by Jen
on October 1, 2020
This recipe for stuffed acorn squash with brown rice, kale, cranberries and pecans is a delicious and creative use for acorn squash that can be prepared ahead of time and easily reheated for lunches and dinners throughout the week. It’s a perfect fall meal that can be prepared meatless or with chopped or shredded chicken or turkey.
I am in full fall food mode and have been buying up all the winter squash at the farmers market. This recipe idea came to me when I was looking for something to do with my acorn squash other than roast it and eat it. I think acorn squash lends itself perfectly to stuffing so I decided to create a filling that featured some of my favorite fall flavors like hearty brown rice, kale, toasted pecans and cranberries.
I started by roasting my acorn squash. I pre-roasted it until it was tender and nearly cooked through. While it was roasting I cooked the rice and assembled the filling.
The filling is a mix of sautéed onion, shallots, kale and garlic with pecans, dried cranberries and fresh sage.
The sautéed kale mixture is stirred into the rice. I also added some shredded cooked chicken to my filling but it’s definitely not necessary and if you’re going for a meatless meal, you won’t miss it. Looking forward to Thanksgiving, this would also be a great use for leftover turkey.
Here are the pre-roasted squash halves piled high with the kale, pecan and cranberry stuffing.
Because I think cheese almost always makes everything better, I added a sprinkle of gouda cheese to my stuffed acorn squash. You could absolutely skip the cheese if you want to keep this dairy-free.
I popped the squash back in the oven to finish cooking with the stuffing, The house smelled wonderful while it was cooking and I can promise you that the taste matches up to the presentation and aromas. This stuffed acorn squash is a simple, one-dish meal and one of my favorite fall recipes that I have ever created.
Stuffed Acorn Squash with Brown Rice, Kale, Cranberries and Pecans
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