Vegetarian Stuffed Acorn Squash
This vegetarian stuffed acorn squash recipe is beautiful and delicious! The cheesy quinoa filling develops an irresistible crispy top in the oven. So good!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
Is this stuffed acorn squash pretty or what? I’m really excited to share this recipe with you. Roasted acorn squash halves topped with herbed quinoa make a delicious holiday-worthy main dish. It’s the perfect option if you’re serving vegetarian and gluten-free eaters.
This recipe is simple enough to put together on a relaxed weeknight, too. Pour yourself a glass of wine and let’s make some stuffed squash!
This recipe requires a few steps, but none of them are difficult. You can make the quinoa mixture while the squash is in the oven. Then, stuff the squash and bake until the quinoa turns golden and develops delicious little crispy bits on top.
The filling steals the show in this recipe. It features cranberry-studded quinoa and two kinds of cheese, one creamy and one melty. Chopped parsley and green onion offer lots of irresistible fresh flavor, and toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) contribute some savory crunch.
How to Make Stuffed Acorn Squash
I treat my acorn squash the same as I do spaghetti squash—rubbed lightly with olive oil and baked cut-side down so the edges develop some delicious caramelization. Acorn squash bakes up even faster, in as little as 35 minutes.
Then, I stuffed the squash with a modified version of my stuffed sweet potatoes in Love Real Food (page 144). This time, I stirred dried cranberries into the hot quinoa to give them a chance to plump up. I also added some Parmesan for structure and extra flavor, and baked the squash again after stuffing it.
I love how the herbed quinoa mixture turns golden in the oven and develops an almost panko-like, crisp texture on top. It’s so good and contrasts beautifully with the tender squash beneath.
Watch How to Make Stuffed Acorn Squash
Chickpeas are Optional
I purposefully omitted the chickpeas from the original stuffing recipe. As written, you should have exactly enough filling to stuff four medium squash halves.
If you’re using particularly large acorn squash or wanting to up the protein content of this meal, you can stir one can of chickpeas (rinsed and drained) into the quinoa mixture as described in the recipe notes.
You can easily make this recipe dairy free or vegan—check the recipe notes for suggestions!
Serving Suggestions
My favorite green salad would be the perfect complement to this stuffed squash. It features fresh apple, which pairs beautifully with acorn squash, and a few of the same ingredients—toasted pepitas, dried cranberries and goat cheese. If you make both recipes at once, you’ll use up one standard four-ounce package of goat cheese.
Another beautiful salad option would be my pomegranate and pear green salad with ginger dressing.
Looking for more holiday-worthy vegetarian main dishes and sides? Check out my Thanksgiving recipe roundup for more ideas.
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments! I hope it’s a big hit at your dinner table.
Vegetarian Stuffed Acorn Squash
This vegetarian stuffed acorn squash recipe is beautiful and delicious! The cheesy quinoa filling develops an irresistible crispy top in the oven. Make it for your holiday dinner or serve it on a relaxed weeknight at home. Recipe yields 4 stuffed squash halves.
Ingredients
- 2 medium acorn squash
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
- ½ cup quinoa, rinsed
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup raw pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
- ¼ cup chopped green onion
- ¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup crumbled goat cheese or feta
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean-up.
- To prepare the squash, use a sharp chef’s knife to slice through it from the tip to the stem. I find it easiest to pierce the squash in the center along a depression line, then cut through the tip, and finish by slicing through the top portion just next to the stem. Use a large spoon to scoop out the seeds and stringy bits inside, and discard those pieces.
- Place the squash halves cut side up on the parchment-lined pan. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over the squash, and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of the salt. Rub the oil into the cut sides of the squash, then turn them over so the cut sides are against the pan. Bake until the squash flesh is easily pierced through by a fork, about 30 to 45 minutes. Leave the oven on.
- Meanwhile, cook the quinoa: In a medium saucepan, combine the rinsed quinoa and water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer, uncovered, until all of the water is absorbed, 12 to 18 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the cranberries. Cover, and let the mixture steam for 5 minutes. Uncover and fluff the quinoa with a fork.
- In a medium skillet, toast the pepitas over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the pepitas are turning golden on the edges and making little popping noises, about 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Pour the fluffed quinoa mixture into a medium mixing bowl. Add the toasted pepitas, chopped green onion, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, and the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Stir until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Taste and add additional salt, if necessary.
- If the mixture is very hot, let it cool for a few minutes before adding the Parmesan cheese and goat cheese. Gently stir the mixture to combine.
- Turn the cooked squash halves over so the cut sides are facing up. Divide the mixture evenly between the squash halves with a large spoon. Return the squash to the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the cheesy quinoa is turning golden on top.
- Sprinkle the stuffed squash with the remaining 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, and serve warm.
Notes
Squash filling adapted from the stuffed sweet potatoes in my cookbook, Love Real Food (page 144).
Change it up: You can add more protein to this dish by stirring 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained (or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas), into the quinoa mixture. You may have some of the mixture leftover—it’s a great quinoa salad on its own.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit both varieties of cheese. You might want to add chickpeas (see above) to fill out the stuffing mixture. Top the baked squash with dollops of vegan sour cream, and you could even finish it off with a sprinkle of vegan Parmesan.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Looks amazing. Do you have dried cranberries without sugar on them or do you use ones with sugar. If without where do you find/what brand?
Hey Rebecca, good question! I use regular dried cranberries because the added sugar actually helps them retain moisture. No-sugar-added dried cranberries might be rock hard, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them in stores.
I think Ocean Spray has a reduced sugar dried craisin/cranberry.
This was amazing!! Thank you for sharing!
This sounds really good!
My acorn squash stuffing has always been brown & wild rice, with onions, celery, lots of fruit (dried cranberries and apples) and nuts (pecans), and sage. I look forward to trying something different!
Kathryn, your stuffing sounds marvelous! Hope you enjoy this one, too.
Would this work with butternut squash?
Hi Marlene! Butternut might be a little tricky because it doesn’t offer such a large built-in bowl, if you will. It would definitely work well with spaghetti squash.
This was great for getting us in the fall mood! (Even though it was still upper 80s today) My husband literally said “it’s perfect!” and it was so easy to put together! Thank you, Kate!!
Kate, I watch tons of healthy recipe videos, and I must say that yours are not only fabulous and wonderful recipes, but you have pretty much the classiest web site and videos of all. Seriously, you are number one for amazing-ness (is that a word? If not, it should be, because it is so very you). Thank you so much.
You’re so sweet, Danita! Thanks for your comment. I’m really happy you are enjoying!
This is delicious!
I used mozzarella and dried parmesean since that is what I had on hand. I also added the can of garbanzos, which filled 6 halves perfectly. I’ll definitely be making this again.
Way too funny. I just opened up Cookie and Kate to get your quinoa salad recipe for lunch (the quinoa is on the stove now) and I saw this.
Looks so yummy! I love all your recipies :)
Great minds! Thank you, Em!
I used a chub of iserinos chicken sausage with 1 xtra tbsb.of sage. Very little fat. Then sauteed my veggies in the rendering fat. You mite have to add a bit of olive oil or coconut oil, as there is very little fat in the chicken sausage. Your readers will love this additional twist. My family actually asked for more.
Thank you
Joanne
Bremerton Wa
Hi Kate,
This looks really delicious! This might be a silly question, but do you eat the acorn squash skin, as well?
I wouldn’t eat it! :)
Do you think there are any steps you can do ahead for this?
You could try making the quinoa stuffing ahead of time. I of course didn’t try it, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Looks and sounds delicious, Kate. I can’t wait to try it. I’ll let you know once I do.
Please do, Janet!
Just made this for a (small) office potluck tomorrow. Very showy. I was hesitant about all the goat cheese, but I should have used the full amount. If you don’t, make sure you add extra salt. My bf had to have butter in with his too, and that didn’t hurt. Will def make again, and I’m expecting raves tomorrow.
Thanks for sharing!
Recipe sounds great, and the pictures even better! Making for family dinner on Saturday. Can I substitute fresh cranberries? Would I need to add sugar and still add with quinoa after? Thanks!
Thanks, Michelle! It would depend on your taste for sweet vs tart, I guess. I’m not sure about adding sugar to the quinoa.
loved this recipe
Wonderful, Clare!
I made this recipe for dinner last night! Besides being beautiful to look at, it was AMAZING!!! It was such a clean, healthy dinner! I left out a couple ingredients, since I didn’t have them. But I did add a can of chickpeas. Thanks for sharing this recipe…and all of your other ones! I have made many! I will be making your healthy banana muffins today! :)
You’re welcome, Lea! I’m glad you liked this one, too.
Thank you for this one! This was another lovely recipe, worked very well as a vegetarian entree to balance a heavy Christmas meal. Everyone had some, vegetarian or not. I assembled it the day before and refrigerated it until time to bake. Because of other dishes on the menu I made this more savory with some roasted mushrooms and red onion in place of the dried cranberries. This is great company dish because it can be put together ahead of time and looks fancy despite being very straightforward to make.
A C+K Christmas for you Cora! I love that. Thanks so much for all your feedback!
I loved the quinoa and the acorn squash. I added the chickpeas as well. It was easy to make and came out perfectly. It rained in NY today so I also made the sweet potato fries and the strawberry-balsamic sundae. I received your cookbook for a present, but I was already trying your recipes from the website. I love the soups, especially the spicy black bean one. Thanks!
Hooray! I love it. Thanks for sharing which recipes you have been trying recently!
I made this as a side dish for Christmas dinner. It was delicious, even the meat lovers thought so. I didn’t have pumpkin seeds so I substituted with toasted pine nuts. I will definitely make it again.
Thanks for your review, Nancy!
Kate, your recipes are my go-to! This recipe was delicious and so fall-like. Thank you for all your ideas, I cook from your blog, app, and cookbook all the time and they never disappoint!!
I’m glad you loved it, Ana!
What’s the name of the app?
Cookie + Kate
Another home run! I was looking for a fun New Year’s Dinner recipe that wasn’t too intense – this fit the bill. We loved it. Next time I will try with goat cheese (we did feta this time). Thanks, as always! Happy New Year :)
I love this! I have made it with chickpeas and without — both are excellent. I made this for the main course of our New Year’s eve dinner and all were impressed. It has a great presentation and hits my check box for comfort food.
Thanks, Kate!
What a great dinner party idea! I love it. Thanks for sharing, Paul.
Can I freeze them? They would make great single servings to take for lunch!
I don’t think this would freeze well, although I haven’t tried it.
I love this recipe! It wasn’t too hard for me to make and I could find all the ingredients where I live (which is overseas). Thank you so much for sharing it. P.S. I think naming the blog after your dog – and you- is really sweet.
Thank you on all accounts! Cookie is my teammate so of course she gets some recognition! She keeps things interesting. :)
This was sooo good! I used raisins instead of cranberries because I’m doing a no added sugar thing this month and the cranberries I had had added sugars. But everything was still delicious! Will definitely make this again.
I bet it was still delicious without them! Thanks for letting me know you loved it, Caroline!
This was a quick assembly and delicious plant based dinner! I subbed homemade vegan parmesan for the cheese aspects of this recipe. This is a great recipe to meal prep, the second squash will serve as the perfect take to work lunch!
Thank you for sharing, Samantha!
I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago and I loved it! I agree… the quinoa filling rocks! Thanks for another healthy meal!
You’re welcome, Claudia!
I want to make this tonight for dinner. I only have frozen precooked quinoa. How many cups of cooked quinoa will I need for this recipe?
1 cup equals roughly 3 cups cooked. I hope this helps!
I want to thank you for leaving this recipe for us to have. I love Acorn squash and was searching for additional ways to fix it. I usually wrap it in foil and put it on the grill for the skin side and then I take it off and add sesame oil to the cavity and rewrap it and put it back on. This recipe that I just pinned looks so good and extremely healthy for you. I will just have to have it as a side since I still eat meat and fish. But, maybe with Chicken breast?? Thank you again
Let me know what you think when your try it, Thomas!
Made this last evening using red quinoa. The combination of goat feta and parmesan was not everyone’s favorite, but it was still devoured. Love the dried cranberries! The pop of sweetness with the crunch of the pepitas was quite nice.
Next time we will make it without the parmesan and see if the family gives it 5 stars.
Thank you for the recipe.
I made this recipe today and followed it exactly. It turned out amazing, the flavors married perfectly. Thank you! This is a keeper. I will be making it again.
Great to hear, GPS!
The stuffing is outrageous! I want to make it all by itself. Oh my gosh! Paired with squash it is an excellent dish!
Thank you, Sherri!
I’m eating this right now! My Mom had me over for dinner last night and she made this (trying to please her vegetarian daughter) and sent me home with leftovers. So I’m reading the recipe while I’m eating because it’s so good – even on a hot July night :)
I’m glad you love it!
Hi Kathryn! Do you have an idea for substituting quinoa. Unfortunately I react very badly to saponin, even when I rinse the quinoa.
I’m sorry to hear that! You could try brown rice or farro?
I have about 10 minutes left on the final stint in the oven, and I’m so excited for when it comes out! I took the vegan option and used chickpeas, and the only other alteration I made was to use Fruit Bliss’ Organic, No Sugar Added Tart Cherries in place of the cranberries. Thanks for such an amazing recipe, Kate! I just KNOW it’s going to be delicious!
Thank you for your review, Alex!
I made these tonight, and they were AMAZING! My husband hates goat cheese, so the kids and I had them all to ourselves. :) This recipe is amazing; you will not be disappointed if you take the time to try it. The only “substitution” I made is using roasted and salted pepitas instead of roasting them myself; this was only because I couldn’t find raw ones at the grocery store. I just eliminated the extra salt from the filling to try to make up for mine being salted, and it seemed to work well.
Love hearing that, Melanie! Thank you for your review.
I was thinking about making this vegan with the suggested chickpeas added & tahini sauce? What do you think, Kate?
Be sure to let me know what you think when you try it!
Made without the Parmesan cheese (didn’t have any) and this still came out amazing. Thanks for the great recipe, will def be making again!
Seriously Kate, YUM! I am more impressed each time I try one of your recipes! I made the filling for these in advance and now I need to try not to eat all of it before it’s time to stuff the squash for dinner tonight. Thanks for another great recipe!
Thank you, Leora! I appreciate your review.
I love this recipe. I wasn’t used to eating goat cheese, quinoa, or acorn squash, so I had to eat it a couple of times before the flavors grew on me. But now I love it. Since fall is here, I’m finding local acorn squash at the farmer’s market, and I’m making this recipe for dinner twice a week now. The more I eat it, the more I love it! It’s beautiful. It’s vegetarian. It’s healthy. And it’s fun to make, and serve.
Thank you for sharing, Sharon!
Thank you Kate!
I made it with butternut squash because that’s what was available. I loved it. My Asian friends thought it was bland and added seasoning to it.
Keep up the great work.
I’m happy to hear that, Tai!
I’ve made this several times since trying it for the first time last winter, and WOW it is delicious. Now this (Canadian) Thanksgiving, I will serve it as our main veggie dish, but with my limited oven space I am wondering: is it a good idea to make this dish ahead of time, or to make some of it ahead of time? Has anyone tried?
You could do the parts separately, then bake together when you would like. That might work well!
This sounds like the perfect balance of flavors and textures. Will definitely try it!
I’ve made this twice. It’s so customizable with what you have on hand. The second time I didn’t have pepitas, green onions, or fresh parsley, so I used toasted pine nuts, shallot, and fresh Rosemary instead (bc that’s what I had in my house) and it was still delicious! Love the goat cheese/cranberry combo. Such a flavorful dish.
Did a search on acorn squash & quinoa, and stumbled across your recipe. Well explained, easy to prepare, delicious combo of ingredients, perfect Fall dish.
You’ve gained a fan on this dish alone!
Fantastic, Rob! Thank you for sharing.
My husband and I are trying to eat more meatless meals. I made this for us tonight and we really enjoyed it. I think I would add more dried cranberries next time and roasted salted pumpkin seeds or better yet roast and salt the squash seeds and use them. This is the second of your recipes I have made, we love your Roasted Cauliflower and Farro salad also. Your meals make eating vegetarian easier for those who are trying to eat less meat.
I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for your review, Patti.
I just made this, and it was absolutley delicious! I substituted lightly sauteed white onion for the green and used goat cheese instead of feta. The squash was perfectly tender and the mixture so savory it left me wanting so much more! I think I’d add chickpeas next time just for a little extra protein, but overall this recipe was perfect as is. Very easy to make!
Thank you for sharing your variation, Lauren! I appreciate it.
I made this tonight. Rich, nutty and fresh. I will definitely make it again.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jen!
Excellent! I substituted raisins for cranberries since that is what I had.
That’s a great substitution, Linda! Thanks for your review.
My husband can’t eat cranberries. What would be a good substitute that’s not overly acidic? Also, he doesn’t like feta/goat cheese. Any suggestions for a substitution (sour cream, maybe?), or can the feta just be left out?
Hi Esther, you can use raisins but that might cause the same concern. I suggest just omitting the feta and possibly adding a little more parmesan.
What a great way to serve squash as a main. I added about 1 TBSP of thyme from our garden as well as our Italian parsley.
A big 5 star plus for this recipe! I served this for a fall dinner and it looked so beautiful on the table. It’s beauty was matched by great flavour and texture. So enjoyable and artistic. I made your salad, too – a great combo, Thanks for your cuisine creativity!
I made this with the garbanzo beans. Turned out fabulous. I will definitely make this again. Are used a little more goat cheese then it calls for. I think it added a nice balance.
Thank you for sharing! Yes, beans are a great addition to this.
Great base recipe that can easily be changed based on what you have on hand! Even my meat and potatoes man loved it. He ate two squash in one sitting. I substituted white rice for quinoa, sunflower seeds for pepitas, Swiss cheese for the goat cheese, 1/2 tbsp vinegar for lemon juice, and dried parsley for fresh parsley because that’s what I had on hand. I also added the recommended chickpeas to bulk it up. So yummy even with the substitutions!
Thank you for sharing!