scraping pumpkin flesh from bottom and sides with each scoop.
- If you want to feed more people, don’t buy a bigger pumpkin: They tend to be tougher and drier. Instead, buy two 3- to 3½-pound pumpkins, double the recipe, and bake pumpkins in one large or two separate baking dishes.
to serve a crowd
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