Roasted acorn squash is one of my favorite vegetarian or vegan meals because the squash is such a great palette for stuffing with all sorts of grains and vegetables, and this recipe is one of my favorites. The squash roasts while you make the quinoa stuffing on the stove, then finishes all together with a quick final roast in the oven. The stuffing is full of flavor with orange juice, apple cider, spices, apples, cranberries, raisins, onions, celery, carrots, parsley, a touch of maple syrup, and a bit of crunch from the walnuts.
I love to eat stuffed squash for lunch or dinner, but it also makes a beautiful dish for Thanksgiving. If you have vegetarian or vegan family or friends coming for Thanksgiving dinner, this is a delicious alternative to turkey and gravy for them. The stuffing recipe makes much more than needed for four acorn squash halves, but the leftover stuffing is fabulous as a side dish by itself or even for a breakfast bowl.
Recipe Notes
I made a couple small changes to the original recipe: fresh apples instead of dried, added golden raisins, reduced the butter, and used walnuts instead of almonds. I also dry roast the squash instead of using a water bath, which I thought made it a little mushy. The cider flavor is prominent, but you can use half cider and half water if you prefer. Because of the cider and the spices, the color effect from using both red and white quinoa is lost somewhat, so you could use just one color of quinoa and it would be fine. The recipe calls for butter, but you can easily veganize it with sunflower oil or another oil of your choice.
- 1/2 cup (92 g) white quinoa, rinsed
- 1/2 cup (92 g) red quinoa, rinsed
- 1 cup (240 ml) orange juice
- 2 cups (480 ml) apple cider
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 acorn squash, cut in half vertically and seeded
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, or sunflower oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 celery rib, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup (80 g) dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup (80 g) golden raisins
- 2 medium tart apples, diced
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 cup (38 g) chopped walnuts, toasted
- 1/4 cup (10 g) chopped fresh parsley
- Preheat the oven to 350° F/175° C.
- Place each acorn squash half cut side down on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the squash are just tender, about 40 minutes.
- While the squash bakes, toast the quinoa in the 3-quart pot, dry, for about 3 minutes. Add the orange juice, apple cider, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Melt the butter or oil in the skillet and sauté the onion, carrot, and celery over medium heat until soft, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the sautéed vegetables to the simmering quinoa along with the dried cranberries, raisins, chopped apples, and maple syrup. Simmer the mixture for 10 more minutes, at which point the quinoa should be fully cooked and hold together like sticky rice. Remove from heat and stir in the toasted walnuts and parsley.
- Turn the squash cut-side up and fill each half with some of the quinoa mixture, pressing to fill each and mound over the stuffing. Return the squash to the oven for 10 more minutes, then remove and serve while hot.
3-quart heavy bottom pot with lid
baking sheet, lined with foil and lightly greased with olive oil
small skillet
More Squash Recipes for Thanksgiving
I just love stuffed acorn squash! This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Melissa!
This would have been great for our Thanksgiving table. I would eat this anytime, though.
I’m with you Debra. I can eat stuffed squash all autumn and winter long.
Your stuffed acorn squash looks very tempting. I tried to get away with cutting this vegetable out of our Thanksgiving 2013 feast and my daughter was indignant and went to the store and purchased some for me to cook up!
And thanks again for being such a wonderful Guest Judge for Cook the Books!
That’s funny, Rachel. I managed to get away with not making rolls for Thanksgiving this year, but was informed that I have to make them for Christmas. 🙂
I made this recipe and questioned the LARGE amount of vinegar in it, but went ahead and made it exactly as written. The 2c. vinegar must be a typo. Maybe 1/2 cup. The while thing tastes like a pickled mess. I couldn’t even fix it by adding brown sugar. And it never resembled the consistency of sticky rice. More like porridge. Total loss of a meal for my family. Very disappointed.
Hi Patti. I’m sorry to hear you had a hard time with the recipe. There is no vinegar in it. The recipe calls for 2 cups of apple cider, but no vinegar. Try it with the apple cider, and I think you will see the difference! 🙂