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!
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This post was originally shared in 2017 but has since been updated.Â
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.
This dish is easy to make with simple ingredients and can be customized 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 and this Crockpot Turkey Breast recipe!)
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Done in under an hour-This roasted acorn squash recipe is done in under an hour.
- Filling & healthy– this is a super healthy dinner that is really hearty!
- Made with affordable ingredients: Stuffed squash recipes are great because they’re affordable.
This Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe is the ultimate cheesy, filling, protein packed delicious dinner!
Ingredients
To make acorn squash with this fall and winter filling you’ll need:
- acorn squash – you can find this in stores from October-March!
- chicken stock – you can also use veggie or beef broth
- baby bella mushrooms- any mushrooms will work in this recipe, or you can skip the mushrooms if you’re not a fan
- ground turkey or ground Italian sausage
- apples – Honeycrisp are my favorite because they’re tart and sweet!
- extra virgin olive oil
- spices
- cheese
Substitutions
There are a lot of ways to customize this stuffed acorn squash!
Acorn Squash: I haven’t tried making this with other squash, but I think a spaghetti squash would work. Check out our Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Boats for ideas.
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. 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.
Chicken Stock:Â 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: Omit 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 pick an 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.
How to cut squash for this Baked Stuffed Acorn Squash
To cut 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!
Your acorn squash is now ready to roast!
How to make Stuffed Acorn Squash:
Don’t be fooled by the many steps, stuffed acorn squash is very easy to make!
- 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.Â
- 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!
Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe variations
Can I make this stuffed acorn squash paleo or whole30?
Yes. To make this Turkey Mushroom Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash paleo or whole30 just leave off the cheese!
Will this recipe also work with spaghetti squash?
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.
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 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
Most meats go well with squash. Cooked squash goes well with ground beef, ground Italian sausage, ground turkey, and cooked chicken!
Raw acorn squash will last up to 2 months if stored in a cool dry place. Cooked acorn squash will last 2-4 days in your refrigerator.
Acorn squash tastes similar to butternut squash. It’s sweeter, but definitely not as sweet as fruit. It takes on the taste of whatever you season it with.
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 1/2 cups baby bella mushrooms chopped
- 1 cup honeycrisp apples peeled + chopped in small pieces
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 2 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped finely
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, gruyere or mozzarella all work great!)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment + spray with olive oil to prevent squash from sticking.
- Slice acorn squash in half, scoop out seeds and place flat on sheet sprayed with olive oil, laying the 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. Sauté turkey in olive oil for 10-15 minutes until brown.
- While the turkey is cooking, chop mushrooms, apples + herbs.
- Add in chopped mushrooms, apples, chicken stock, and spices to the pan with the cooked turkey. Sauté for an additional 5 minutes.
- When the squash is done, remove from the oven + 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+ stir until completely mixed in.
- Scoop the turkey/squash mixture back into the squash + top with cheese.
- Bake them at 450 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.Â
- 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
Lesa says
Made this for dinner tonight, we really enjoyed it! This recipe is one to keep for future use. I appreciate the substitution options too!
Liz Marino says
So glad you liked it, Lesa!
Skrinkles says
I am planning on making this for dinner tonight, but was wondering if you have suggestions on reheating. I want to take some to a friend tomorrow. Thank you!
Liz Marino says
All of our blog posts have a storage section – it’s beige with a little snowflake icon. We always cover reheating instructions there 🙂 Here’s what it says: 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!
Pattie says
Not a fan….it was probably something I did as usual. I thought the acorn squash would taste like butternut, which I love, but it didn’t at all. And I didn’t have rosemary so I used thyme. At least it looked good when it came out of the oven! 😂
Liz Marino says
Thanks for trying our stuffed acorn squash. Next time you’re going to leave a one star review on a recipe, I’d really encourage you to think about it before you do it.Â
Not liking the main ingredient of the recipe is more of a you problem than a reflection on the recipe. It’s ok that you don’t like it, but it’s not my fault that you don’t like the taste of the squash. Acorn squash and butternut squash are very different. My recipe has nothing to do with how that variety of squash tastes.Â
Thyme and rosemary have very different flavors, and I would’ve probably used half the amount of thyme.
Leaving one star reviews hurts food bloggers. It discourages people from making the recipe, and also can make our recipes show up further down in google. This applies for all bloggers. Next time you’re going to leave a one star review, think – is this really a bad recipe with issues? (Meaning the instructions didn’t work, it didn’t come out as expected, looks nothing like the photos, etc) Or is it just something I personally don’t like. (Or does it not taste good because I made a major change) There’s a big difference.Â
Hannah says
Divine! I used half an onion and didn’t include quite as many mushrooms because that’s what we had on hand. I’ll be making it again this week!
Liz Marino says
Yay! So glad you liked it Hannah. Thank you so much for trying it!
Leslie says
I just made this recipe for an autumn dinner. It’s a keeper!
Liz Marino says
So glad you liked it Leslie!
Amanda says
One of our families favorite recipes!!! I just wish the acorn squashes were easier to cut open.
Liz Marino says
They’re such a pain to cut open!! I agree, LOL! Glad you enjoyed this!