Vegan Stuffed Pumpkin with Quinoa, Lentils, and Mushrooms

Learn how to make delicious and hearty festive vegan stuffed pumpkin with lentils, quinoa, and mushrooms. Moreover, my creamy and herby cashew-miso dressing will make this dish extra luscious.

What I love about this recipe:

• Perfect for vegan Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners or any other autumnal and wintry festivities.
• Made of whole food plant-based ingredients.
• This pumpkin filling makes a delicious meal on its own.

My vegan stuffed pumpkin recipe is gluten-free, oil-free, low glycemic, suitable on vegan Candida diet, and peanut-free.

How to Make Vegan Stuffed Pumpkin with Lentils, Quinoa, and Mushrooms

My recipe requires wholesome plant-based ingredients and a simple equipment. So, no need to invest in a Dutch oven. Also, you won’t use any refined ingredient like vegan butter or olive oil.

The Ingredients

Evidently, one of the main components of this festive meal is pumpkin. I’m using Hokkaido pumpkins, but any preferred smaller or medium sized round pumpkins with edible skin would fit perfectly. The weight of the whole pumpkin should be around 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds).

Pumpkin Filling

For the filling I went for white and red quinoa and green lentils. Feel free to use only one quinoa variety or a different type of grain altogether. For example, brown rice, wild rice, or sorghum. I recommend a grain that stays grit after cooking because you don’t want your filling to be mushy.

The same goes for lentils – feel free to choose any unhulled variety that allow a grit result. For example, brown or black lentils. Avoid red lentils as they’ll become mushy after cooking.

The next important ingredient is mushrooms. In my opinion, mushrooms give a divine flavour and texture to this pumpkin filling.

I also included an avocado for its creaminess. It’ll be so enjoyable biting into those buttery pieces every now and then.

As for the rest of the flavours, we’ll add onion, dried basil, smoked paprika, ginger powder, tamari, fresh parsley, and nutritional yeast.

Cashew-Miso Dressing

It’s evident that a delicious festive stuffed pumpkin needs to be accompanies by a hearty dressing.

As per the title of this dressing recipe, the main component is cashews. Should you be allergic or avoid cashews for any other reason, feel free to use sunflower seeds or peeled almonds instead.

Next, I’m using to type of miso pastes – shiro miso and dark miso. Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae) and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. Shiro miso has a sweet cheesy taste and, in my opinion, is a good substitute for nutritional yeast.

Fresh garlic is what makes this dressing stand out. In case you’re sensitive to uncooked garlic, adjust the quantity or replace it with garlic powder.

We’ll add some extra sharpness by including crushed mustard seeds. Should you not have the seeds at hand, use mustard instead.

Of course, we need to use some water for thinning and plant yogurt for extra volume. I’m using plain unsweetened soy yogurt. However, you may opt for any preferred or avilable variety. For example, oat yogurt or almond yogurt.

The final touches in this dressing recipe are lemon juice and fresh parsley.

The Process

Baking the Pumpkin

We start with baking the pumpkin. Cut one Hokkaido pumpkin in half and remove the seeds. Then, place the pumpkin halves, face down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 200°C for 30 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Remove from the oven, flip them around and let cool.

Pumpkin Filling

Next, let’s prepare the filling for our stuffed pumpkin.

Before you put the pumpkin into the oven, in different bowls, soak the quinoa and lentils for at least 2 hours. Then, drain and rinse.

Now, when the pumpkin is baking, cook the quinoa and lentils.

For the quinoa, add the soaked grains along with a bay leaf and 130 grams of water, into a small pot. Bring to boil, turn the heat to minimum and simmer for 13 minutes. Let steep with the lid on for 10 more minutes. Then, lift the lid and stir gently with a fork.

To cook the lentils, add the soaked, drained, and rinsed lentils along with a bay leaf and 75 grams of water into a pot and simmer for 5-6 minutes until the lentils are soft but not mushy.

Now, finely slice the mushrooms and throw them into a pot. Simply fry them dry mixing occasionally. It will take about 5 minutes, but water starts to separate. Once they’re sizzling in their own juice, add chopped onion. Stir and cover. Sauté for 5 minutes.

Next, turn off the heat and mix in dried basil, paprika, tamari, chopped parsley, and nutritional yeast.

When the quinoa and lentils have cooled down a bit, remove the bay leaves and transfer them into a large bowl along with the onion-mushroom-herb mixture. Combine gently and thoroughly. In a small bowl, mix avocado cubes with ½ tablespoon of lemon juice to prevent browning and gently stir them into the pumpkin filling.

Miso-Cashew Dressing

You can prepare the dressing while quinoa and lentils are cooking, and the pumpkin is baking.

However, first, when you put quinoa and lentils to soak, do the same with the cashews. They also need a few hours.

Drain and rinse the soaked cashews and blend them with the rest if the ingredients in a blender or a beaker until smooth. Transfer the dressing into a jar and keep it in the fridge.

In case you prefer a dressing lower in fats or in case miso paste is not available to you, make my Chickpea-Tahini Dressing instead.

How to Serve This Stuffed Pumpkin

Now, let’s assemble our stuffed pumpkins. Fill the pumpkin halves with the lentil-quinoa filling and serve with miso-cashew dressing.

You’ll end up with four stuffed pumpkin halves, which will feed four hungry people.

Alternatively, cut those halves in half in turn, and you’ll get 8 servings and room for dessert as well.

Given that you decide to eat a smaller portion, consider having a proper side salad with some greens and raw veggies. You may prepare a double batch of miso-cashew dressing for the salad or make an entirely different dressing. For inspiration, go check out my Guide to Oil-Free Salad Dressings.

Here are some ready oil-free salad dressing recipes for you:

• Tahini-Chickpea Dressing
• Oil-Free Dressing with Oven-Baked Veggies
• White Bean Salad Dressing

Also, if you’re rigorously following the glycemic load points per meal, don’t eat more than ¾ of the serving provided on the recipe card i.e., ¾ of one stuffed pumpkin.

How to Store

I’m happy to say that this recipe stores well. However, store the baked pumpkin, pumpkin filling and cashew-miso dressing separately in sealed containers or jars in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Watch how I make 5 delicious and healthy savoury pumpkin recipes (including the stuffed pumpkin) in the below video:

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Vegan Stuffed Pumpkin with Quinoa and Lentils

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• Author: Nele Liivlaid
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 4 stuffed pumpkin halves 1x
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Learn how to make delicious and hearty festive vegan stuffed pumpkin with lentils, quinoa, and mushrooms. Moreover, my creamy and herby cashew-miso dressing will make this dish extra luscious.

Soaking time: 2 hours

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 medium-sized Hokkaido pumpkins (about 1kg, 2.2 pounds each)
• 110g (3.9oz) dry quinoa, soak
• 100g (3.5oz) dry green lentils, soak
• 1 medium onion (100g, 3.5oz)
• 13 button mushrooms (233g, 8.2oz)
• ½ tsp. dried basil
• ¼ tsp. smoked paprika
• ½ tsp. ginger powder
• 2 tbsps. + 1 tsp. tamari
• 23g (0.8oz) fresh parsley
• 2 tbsps. nutritional yeast
• 1 avocado + ½ tbsp. lemon juice

For cashew-miso dressing blend:
(makes a bit over 400 ml)

• 80g (2.8oz, half cup + 2 tbsps.) raw cashews, soak
• 1 slightly heaping tbsp. shiro miso 
• 1 slightly heaping tbsp. dark miso
• 1 fresh garlic clove
• 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. lemon juice
• ½ tsp. whole mustard seeds or ¼ tsp. ground
• ½ cup + 3 tbsps. water
• 100g (3.5oz) plant yogurt

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

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Instructions

1. First, in different bowls, soak the quinoa and lentils (for the filling), and cashews (for the dressing) for at least 2 hours. Then, drain and rinse. 
2. Next, let’s bake the pumpkin. Cut one Hokkaido pumpkin in half and remove the seeds. Then, place the pumpkin halves, face down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 200°C for 30 minutes until the pumpkin in soft. Remove from the oven, flip them around and let cool.
3. While the pumpkin is baking, cook the quinoa and lentils. For the quinoa, add the soaked grains along with a bay leaf and 130g of water, into a small pot. Bring to boil, turn the heat to minimum and simmer for 13 minutes. Let steep with the lid on for 10 more minutes. Then, lift the lid and stir gently with a fork. To cook the lentils, add the soaked, drained, and rinsed lentils along with a bay leaf and 75g of water into a pot and simmer for 5-6 minutes until the lentils are soft but not mushy. 
4. Now, finely slice the mushrooms and throw them into a pot. Simply fry them dry mixing occasionally. It will take about 5 minutes, but water starts to separate. Once they’re sizzling in their own juice, add chopped onion. Stir and cover. Sauté for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and mix in dried basil, paprika, tamari, chopped parsley, and nutritional yeast.
5. When the quinoa and lentils have cooled down a bit, remove the bay leaves and transfer them into a large bowl along with the onion-mushroom-herb mixture. Combine gently and thoroughly.
6. In a small bowl, mix avocado cubes with ½ tablespoon of lemon juice to prevent browning and gently stir them into the pumpkin filling.
7. Now, divide the filling between 4 pumpkin halves and serve with miso-cashew dressing.

Notes

Should miso not be available to you, make my Chickpea-Tahini Dressing instead.

Feel free to use brown rice, wild rice, or sorghum instead of quinoa. Also, you may replace green lentils with brown or black lentils.

If you’re rigorously following the glycemic load points per meal, don’t eat more than ¾ of the serving provided on the recipe card i.e., ¾ of one stuffed pumpkin.

• Prep Time: 40 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 stuffed pumpkin half
• Calories: 544 kcal
• Sodium: 865mg
• Fat: 18.4g
• Saturated Fat: 2.9g
• Carbohydrates: 64.5g
• Fiber: 13.7g
• Protein: 26.3g

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