Savory, tart, and tangy, this acorn squash recipe has all the Fall flavors. As well as all the textures you want in every recipe!
If you like this warm-you-up easy meal, you’ll love Mediterranean Artichoke Chicken.
Acorns for Dinner
I’m telling my kids we’re having acorns for dinner. If I say the word squash, they’re out. I was the same with meatloaf as a kid. Something about the word “loaf” grossed me out. Now I love meatloaf! Hopefully my kids will love eating “acorns” as much as they like making them crunch under their shoes.
These acorns are stuffed with savory maple sausage, tart dried cranberries, toasted crunchy pumpkin seeds, and tangy moody blue crumbles on top. If you have never tried Roth Kase Moody Blue cheese, you are in for a treat! It’s a smokey blue, so good! Of course, if blue cheese isn’t your jam, sprinkle with goat cheese or Parmesan. If you’re vegan, sub out the sausage & cheese for a vegan option.
If you like this Fall Flavor recipe, you will love my Pumpkin Energy Balls too!
Pick Your Protein for Acorn Squash
There are several options for protein in this dish. You could do: chicken sausage, pork sausage, garbanzo beans, tofu, or whatever floats your boat. You can always add a tablespoon of pure maple syrup, if your protein choice doesn’t have any maple.
Cut the Fat in this Recipe
There are a few ways to cut the fat when cooking with pork sausage. Once you have your sausage browned up, drain the grease. To do this, tilt your pan up. Move all the cooked sausage to the part of the pan that it tilted up. The grease will drain down. Using your spatula, press the sausage together to “squeeze” the excess grease from the meat.
If you like this flavorful dish, you’ll love my Pork Piccata too.
Once the grease is at the bottom of the pan, spoon it out into a bowl. You can also use a baster to suck up the grease and squirt into a bowl. However, I typically make a bigger mess when I use one of these. I stick with the ol’ spoon. It is extremely important not to discard the grease down the drain. DO NOT DO THIS! That grease will eventually solidify. It will cause major problems in your drain if you let it solidify in there. Once the grease solidifies in the bowl, just scoop it out in the trash.
Place your drained sausage in a bowl lined with paper towels. This will help get a little more grease off that sausage. Pork sausage is so good, but it has an excessive amount of fat. Get out as much as you can, or opt for the chicken sausage, for a healthier option.
Like the Fall flavors, then you’ll love Sweet Potato Crisp.
Lets make ’em
To start, make sure your knife is SHARP. This is so important with any recipe, because a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one. Acorn squash are pretty dense.
- Trim the ends of your squash. You want to trim both sides so each half will have a flat spot to sit on, and won’t wobble.
- Cut squash in half crosswise, and scoop out the seeds. You can save, rinse, and roast the seeds, if you want, or discard.
- Place in baking dish, and drizzle with olive oil. Use a brush or your hands to move the olive oil all around your squash so it’s covered. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, as well as little touch of cinnamon.
- Roast your squash at 400 degrees for 60 minutes or so, until fork tender.
- While squash are roasting, cook up the sausage and onion. Once the sausage is browned, and drained, mix in dried cranberries.
- When the squash is tender and done roasting, fill the cavity with the sausage mixture. Top with pumpkin seeds and blue cheese.
- Bake for an additional 5 minutes, let rest for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy!
If you like this recipe, you’ll love my easy Warm & Cozy Roasted Butternut Squash.
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All the Fall Flavors Stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients
Squash Ingredients
- 2 Acorn Squash trimmed, cut in half, seeds scooped out (see note)
- 2 tbs Butter optional
- 2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- sprinkle Cinnamon
Stuffing
- 1/2 lb Maple Chicken or Pork Sausage (see note)
- 1 tbs Fresh Thyme or Sage chopped
- 1/4 cup Onion chopped
- 1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
- 2 tbs Pumpkin Seeds shelled
- 1/4 cup Blue Cheese, Moody Blue or Goat Cheese (see note)
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place squash halves cavity side up, in a baking dish.
- Brush olive oil all over flesh of squash. Place pat of butter in each cavity (optional). Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon, salt and pepper. Roast for 55-60 minutes. Baste with the melted butter or olive oil in the cavity twice during the roasting process, until fork tender.
- While squash is roasting, cook the sausage, onion and thyme together. Once sausage is cooked, check the taste to see if salt is needed. Add the cranberries.
- Fill the cooked squash with the sausage mixture. Sprinkle each squash with pumpkin seeds and moody blue cheese crumbles. Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments
We tried this tonight and it was not only delicious but so simple to make. My 10 month old also loved it. We will definitely have this as a keeper.
Rebekah, thanks so much for trying my recipe! I’m so glad you liked it. Love hearing that your little one liked it too.
I made this tonight. It was easy and so very delicious!
Thanks Denise!!!
This was really good!! The Maple sausage and blue cheese was a great combination!
Thanks Gerry! Glad you liked it.
Thank u so much 4 sharing this great recipe. Perfect for cozy fall evenings 👍❤️🍁
A perfect one to share on those cozy autumn evenings coming up 🍁🍂❤️