A delicious side dish, or dinner that features savory sausage stuffing nestled into sweet, and nutty acorn squash. This Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash is easy to prepare and is loaded with tons of flavor!
If you are looking for a fun spin on acorn squash, this recipe is it! Buttery and nutty acorn squash is baked, naturally caramelizing the outer layer. It is then stuffed with cooked homemade sausage stuffing.
To complete this dish, the squash returned to the oven and is briefly baked once more and served warm. All you need to do is grab a fork because this is not only a hearty side for a holiday dinner, but also an “anytime” kind of meal itself.
What Makes this Acorn Squash Recipe a Keeper?
Besides being tasty, we love this meal because it features homemade sausage stuffing. We love making sausage stuffing around the holidays with turkey drippings, but we have found a product that makes this side dish possible anytime of the year. This pantry must-have is called Better Than Bouillon and it is really elevating the holiday scene and beyond.
You might recall we have featured Better Than Bouillon Beef Base in our French Onion Soup recipe (on our sister site). It is a brand we love and use ALL the time.
Better Than Bouillon offers a wide variety of bases that help keep family traditions alive. Each base they have created helps to quickly and conveniently achieved that cooked all day flavor. Their current line up of flavors include: Roasted Chicken, Beef, Turkey, Garlic, and Seasoned Vegetable Base. They also have a new flavor called Sautéed Onion Base.
For this recipe we used Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base. This provided lots of flavor to your sausage stuffing. I loved that I was able to achieve a deep, rich flavor without the added salt that conventional bouillon cubes can add to broth.
Ingredients:
This acorn squash recipe doesn’t require super special ingredients and you should be able to find these items year-round.
- Acorn squash
- Ground Italian sausage
- Unsalted butter
- Diced celery
- Chopped onion
- Garlic
- Black pepper
- Herb seasoned stuffing cubes
- Water
- Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base
- Rosemary
- Parsley
Preparing Acorn Squash
Before baking your acorn squash there is some prep work that will need to be done for the best
- Wash and dry your squash. Using a sharp, large knife, and a sturdy cutting board that doesn’t move carefully slice your squash in half. You can cut it widthwise or lengthwise.
- Scoop out any seeds and excess flesh with an ice cream scoop. Discard seeds into the compost bin.
- Coat flesh sides of squash with olive oil. Place squash flesh side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Squash will be fork tender with a caramelized flesh and soft outer skin.
How to Prepare Sausage Stuffing
- Heat a 6-quart stockpot and cook ground sausage in it. Cook until sausage is browned, and fully cooked. Remove pan from heat and remove sausage with a slotted spoon, and leave behind juices.
- In the same pan, add one stick of butter, garlic, onion, and celery. Season veggies with pepper, and cook until veggies are slightly translucent.
- Add Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base to 1 1/2 cups of water and stir until dissolved.
- Once veggies are cooked, add the sausage, herbs, and bread cubes to the pan. Add the stock and stir the pan over low heat until combined (about 2 minutes).
Overall, this recipe was really straight forward and produced a mouth-watering meal for my family. This holiday, things will look different, but on thing rings true–comfort meals like this Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash can bring family and tradition together!
Be sure to stock your pantry with some Better Than Bouillon to ring in the new year with flavor and flair!
Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash
Equipment
- baking sheet
- 6 quart stock pot
- Large carving knife
- Cutting board
- wooden spoon
- garlic press
- measuring cup
Ingredients
- 3 medium acorn squash
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- ½ cup diced celery
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups herb seasoned stuffing cubes
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1½ teaspoons Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base
- ½ tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
- ½ tablespoon fresh parsley
Instructions
- Wash and dry your squash. Using a sharp, large knife, and a sturdy cutting board that doesn’t move carefully slice your squash in half. You can cut it widthwise or lengthwise. Scoop out any seeds and excess flesh with an ice cream scoop. Discard seeds into the compost bin. Coat flesh sides of squash with olive oil.
- Place squash flesh side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 400° Fahrenheit. Squash will be fork tender with a caramelized flesh and soft outer skin. Set asides once cooked.
- Heat a 6-quart stockpot and cook ground sausage in it. Cook until sausage is browned, and fully cooked. Remove pan from heat and remove sausage with a slotted spoon. Discard extra grease.
- In the same pan, add one stick of butter, garlic, onion, and celery. Season veggies with pepper, and cook until veggies are slightly translucent.
- Add Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base to 1 1/2 cups of water and stir until dissolved.
- Once veggies are cooked, add the sausage, herbs, and bread cubes to the pan. Add the stock and stir the pan over low heat until combined (about 2 minutes).
- Scoop ½ cup of sausage stuffing to the cooked, halved acorn squash pieces.
- Bake Acorn Squash for an additional 15 minutes at 350°F.
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