Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash. In my opinion, butternut squash is one of the best of the fall harvest vegetables. It has a great sweet flavor, and is so versatile that you can prepare it many different ways. It works with grains, with salad, with pasta, or is fantastic in this Roasted Squash Mushroom Soup. For this meal, combining the butternut squash with quinoa gives you a nutrition packed side dish, that is sweetened with cranberries and maple syrup.

Whether you are whipping this dish up for an ordinary dinner, or as a side dish for your holiday spread, the recipe is simple, and requires fewer than ten ingredients.

If you are planning your holiday meal, and like everyone, are pressed for time and oven space, one of the best things about baking and stuffing squash, is that can be prepped in advance. (see below)

Whether you are serving a full turkey dinner, or a vegan spread, quinoa stuffed butternut squash is a great choice for your holiday dish. The bright colors are so pretty and it will definitely dress up your table. To accommodate any diet, this dish is also vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and dairy free.

Instructions

1. Fresh butternut squash is very firm, and hard to cut evenly, which is necessary to stuff it properly. After much trial and error, I found that the best way to cook fresh butternut squash, is whole. Place the squash on a baking dish lined with aluminum foil, and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. It is much easier to cut, when it is already baked.

Bake squash whole on baking sheet at 350 degrees for 1 hour

2. While the squash is baking, prepare the quinoa stuffing. For the quickest cook and best flavor, I recommend cooking the quinoa in the Instant Pot. (Check out my review of the Instant Pot here.) Place the water, salt and quinoa in the Instant Pot and set for 8 minutes on pressure cook. Let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and then release valve.

Add quinoa and water to Instant Pot — Add quinoa, salt and water to Instant Pot (alternate method: cook quinoa according to package directions) Close lid.

Set to 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, let pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Then, release valve. Turn off by pressing cancel.

Cooked quinoa — The cooked quinoa, is light, fluffy and moist.

After the quinoa is finished, add the remaining stuffing ingredients to the Instant Pot and mix well.

Add remaining ingredients for stuffing to quinoa — Add remaining stuffing ingredients to quinoa and mix.

4. Remove squash from the oven and slice. Brush with olive oil and salt and pepper and stuff with quinoa stuffing.

Slice squash open, remove seeds, brsh with olive oil, salt and pepper — When squash is baked, slice squash open, remove seeds, brush with olive oil, salt and pepper

Stuff squash with quinoa mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees

5. Bake stuffed squash for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash. Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds and fresh tarragon.

6. Garnish baked, stuffed squash with toasted pumpkin seeds and fresh tarragon.

Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash side — Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash

7. To serve a larger crowd, you can slice the squash and serve on a platter with stuffing in the middle.

Top tips

To plan ahead, bake squash a day or two before the holiday dinner
Make the quinoa in the Instant Pot ahead of time, and mix stuffing ingredients. Refrigerate the squash and stuffing until needed. Then, bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees right before serving.
Make sure that your butternut squash is ripe

How To Tell If Butternut Squash is Ripe?

The outer skin should be dull and not shiny
The squash should be dark tan, not green. Green skin indicates that the squash is not ripe

Tap the outer skin--if it sounds hollow, it is ripe
If your squash is not ripe enough to cook, store it in a warm, sunny location for up to 14 days, turning occasionally