This Halloween recipe is perfect for the whole family! Let’s carve mini pumpkins and stuff them with mac and cheese for a spooky yet delicious dinner!
This quick and easy Halloween recipe is so delicious! And easy to customize!
What Pumpkins are Best?
This recipe works with any variety of mini pumpkin. Ideally you’ll use a smooth pumpkin as it is difficult to carve a face out of the rippled pumpkins. Mini Sugar Pie pumpkins are great in this recipe for their ideal size, flavor, and it’s easy to carve!
Mac and Cheese Filled Pumpkin
This recipe has you make mac and cheese to fill your pumpkin. You can use a box mix of mac and cheese, or your favorite recipe in its place. Since I promote a plant based lifestyle I recommend using a vegan cheese like Dayia, Follow Your Heart, Miyokos, or you could make your own vegan cheddar cheese!
There are a lot of options for mix ins for your mac and cheese that pair really well with pumpkin. Green onion helps brighten everything up, smokey plant-based bacon adds depth, or mushrooms add a meaty element that is fantastic with pumpkin and mac.
Gluten Free Option!
To make this recipe gluten free swap out the all purpose flour for a gf flour while making the cheese sauce. Choose a gf pasta for the mac and cheese. I’ve had great results with gf chickpea pasta and rice pasta!
Looking for More Vegan Halloween Recipes?
- Let’s get spooky with these Purple Skull Gnocchi’s! This vegan Halloween recipe is the ultimate comfort food, the gnocchi has a melt in your mouth texture. These gnocchi are vegan and can be made gluten free, all these need is your favorite sauce!
- This Ultra Creamy Pumpkin Sauce is the best way to get into the fall season! It’s sweet, savory, rich, and perfect for pasta. This vegan pumpkin sauce is nut free and soy free- the key to this sauces richness is full fat coconut milk and freshly roasted pumpkin.
- This is the ultimate cozy weather meal- Vegan Pumpkin Pasta Bake with plant based cheese, chanterelles, spinach, sage, high protein pasta, with bread crumbs on top.
- These Easy Pumpkin Waffles are the perfect way to embrace fall for a sweet start to your day. Imagine these pumpkin waffles with your pumpkin spice latte, cozied up in a big sweater, after crunching on some leaves…
Stuffed Mini Jack O Lanterns
Equipment
- Air Fryer Optional, can use oven instead
Ingredients
Vegan Mac and Cheese
- 2 tbs Butter
- 1 tbs All Purpose Flour or GF flour of choice
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 2 Cups Vegan Cheddar Cheese Miyokos, Violife, Follow Your Heart, Dayia are all great brands (roughly 200g)
- 8 oz Macaroni Noodles
- ¼ Cup Green Onion Minced
Stuffed Pumpkin
- 4 Small Pumpkins Baby Boo, Casperita, Small Sugar Pumpkin, are all great varieties.
Instructions
Mac and Cheese Filling
- Boil water in a saucepan to cook noodles, and once the water is boiling add about 1 tbs of salt and your noodlesCook until el dente (slightly undercook the noodles)Set aside
- In a saucepan melt the butter on the stove on medium high heat, then whisk in the flour for 2 minutes
- Whisk in the soy milk, onion powder, garlic powder, and saltReduce heat to Medium, continuing stirring for 5 minutes
- Remove from heatAdd in cooked noodles and green onions, stir to combine.
Assembly
- Cut out the top of your mini pumpkins and scoop out the seeds and inner strings. Lightly coat the inside and exterior of the pumpkins with a small amount of oil
- Carve out the face of your pumpkin to create a spooky jack o lantern. Be mindful to not make any holes too large so noodles don't fall out
- Fill the carved pumpkins with the mac and cheese, replace the top of the pumpkin so it is sealed
- Place in the air fryer (or oven) and bake at 350F for 25 minutes, or until it is soft to the touch (leaves an indent when you touch the skin). Larger pumpkins may need up to 30 minutes
Video
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