Low Carb Ham & Cheese Stuffed Pumpkin

I stuffed this little pie pumpkin full of ham, cheese, onion, and basil and it was delicious! Most stuffed pumpkin recipes I’ve seen include bread and milk or eggs. I wanted something lower carb and less rich. Something that felt decadent but still fit within my diet. So I left out the bread and milk, and I think it’s better this way. The flavors of each ingredient really came through.

I used smoked ham from a local source of humanely raised pork. It is hands down the best ham I have ever eaten! The pork flavor is deep and sweet, with lots of pepper. The cheese is an aged cheddar with a very sharp flavor. It is my favorite grocery store cheddar, Trader Joe’s Extra Sharp Canadian. The combo of the sharp cheddar and smoked peppery ham was so satisfying. Putting it in a pumpkin was over the top.

Low Carb Ham & Cheese Stuffed Pumpkin
Recipe by Hillary Huber
 
Serves 2 as a main course
 
Ingredients
 
Small pie pumpkin (about 1 ½ lbs- not the larger kind of pumpkin for carving)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2.5 ounces cheddar, shredded
6 ounces cooked ham, cut into bite size pieces
¼ cup basil leaves, chopped
¼ of a red onion, diced
Salt, pepper
 
Instructions
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
 
Slice the top off of the pumpkin, making a little cap that fits back on snugly. Empty the seeds out of the pumpkin, scraping away all the stringy bits. Save the seeds for roasting another time. Oil the inside of the pumpkin, then season liberally with salt and pepper.
 
Mix together in a large bowl the cheddar, ham, basil, and red onion. Stuff inside the pumpkin. Place the stuffed pumpkin on a foil-lined baking dish. Put the cap back on the pumpkin.
 
Roast for one hour. Remove the cap and roast another 30 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the pumpkin is soft. Let cool five minutes. Slice and serve.