Stuffed Acorn Squash with Cranberries, Mushrooms & Quinoa Recipe

I felt like something different last night. Laura found a nice stuffed squash recipe a while ago on a vegan food blog and I’ve been holding onto it ever since. It looked really good. While we were at the grocery store this week, I decided to pick up the necessary ingredients to see if I could pull it off and wouldn’t you know it, I did. It was a great dish and I have to hand it to the blogger who put it out there. It was very creative.

The Recipe

These are very filling stuffed acorn squash servings. Each one only consists of half a squash, which is enough for me. The filling itself combines quinoa, cranberries, onion, mushrooms and some herbs and spices. Overall, the dish has a really great texture with some interesting and flavorful ingredients. Did I mention that it was filling?

Ingredients

Serves: 6

1 Cup Dry Quinoa, Cooked
3 Acorn Squash
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 Large Sweet Onion, Chopped
2 Teaspoons Garlic, Minced
1/2 Cup Celery, Chopped
1 Large Apple, Cored and Chopped
8 Ounces White Button Mushrooms, Chopped
1/2 Cup Fresh Cranberries
1 Teaspoon Dried Sage
1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
1/4 Teaspoon Dried Cinnamon
Salt
Ground Black Pepper

Step-by-Step Instructions

I’d like to thank Vegan Huggs for this recipe. It’s vegetarian, vegan and gluten free, which covers almost everything. This dish is an excellent idea and I really appreciate it, so thanks for sharing.

Pre-Heat Oven

Arrange one of your oven racks so it’s in the center position. Then, pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.

Prep & Roast the Squash

To begin, trim off each end of each squash, so they are able to sit flat on either side. Then, cut the squash in half horizontally and clean out the insides. They should look like those in the photo below.

Place the halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet and brush some olive oil over any exposed fleshy surface. This includes the interior of the squash as well as the orange cut areas. Then, season the squash by sprinkling a few pinches of salt over them.

When finished, place the baking sheet into the oven for 40 minutes. This should cook and soften the squash sufficiently.

Cook the Quinoa

Bring two cups of water to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. Then, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil to the water. When the water is boiling, add the one cup of quinoa to it and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and let the quinoa cook for 15 minutes. After that time, turn off the heat and fluff the result with a fork.

Prepare the Stuffing

Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat. Then, add three tablespoons of oil to it. When the pan is to temperature, add the onions, celery and apple to it. Stir and cook these ingredients for eight minutes.

Next, add the mushrooms, garlic, cranberries, sage, thyme, cinnamon, one teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper to the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for another eight minutes until all the ingredients have softened. Stir during this process.

Add in the Quinoa

Add the cooked quinoa to the skillet and stir it into all the other ingredients. Cook at the same heat (medium) for another three minutes. Then, turn off the stove top heat.

Assemble Stuffed Squash

Now that the filling is finished, wait for the squash to finish as well. When it is, remove the baking tray from the oven, but leave the heat on.

Scoop the stuffing out of the skillet with a spoon and fill each squash half with it. Then, when done with that, place the baking sheet back in the oven and let things roast for 15 minutes. This final step is to add some brown to the squash as well as the filling. When done, remove the squash from the oven.

Plate & Serve

Divide the quash halves between plates and serve. You can eat everything with a spoon. Enjoy!

The Final Stuffed Squash

This dish has such an interesting flavor profile. From the onion to the apples to the cranberries and squash itself. Lots of things are complimentary, which makes the overall taste very pleasing. If you decide to give this recipe a try, please let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!