Stuffed Acorn Squash
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A Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe you have to try! This stuffed squash is so easy to make – try it with sausage or keep it vegetarian!
This post was originally shared in 2017 but has since been updated.
If you’re looking for a dish that’s both hearty and healthy, this Stuffed Acorn Squash is perfect!
Acorn squash gets roasted to perfection and tossed with protein packed turkey, mushrooms, apples, and melty cheddar cheese for the perfect salty and sweet combo made in under an hour.
This dish is easy to make with simple, affordable ingredients and can be customized in a ton of different ways depending on what you have on hand!
(This recipe would be amazing on Thanksgiving as an alternative to turkey. If you’re still planning your Thanksgiving menu – check out these Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes!)
liz’s tips for stufedd acorn squash
- If you’re wondering how to pick an acorn squash – it’s very simple! Acorn squash should be firm to the touch, like a potato. You’ll want to look for one that is medium in size because the larger the squash, the more seeds. Make sure the squash isn’t mushy and look for ones that don’t have many holes or dents.
Ingredients
substitutions
Acorn Squash: You should be able to find acorn squash in stores from October-March! I haven’t tried making this recipe with spaghetti squash but I’m sure it would be delicious! Check out this recipe for Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Boats to see how to cook the squash. I would follow the directions in that post and just sub in this filling instead of the chicken/broccoli filling. If you have butternut squash, try Ground Beef Butternut Skillet.
Olive Oil: If you don’t have olive oil you can use avocado oil or melted butter.
Meat: You can make acorn stuffed squash with Italian sausage, ground beef, ground pork, or ground chicken instead of turkey in this recipe if you’d like. We also have a Beef Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe.
Mushrooms: If you don’t like baby bella mushrooms, omit them. Any mushrooms will work in this recipe, or you could also add in some chopped onions in their place, but I would halve the amount.
Apples: You can omit apples if you don’t like them. Any apple variety will work, but Honeycrisp apples are my favorite because they’re tart and sweet!
Chicken Stock: Chicken broth, chicken stock, and bone broth can all be used interchangeably. You can also use vegetable or beef broth.
Herbs: Fresh herbs will definitely give the most flavor. If you don’t have fresh rosemary, sub with 1 tablespoon dried rosemary. You can also sub with thyme or sage.
Cheese: Cheddar, mozzarella, or gruyere are all delicious! Freshly grated cheese will melt better.
Whole30/Paleo: To make this Turkey Mushroom Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash paleo or whole30, just leave off the cheese!
Vegetarian – I haven’t tried making this vegetarian, but I think it would be delicious if you subbed in chickpeas and a mix of quinoa or rice as the filling.
How to cut squash for this Baked Stuffed Acorn Squash
- On a cutting board, slice from the stem towards the pointed edge of the squash directly down the middle. Acorn squashes have ridges in them, so if you can find a ridge to guide the knife through it will be easier to cut. Having a sharp knife is helpful for any hard squash varieties.
- Once the acorn squash is cut in half, scoop out the seeds. You can just use a regular spoon.
- Make sure you scrape the inside of the squash halves until they are smooth and not stringy. You want to keep as much of the flesh as possible for roasting. Discard the seeds or rinse them off and roast in the oven with some salt and pepper for a great snack!
How to make Stuffed Acorn Squash:
- Cut, prep + roast the squash halves on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast the cut side facing down on your lined cookie sheet.
- While the acorn squash halves cook, cook your turkey, apple, mushroom filling.
- When the acorn squash is finished roasting, scoop out the filling to create ‘boats’ and add to the turkey mixture.
- Stir the filling together so it’s evenly mixed.
- Stuff the acorn squash
- Top the stuffed squash with cheese and bake on the parchment lined baking sheet!
What to serve with this recipe
This stuffed acorn squash is a complete meal! Feel free to serve it with extra veggies on the side like:
What does acorn squash pair well with? Acorn squash is slightly sweet so it pairs well with savory things like fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme), onions, garlic, Italian sausage, bacon, and other meats. Turkey stuffed acorn squash is a great balance of protein and vegetables. We love this pairing the best.
Storage options
Refrigerator: Stuffed acorn squash leftovers will last for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Freezing: I would not recommend freezing the stuffed acorn squash, as it will get soggy
Make Ahead: If you want to make the filling/stuff the acorn squash ahead of time, you can also do that and bake when you’re ready to eat!
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave, oven, or toaster oven. If you want the cheese to be crispy, I would recommend putting it back in the toaster oven or oven. Otherwise, the microwave is fine!
FAQs
Yes, you can eat the skin of acorn squash. It’s a little bit tough and can be hard to digest, but you can absolutely eat it! I prefer not to eat acorn squash skin, but it is edible. It’s tougher than a potato’s skin and almost has a waxy feel to it.
Other healthy dinner recipes to try:
If you love ground turkey, check out these Healthy Ground Turkey Recipes! Otherwise, check out these other Healthy Recipes for Dinner:
Stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients
- 2 whole acorn squash cut in half
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb ground turkey or ground beef
- 1 ½ cups diced baby bella mushrooms
- 1 cup peeled and diced honeycrisp apples
- ½ cup low sodium chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, gruyere or mozzarella all work great!)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and prepare a parchment lined baking sheet. Spray the parchment paper with olive oil to prevent squash from sticking.
- Slice the acorn squash in half vertically. Scoop out the seeds and place the squash flat on sheet, cut-side face down.
- Bake the squash for 20 minutes, until it is tender when pierced with a fork.
- While the squash cooks, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Brown the turkey in the olive oil for 10 minutes until almost cooked through.
- While the turkey is cooking, chop the mushrooms, apples and herbs.
- Add the chopped mushrooms, apples, chicken stock, and spices to the pan with the cooked turkey. Sauté for an additional 5 minutes.
- When the squash is cooked, remove from the oven and scoop out most of the flesh, leaving a little bit of filling in the acorn squash.
- Add the squash filling to the turkey/mushroom/apple mixture in the pan and stir until completely mixed in.
- Scoop the turkey/squash mixture back into the hollowed out squash and top with cheese.
- Bake them at 450 degrees F for 5-10 minutes until cheese melts. Optional: broil for 2-3 minutes so the cheese gets crispy.
Video
Notes
- Meat– You can use ground beef, ground pork, sausage or ground chicken instead of turkey in this recipe if you’d like. We also have a Beef Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe.
- Whole30/Paleo – simply omit the cheese
- Mushrooms – If you don’t like mushrooms, omit them. You could also add in some chopped onions in their place, but I would halve the amount.
- Herbs – If you don’t have fresh rosemary, sub with 1 tablespoon dried rosemary. You can also sub with thyme.
- Cheese – Cheddar, mozzarella or gruyere are all delicious!
- Vegetarian – I haven’t tried making this vegetarian, but I think it would be delicious if you subbed in chickpeas and a mix of quinoa or rice as the filling.
- WW Freestyle – The only points in this recipe come from the olive oil and cheese. Feel free to sub/adjust to have a lower point meal. Points calculated using 99% fat free turkey
Made this for dinner and it was delicious! Loved how efficient it was to make it.. while squash bakes, you get the turkey ready etc. I love easy meals to put together! Thanks for a great recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it, Janie, Thank you!
Very good!
Loved this recipe. Would I reheat leftovers in the oven or microwave?
You can reheat this recipe in the microwave, oven, or toaster oven. If you want the cheese to be crispy I would recommend putting it back in the toaster oven or oven. Otherwise the microwave is fine!
If you use dairy free cheese and sun the meat for plant based Italian sausage it becomes vegan. It’s also great if you throw in some chickpeas
If I use ground Italian chicken sausage in the chub, should I omit the seasonings since that it well flavored?
I’m not sure because I haven’t tried that! I’d probably just add the spices, I think it will be fine
Very yummy! I made it without mushrooms, opting for diced yellow onion instead. I will be making this again for sure!
This recipe is absolutely delicious and easy to make. I have been making it for years. Highly recommend
I will make again. I upped the seasonings but it is truly a delicious combo. Comforting and yummo.
I love this. I use breakfast turkey sausage and I don’t add the apples. But we love this recipe.
Loved this recipe! So easy and yummy! The apple was a great add!
This looks great. I’m making it this Thanksgiving!
Let me preface this by saying I don’t cook often, and when I do, I normally just throw things together and hope they work. I bought an acorn squash and research what the heck to do with it. I found this recipe, and it was SO easy and straightforward. I improvised a bit with the meat (used seitan chorizo), but it turned out GREAT! I also loved that there were details about substituting other ingredients. I’d recommend this to a more seasoned (pun intended) cook or a novice like me.
This was delicious! The flavors work so well together. My kids absolutely loved it.
Would it be possible to make this as a casserole/bake to feed a larger crowd. Thinking it would be a great side to bring to thanksgiving dinner!
I haven’t tried that but I’m sure it would be delicious!
Absolutely and utterly delicious!
Thank you for giving us a new fall favorite!!
Super easy to make and love the flavor combination!! I followed the recipe pretty closely and it’s a winner in our house. Will make again:)
Absolutely delicious. I didn’t have mushrooms so I omitted them. Getting some today to try the recipe out again (I rarely make online recipes more than once). I used fresh onions and garlic instead of powder and exchanged the chicken broth for some leftover butternut squash soup I had on hand. The soup had a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon in it and it just set the whole thing off. Thanks for the recipe!
This is a phenomenal recipe! It did not disappoint. Such a nice, flavorful blend and so healthy! Will be making this again!
5 stars for sure!
This was delicious!! Even though I love mushrooms, I didn’t have any so I used zucchini and it turned out awesome!! Thanks for the great recipe!
This version of stuffed acorn squash is SOOOOO good!!! My husband and I kept commenting about how delicious it was as we ate it. It is also really good reheated! Will definitely be making this one again soon!
This was so delicious! Sautéed some baby kale in with the mix just to up the veggies (weight watchers) and it was just fantastic. So excited to eat leftovers tomorrow! Used ground chicken, baby Bellas, Macintosh apple, kale, caramelized onion, and spices.
So good! I added yellow bell pepper and shallots. I also mixed mozzarella cheese into the mixture and sprinkled Gruyere on top. This is definitely a keeper!
This is SO good! I am so happy I found you guys. I probably use your recipes a few times per week. I added a dash of allspice to this to add some Mediterranean flavor.
Overall, we liked the recipe although we didn’t put in as much rosemary as it called for because we could tell it was enough for our taste. The half cup of chicken broth didn’t cook out enough before it was ready to mix with the squash so we had to drain it. And maybe it’s our oven but we will try lowering the temperature for the squash, it kind of overcooked it at 450 F. Since we used cheddar, we will try gruyere next time.
Loved it!