You’re going to love this Acorn Squash with Wild Rice Stuffing. It’s the BEST Vegan stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe and it’s so easy to make. Roasted acorn squash halves are filled with a delicious veggie and wild rice blend that’s infused with all your favorite savory fall flavors, plus fresh cranberries and apples. Fabulous enough for Thanksgiving, easy enough for a weeknight meal.
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I love acorn squash. It’s easy to work with, the skin is edible, it’s naturally sweet and loaded with fiber, potassium vitamin C and magnesium. This Vegan Stuffed Acorn Squash is incredibly delicious and I make it often for a hearty gluten-free main dish, but when I’m in a hurry and want something quick and easy, I make mashed acorn squash.
Why you’ll love it
- This is the Perfect Vegan Thanksgiving Meal or an Easy Fall Dinner.
- Delicious, satisfying and nourishing.
- Sweet apples balance the tart cranberries and the fennel/onion paired with sage adds a savory twist.
- Gluten-free stuffing can be served as a delicious side dish.
- Hearty plant based autumn or winter healthy main dish.
- If you’re looking for a quinoa stuffing, try my Stuffed Butternut Squash Recipe.
How to choose an Acorn Squash
- Color: Look for deep green with some orange or yellow. Mostly orange acorn squash are over ripe and may be more stringy.
- Skin: Avoid any soft spots or blemishes. Firm, smooth and dull. Shiny skin indicates squash that was picked too early.
- Weight: Heavy for its size will yield a moist squash. Lightweight usually means they’ve lost moisture through the skin and will be dry.
- Storage: Store in a cool dry place until ready to use.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Acorn Squash: Substitute with other winter squash varieties. Kabocha squash, butternut, and buttercup squash are great options.
- Wild rice: Use a combination of black rice and white rice if wild rice isn’t available. Other whole grains that would work well include quinoa, faro, brown rice, and barley.
- Yellow onion: Substitute with leeks, red onion, white onion, green onion, or sweet vidalia onion.
- Celery
- Fennel: For those who don’t like the licorice flavor of raw fennel, have no fear, the fennel gets sweet and caramelized when sauteed and the licorice flavor disappears.
- Fresh apples: any type of apple will work in this stuffing, as well as pears.
- Cranberries: Fresh cranberries are deliciously tart and tangy in this recipe. You can substitute dried cranberries—look for unsweetened and stir them in at the end, they don’t need to be cooked.
- Garlic: 4 cloves…or MORE if you like the flavor, like I do.
- Fresh sage: Substitute with fresh rosemary, thyme, oregano or parsley. If no fresh herbs are available, use ⅓ of the quantity of dried herbs.
- Optional: Saute veggies in extra virgin olive oil, vegetable broth, white wine, water or a combination.
How to make it
Step 1: Roast the Squash
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper or use a 9 x 13 baking pan.
Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut a small sliver off the bottom of the squash so it will stand upright on the cutting board.
Cut through the top of the squash. Scoop out the seeds and strings from each squash half. The easiest way to do this is with a grapefruit spoon.
Lay flat, cut side up in a baking dish. Rub a little olive oil over exposed flesh, sprinkle with salt and black pepper.
Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 40 minutes, until fork tender. Cooking time will vary depending on size of the squash.
Step 2: Make the rice
While the squash cooks, use cool water to rinse rice until the water runs clear.
Bring vegetable stock or water to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in rinsed rice, reduce heat and simmer covered for 25 minutes, or follow package instructions.
Step 3: Prep Veggies
Dice fennel: slice off woody bottom and fronds on the top. Cut through center, place cut side down and make slices, then cut across the other way.
Stack sage leaves and roughly chop. Dice the onion, celery and apples, mince the garlic. Rinse the cranberries and pick out any that are damaged.
Step 4: Make the Stuffing
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Use a tablespoon of olive oil or use broth to saute chopped onion, celery and fennel.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and continue to cook until veggies are beginning to turn golden brown.
Add the cranberries, diced apples and minced garlic. Add ¼ cup liquid, either broth, water, wine or a combo so the pan isn’t dry and the fruit can cook.
Continue to cook for about 5 minutes as the cranberries soften and pop. Use the back of your spoon to mash cranberries that haven’t burst.
Turn off heat and stir in the chopped sage.
Add the cooked rice and mix until well incorporated. You can store the stuffing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days and then proceed.
Step 5: Stuff acorn Squash
Scoop the rice mixture into the cooked squash halves. Place back into the oven at 425 for 15 minutes to serve now. Or, tightly cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate to heat and serve later.
Serving, Storage and Reheating
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Vegan Stuffed Acorn Squash can be served as a main course for a complete meal or it makes the perfet side dish and would be beautiful on a holiday table.
- Store: Wild rice stuffing will stay good in the fridge in an airtight container for 5 days. Cover stuffed squash and store in the refrigerator for 5 days. The texture of the cooked squash will change in the freezer, I don’t recommend.
- Reheat: Reheat in 425 oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through.
Debra’s Pro Tips
- Set aside squash seeds and roast them as you would pumpkin seeds. Stir them into the stuffing for a bit of crunch and nutty flavor.
- The cranberries will be tart..if you like a bit less tang, mix a tablespoon or two of maple syrup to the finished stuffing.
- Make the wild rice stuffing and serve in a large bowl as a healthy Thanksgiving side dish.
More Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes to try
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Did you know commenting and rating recipes is one of the best ways to support your favorite food bloggers? If you made this recipe, please consider a five star rating below and leave a comment. Also, please share your photos on instagram by tagging me @dkhealthcoach and using the hashtag #debraklein
📖 Recipe
Vegan Stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients
Squash
- 3 small acorn squash halved
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Wild Rice Stuffing
- 1 cup dry wild rice
- 2 ½ cups vegetable broth divided
- l large yellow onion diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1 bulb fennel diced
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 large apples diced
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tblsp chopped fresh sage sub with 2 teaspoon dried sage
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400. Use a 9 x 13 Casserole dish, or line a baking tray with unbleached parchment paper.
- Roast the Squash: Wash the outside of the squash before beginning. Cut a small sliver off the bottom of the squash….just enough so it sits flat on a cutting board. Halve the squash through the stem and scoop out and discard the seeds and strings. Place in prepared pan and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. bake for 40-45 minutes, until fork tender.
- Rice: Rinse well in a fine mesh sieve until the water runs clear. In a small sauce pan, bring 2 cups vegetable broth to a boil. Stir in the rice and reduce to medium-low heat. Simmer covered for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and leave covered for for 10 more minutes to finish steaming.
- Prep the Veggies: dice the onion, celery, fennel and apple. Mince the garlic gloves. Rinse the cranberries and pick through discarding any stems or damaged berries. Stack the sage leaves and roughly chop.
- Make the Stuffing: While the rice and squash are cooking, make the rest of the filling. Use veggie broth or olive oil to saute onion, celery and fennel in a heavy skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in the cranberries, apples and garlic along with ¼ cup of the broth. cook for another 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, as the cranberries pop. Use the back of your spoon or spatula to mash a few of the cranberries. Turn off the heat. Mix in the chopped sage. Fluff the rice with a fork and then stir into the veggie mixture.
- Squash is finished when fork tender. Fill cooked squash with large scoops of the stuffing. Sprinkle with additional sage or use the fronds from the fennel to garnish. If you'd like to crisp up the rice stuffing, put the stuffed squash back into the oven at 425 for 15 minutes.
- Meal prep: Make the rice up to 3 days in advance. Make the filling up to 3 days in advance. Stuff the squash and refrigerate in a baking dish covered with foil until ready to use. Reheat in a 375 oven for 20 minutes, until heated through.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
Cathy
Thank you for the recipe! I’m thinking of using golden raisins in place of cranberries or even a little of both for color and added taste. Can’t wait to make this!
Debra Klein
The raisins are a great idea…they will help balance the tart cranberries! I may try that myself.
Lee Sheldon
Delicious as usual, Debra. I balanced cranberry tartness with a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup. I decided to make hulled barley in the instant pot instead of the rice. It worked. Thank you. Your ideas are terrific!
Debra Klein
Thanks Lee. Barley would be really good in these…will try that next time.