This is a recipe going back to when I started this blog in 2010. Stuffed acorn squash & red wine cranberry sauce is perfect for your Thanksgiving or holiday feast, or just when you want to warm yourself up with a hearty dinner. It's also a delicious way to cook up an acorn squash if you've never tried cooking one before!
If you're preparing this for a Thanksgiving meal, I've got a bunch more holiday-inspired vegan recipes for you! You could even do a vegan Thanksgiving potluck-style, and have everyone prepare a vegan dish or two. Try out the vegducken, easy vegan sweet potato mash and white chocolate cranberry dessert casserole for starters! You and your guests will be MORE than stuffed.
stuffed acorn squash & red wine cranberry sauce
This stuffed acorn squash with red wine cranberry sauce is a great way to please the veggie-lovers at the table!
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Servings: squash
Ingredients
squash
- 2 acorn squash
- ⅓ C melted vegan butter (can substitute melted coconut oil or olive oil)
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- sea salt & ground black pepper, to taste
stuffing
- 1 C brown rice and wild rice mixture
- 1 ½ C water
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ C finely chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ C frozen corn, thawed and drained
- 1 C finely chopped red pepper
- 3 C finely chopped kale, stems removed
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ⅓ C roasted tahini
red wine cranberry sauce
- 1 C canned whole cranberry sauce
- ½ C red wine
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
alternate version using dried cranberries
- 1 C dried cranberries
- ½ C water
- ½ C red wine
- 1 tablespoon raw cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut the acorn squashes in half. Scoop out the seeds and flesh and save the seeds to make a toasted garnish (instructions to follow).
- Melt vegan butter and mix with maple syrup. Brush the mixture onto each half of the fleshy part of the squash. Season with sea salt and ground black pepper to taste.
- You'll use about half the melted butter mixture to coat the squash and you'll want to have some left for the seeds and to cook the stuffing. Bake the squash, flesh side up in a dish or on a foiled baking sheet for 40 minutes until soft and golden brown. You'll want to baste the squash with a brush half way through baking with the butter pooled in the middle.
- Toss the seeds in 2 teaspoons of the melted butter and maple syrup mixture and add a little sea salt and ground black pepper to taste. Put them on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake them in the oven alongside the squash for approximately 15 to 20 minutes until brown and toasted.
- While the squash is baking, bring the rice, water, and sea salt to a boil. Once boiling, cover the pot and let it simmer for about 35 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Cooking time for rice will vary depending on what brand or mixture you're using, so follow instructions as per the package you have. Once rice is cooked and tender, remove from the heat and leave covered while you make the rest of the stuffing. You can also make rice ahead of time or use leftover rice.
- Heat a large pan over medium, and add the remaining vegan butter and maple syrup mixture and finely chopped onion. Sauté the onion for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Stir in corn and red pepper and turn the heat to medium-high to start getting some nice caramelization on them. Stir fry this mixture for another 4 to 6 minutes. Then lower the heat and stir in finely chopped kale and minced garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. When the kale is just wilted, but still bright green, add in the rice. Combine everything and then stir in tahini. Taste the stuffing and add sea salt and ground black pepper to your taste. Once everything is mixed thoroughly, remove the rice stuffing from the heat.
- At this point, your squash are baked through so you can turn the oven off and stuff the rice mixture into the centre of each squash and leave them in the oven to stay warm while you make the red wine cranberry sauce.
- For the red wine cranberry sauce, heat a saucepan over medium with all the ingredients and allow it to reduce and thicken, whisking frequently. It should take approximately 10 minutes.
- Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of cranberry sauce over each stuffed squash and garnish with the toasted seeds.
Meg
Halved the recipe and made it as dinner for two. I subbed farro for the brown rice. It was awesome! Thank you! Will definitely make it again soon.
Lauren Toyota
oooh never had farro! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Kelly
Made these for Christmas Eve dinner and they were fabulous - even my non-vegan father loved them as a main course! Thanks for all the bad-ass recipes 🙂
Iliana Diaz
Made this tonight, delicious! Minus bitting into raw pieces of garlic. Lol. Next time, I will add the garlic along with the onion, instead waiting closer to the end. It hurts my stomach. Other than that, fabulous recipe! I will make it again!
Lauren Toyota
are you mincing the garlic? Shouldn't be big chunks! haha
Samantha
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Thank you Lauren & John!
Katie G Theibert
Made this amazing recipe for my family this past Thanksgiving 2017. They loved it!! They never had stuffed squash before and tried it out because I made it... At the end of dinner everyone asked for the recipe. Thank you
Lauren Toyota
AMAZING!!! love that 😀 Thank you for sharing!
Christine Gaillard
Just had this for Christmas diner and I loved. I've always loved roasted acorn squash but this stuffing and the cranberry sauce made it amazing.
Lauren Toyota
thank you!! happy holidays!