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Pumpkin Season: Savoury Crumble.


- Serves 4 - Ready in 2 hours - (this includes 1.5 hours oven time) -


* Uses up 1 medium (2kg weight-when-whole) pumpkin OR 2 pumpkins-worth (1.5kg) of firm chunks of carved pumpkin leftovers*


This recipe works well if adapted to be gluten-free, use gf flour, gf oats and gf gravy granules.


Gather together...

1 medium pumpkin (circa 2kg weight pre-cutting and seed-removal) OR use approx. 1.5kg of skin-less pumpkin flesh hacked from two carved pumpkins OR use 2 medium/large butternut squash. This recipe works best with chunks of pumpkin (if you want to use up the stringy parts of a pumpkin then see the Pumpkin Soup recipe, or the Pumpkin Tea Loaf recipe or the Pumpkin Nutella Loaf Cake recipe or the Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie recipe.)

2 tbsp olive oil / rapeseed oil.

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg.

100g butter, melted.

100g (3/4 cup) plain flour.

100g (1 and 1/2 cups) porridge oats (the chunky, old fashioned 'rolled oats' kind are best).

25g (1/4 cup) Sesame seeds.

Pinch of pepper.

100g (2 handfuls) cheddar cheese (roughly grated).

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard.

2 tbsp olive oil or rapeseed oil.

1 medium onion, chopped OR 2 bunches of spring onions (green parts only) if LOW FODMAP diet is required.

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped, or use 2 tsp of ‘lazy garlic’ from a jar OR just use garlic-infused oil instead of olive oil (rather than using garlic itself) if LOW FODMAP diet is required.

1 (generous) tbsp maple syrup, or golden syrup.

2 tsp gravy granules.

1 cup (250ml) of just-boiled water.


Get cooking...

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan) or Gas 4.

2. Knife-peel, de-seed, roughly chop and weigh out 1.5kg of usable firm flesh from your pumpkin(s). (You can use a potato peeler if you are peeling a butternut squash). Remove any seeds and most of the stringy bits. Set aside the pumpkin seeds as they could be made into a tasty snack - see the 'Roasted Pumpkin Seeds' seasonal recipe blog post if you are interested in doing this. The stringy bits of the pumpkin can be used in the Pumpkin Soup recipe or in any of the sweet recipes requiring pumpkin puree (the Pumpkin Tea Loaf, the Nutella Loaf Cake or the Thanksgiving Pie).

3. Drizzle the pumpkin pieces with the 2 tbsp of oil and add the 1/4 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg. Mix it around so the nutmeg is absorbed by the oil. Then roast the pumpkin slices in the oven, on a tray, for 1 hour.

4. Meanwhile make the crumble topping by melting the 100g of butter gently on the hob in a medium/large pan. Once the butter has melted, turn off the hob then add to the pan the 100g (3/4 cup) of plain flour, the 100g (1 and 1/2 cups) of porridge oats, the 25g (1/4 cup) of Sesame seeds, the pinch of pepper, the 100g (2 handfuls) of grated mature cheddar cheese and the 1tbsp of wholegrain mustard. Stir VERY well. It will be quite a crumbly consistency, this is fine. Set aside.

5. Remove the pumpkin from the oven once it has been in there an hour and allow it to cool for a few minutes. Leave the oven ON, as you’ll need it again soon.

6. Whilst the pumpkin cools, heat the 2 tbsp oil in a large, oven-proof casserole dish/pan, on the hob, and fry the chopped onion pieces (or spring onions if a LOW FODMAP diet is required) for a few minutes to soften them, then add the two chopped garlic cloves (or omit and just fry using garlic-infused oil if a LOW FODMAP diet is required) and fry for another minute.

7. Boil a half-full kettle of water to make stock with.

8. Meanwhile chop the pumpkin flesh (with a knife or scissors) into bitesize (approximately 1cm x 1cm x 1cm) pieces. Add the pumpkin pieces to the casserole dish containing the onion and garlic and stir. Turn OFF the hob. Add the generous tbsp of maple syrup (or golden syrup) to the pumpkin mixture and stir well.

9. In a jug make up the 'stock' aka weak gravy (sieve in 2 tsp of the gravy granules and mix in the 250ml (1 cup) of just-boiled water from the kettle). Add this to the pumpkin in the casserole dish and stir well. Flatten down the pumpkin slightly, so it provides a level base for the topping.

10. Sprinkle the crumble topping (it has the consistency of crumbly, uncooked cookie dough) evenly over the pumpkin mixture in the casserole dish. At this point the crumble will happily sit at (a cool-ish) room temperature for up to 2 hours. (If you need to leave it longer than 2 hours then put it in the fridge and add twenty minutes to the cooking time to ensure it is heated through from fridge temperature).

11. Roast the crumble in the oven at 180 C (160 C fan) or Gas 4, for 30 minutes UNCOVERED, then set the grill to high for 5 further minutes (if needed) until the top is golden.

12. Enjoy with green salad leaves.


Adapted from this recipe in Delicious magazine.


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