Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe
Nom nom! This is a useful recipe now that some of the fall and winter squashes are coming into season. I bet it would be delicious with butternut or delicata squash too!
Nom nom! This is a useful recipe now that some of the fall and winter squashes are coming into season. I bet it would be delicious with butternut or delicata squash too!
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms
- 1 lime
- 1 tsp arrowroot powder
- 1 acorn squash
- 1 tbsp olive oil plus more for brushing
- 10- ish asparagus stalks chopped into bite-size pieces
- 1 tbsp jamaican curry powder
- 1 package (5 links) gluten-free chicken sausage
- (we used trader joes mango chicken sausage for thi
- salt & pepper
- Carbohydrate 29.6335094400461 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 2.13532678123833 g
- Fiber 5.38743450465014 g
- Protein 3.10993450816649 g
- Saturated Fat 0.328583451145544 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (330g)
- Sodium 10.4355951827462 mg
- Sugar 24.246074935396 g
- Trans Fat 0.199346665873602 g
- Calories 128 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Cut the acorn squash in half (be careful, and use a sharp knife) and scrape out the seeds.
- Brush a baking dish and both halves of the squash with olive oil. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper. Place them rind side down in the dish and bake at 425 for 30-40 minutes, til flesh is tender.
- Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet or other high-walled pan (I use a Le Creuset dutch oven). Halve and slice the sausages and toss them into the hot oil.
- Saute the sausage for a few minutes, stirring often, until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add a little more oil to the pan if needed, and add the asparagus and peppers. Stir fry for a moment and then add a splash of water to deglaze the pan and get all the yummy brown bits from the sausage incorporated.
- Add a generous pinch of salt, the curry powder, and arrowroot powder and stir til combined. You should get a gravy-like coating on the veggies. If it’s too watery, let it thicken for a bit but keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.
- Lower heat to medium-low and add the chopped mushrooms and the cooked sausage. Stir well to combine. Once the mushrooms soften a bit, put the lid on the pot and turn the heat off. Give it a taste – since the Jamaican curry is mild, you can add a few dashes of red pepper flakes for some heat if you want (I did).
- Once the squash is finished cooking, fill each half with the sausage mixture and squeeze fresh lime juice over the top.
Substituting butternut squash for acorn squash alters the structural integrity of the dish completely, yielding a softer, sweeter vessel that collapses more readily under a heavy filling. Dense winter squashes require high heat to caramelize their exterior sugars before the interior turns to mush, making a 425-degree oven non-negotiable for achieving proper texture. Roasting takes 30 to 40 minutes, during which the flesh must yield easily to the piercing tip of a paring knife. Managing moisture is critical when building the skillet mixture because vegetables like mushrooms and bell peppers release significant water as they cook. Arrowroot powder acts as the thickening agent here, binding with residual pan juices to create a clingy sauce rather than a watery pool. Dietary adjustments require careful label reading, particularly with spice blends and sausages where gluten often hides as a filler. Leftover portions store securely in airtight glass containers for up to three days, though reheating them gently in a skillet rather than a microwave preserves the structural bite of the asparagus.
