For The Best Stuffed Pumpkin, The Variety You Choose Matters

A Jack-o-Lantern is a spooky seasonal spectacle when carved and hollowed out, but a true thing of beauty is a stuffed pumpkin, perfectly roasted and ready to eat with a delicious, customizable filling. With a little planning, this pumpkin preparation functions as both dinner and decoration, not to mention an entirely edible dish. But you can't use just any old gourd for this gleeful purpose — you'll want a sugar pumpkin, which has a natural sweetness and a dense, flavorful flesh that stands up to the roasting and stuffing process.

Sugar pumpkins typically come in the iconic roundish pumpkin shape and vibrant orange color, but are smaller than the ones you'd carve and stick on your front stoop — more along the lines of a large grapefruit or a small melon. This makes them ideal for serving one or two people. The "meat" of a sugar pumpkin is less stringy and fibrous than their larger brethren, too, and a lower moisture content ensures that its natural sugars caramelize well, making them far better suited for roasting and eating than other varieties. 

It's common to find this type of pumpkin in familiar baking preparations like totally from scratch pumpkin pie or muffins, but it also lends itself well to braising, sauteing, frying or air frying, puréeing, pumpkin soup-ifying, steaming, grilling, and more. When roasted whole, a sugar pumpkin has both the style and substance to be a versatile, hearty comfort food, as well as an impressive spectacle on the dinner table.

As for what to stuff inside, the sugar pumpkin plays well with many culinary partners. Classic flavor pairings include nutty browned butter and sage or cinnamon and maple syrup, but the sweet squash provides a great counterpoint for super savory fillings as well. Garlicky kale, potatoes, caramelized onions, sauteed peppers or mushrooms, fluffy couscous or wild rice with hazelnuts and pomegranate, and hunks of sourdough or cornbread are all comfortable in this cozy preparation. Herbs like rosemary, thyme, and marjoram all complement as iconic fall flavors as well. You can opt to include meat like ground beef, ham, or sausage, but a stuffed pumpkin is also a great option as an impressive and highly crave-able vegetarian main.

Adding a sprinkle of texture with the pumpkin's roasted seeds is a nice touch, but crunchy hazelnuts, buttery pecans, or roasted chestnuts are festive as well, as are dried fruit like cranberries or raisins, or pomegranate seeds. To finish it off, try a melty cheese like gruyere, or a shower of salty grated pecorino romano.

To drink, pair your stuffed pumpkin with a maple cider cocktail or crockpot cranberry mocktail and serve! This dish is ideal for the holidays, but is simple and satisfying any day of the season.

In addition to being a beautiful autumnal centerpiece and a delicious meal, pumpkins are packed with nutritional value. Pumpkins support strong eye health: with high levels of vitamins C and A (a 1 cup serving of cooked pumpkin contains a whopping 245% of the Reference Daily Intake for vitamin A). The carotenoids and beta carotene that account for that iconic orange color are part of a pumpkin's rich antioxidant profile that can help lower the risk of cancer, not to mention help foster glowing skin.

The pumpkin family (technically a fruit and not a vegetable, as evidenced by its seeds) also boasts potassium, which is believed to lower blood pressure and promote heart health, as well as vitamin E, folate, and iron, making them an impressive immunity booster. Because they're high in both fiber and moisture, pumpkins can help you feel fuller longer and facilitate healthy digestion. And it's no wonder you often see skeletons hanging around a group of gourds — another benefit of enjoying pumpkins for dinner is that they encourage good bone health, too. Now that's a super fruit!