Roasted Acorn Squash with Wild Rice Stuffing Recipe
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Acorn squash is a satisfying side when roasted and topped with a pat of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup, but filled with a hearty stuffing of wild rice, pecans, and cranberries, it’s a meal in itself. Loaded with comforting flavors, this vegetarian dish brings fall home, but it can be made any time of year.
What to buy: Try to get your dried cranberries from a natural foods store—they won’t be overly sweetened the way most cranberries from large grocery stores tend to be.
Game plan: Check out this tip on cutting open squash if you need pointers.
The wild rice mixture can be made up to 2 days ahead; keep it refrigerated in an airtight container.
You can make the stuffing up to 6 hours ahead; keep it covered in the refrigerator.
This recipe was featured as part of our Fall Ingredients photo gallery.
- 3 medium acorn squash (about 1 1/2 pounds each), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 medium shallots, finely chopped
- 4 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
- 2 cups cooked wild rice mix
- 2/3 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
- Heat the oven to 450°F and arrange a rack in the middle.
- Place the squash cut-side up on a baking sheet, brush 1 tablespoon of the melted butter over the tops and insides of the squash halves, sprinkle with the brown sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until just fork tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place 1 tablespoon of the melted butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When it foams, add the onion, shallots, and celery, season with salt and pepper, and stir to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until just softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the thyme and cook until just fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the rice, pecans, cranberries, and measured salt and pepper.
- Divide the rice filling among the roasted squash halves (about 1/2 cup for each) and drizzle the remaining tablespoon of butter over top. Continue roasting until the squash is completely fork tender, the edges have started to brown, and the filling is heated through, about 20 to 25 minutes.
I'm making this for a light and lovely erev Rosh Hashanah meal tonight. Yum!
I used a wild rice combo from Whole Foods, cooked quickly in a pressure cooker. I am not able to eat onions, but a packet of Goya Vegetable Seasoning supplied the desired flavor. We all agreed that this was the best acorn squash dish we had EVER had. I started the squash halves in the microwave for 8 minutes, then finished in the oven while preparing the rest of the dinner. Fabulous dish that we will have again soon!
i made this yesterday with some changes and substitutions and it was delicious! i subbed whole grain orzo for the rice, dried cherries for the cranberries, and added ground turkey.
the combo of the dried fruit and roasted nuts with the squash is awesome!
Strangely similar to Collen Patrick Goudreau's recipe in The Vegan Table...
I made this tonight, and it was great! I used Trader Joe's Brown rice medley, and it worked really well. I also used dried thyme instead of fresh because I don't have any growing right now, and the flavor was still really nice. I found the rice mixture just a little dry, so I added a splash of chicken broth. I think that may have been more a choice of rice than anything else, though.
I love the idea of adding sausage to make it more of a main dish, I may try that next time. Tonight we had it with simple, grilled pork chops and it was a really nice combination.
I made this today. The only thing I did differently was that I cooked the wild rice in a mixture of half water and half veggie broth to add more flavor and used Earth Balance to make it vegan. It was SO good! It would be good if you added mushrooms to the stuffing too - I'll do that next time.
@debeadgirl:I think they mean the wild rice blends that are available, like Lundbergs. They have a mix of several types of wild and long grain rices (no spice or flavor packets).
@pipistrello: 2 suggestions... 1) Cook your squash longer without the filling before filling it (filling should be just heated thru, not "cooked" again) and/or 2) place a small loose "tent" of foil on top of the squash after filling so it doesn't brown or burn.
I'm making this, this weekend and will probably add some garlic too! Great suggestion! Thanks Nic!
Havent tried this yet, but when I saw that it called for wild rice mix, I thought of the box mix that includes herbs and seasonings already in it. Is that what you all used or could that be the reason some recipies tasted bland and others did not? Just a thought.
We just finished eating this for dinner and it was delicious--super flavorful, harmonious, great texture and variety.
After reading some of the reviews, I think seasoning may be part of the problem for those who found this bland--rice, onions, and squash can all take a LOT of salt and pepper, so I usually end up using a great deal of seasoning. I think it would be hard to get this too salty, but I tasted the filling as I made it to be sure.
We used butternut squash, since those were the best picks at the farmers' market, and they worked beautifully (took longer to cook than this recipe indicates).
Also threw a few pressed cloves of garlic into the sautee of onion, shallot, and celery; were liberal with the butter, of course.
For the rice mixture, we used half wild rice (it's dark brown, long-grain), half brown rice mix/medley.
All in all, a really excellent way to take advantage of fall's bounty. Huge bonus: nearly al the main ingredients (except the rice) can be found at your local farmers' market!
I made this recipe the other day using walnuts instead of pecans and it was delicious! The rice stuffing that was left over made a very tasty - and healthy - packed lunch the next day. When I roasted the squashes, however, the top layer of stuffing burnt brown and the rice grains were too hard to eat; is there any way around this? Such as adding goats cheese or something else?
My issue with this dish was the presentation. It takes a lot of room on the plate for the half squash, then ungracefully, you have to dig around in it to get a bit of squash with each bite. Dumping the stuffing on the plate then scraping out the squash isn't much better.
We really liked the taste of this dish, so next time I'll roast the squash, scrape out the flesh then combine it with the stuffing, and serve it in a large serving bowl.
I found this dish to be very good and not bland at all, and have enjoyed the leftovers as well. The sweet flavors came through and the delicate crunch added texture to the meal (I served it with a small pork chop).
I considered the idea of sausage too. Not a lot, but enough to make this a meal in itself. I think the stuffing would even be good by itself as a side dish, too.
I liked the first one OK but there is no way I could eat more than one of these things ever (ie leftovers and trust me there were plenty)---I agree with the bland comment. A big part of my issue is the long grain white rice that is included in white rice mix----if I ever make these again there is going to be some jasmine or basmati mixed with wild rice instead, plus I'd probably throw in some sort of sausage to up the flavor a bit.
I repicated this dish and it turned out great. I used golden raisins. I uploaded the Photo..'Check it out.
Thanks Aida.
Dear A. Tsao,
Simply multiply the recipe times 4 (24 people) or 3 (18 people) or 3.33 but I would stick to round numbers.
Is there a way to prepare this delicious recipe for a big group (serving 20 people)?
Thanks.
I thought it was excellent, the nutty flavor of the wild rice goes really well with the squash.
This recipe was VERY bland and I doubled the amount of thyme. Most of it went uneaten.
Just picked up a gorgeous Acorn squash @ Union Sq. on Wed, and I will make this dish.
Im all squashed up. I picked up a butternut as well that I will roast and make a Soup with...
Fall is for FOODIES!!!!!
:)
thanks, should be fixed now.
The link to "Cutting sqash" is broken