Vegetarian Stuffed Baked Squash

We all love stuffed baked squash in this house. The kids had a music teacher who would come home to teach them. We became friends and since he was coming on Sundays later mornings, he would always have lunch with us. He decided to go vegan, so I had to figure out recipes that would suit him. It became a challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed looking for recipes and making them my way. This was one of the dishes I made for him and he was in love. Expect, I skipped the feta for him.

This is another of my recipes that is so versatile. Change the ingredients to whatever you like or is in your fridge. Make it non-vegetarian by adding some cooked ground meat. I love it with cooked wild rice in place of mushrooms.

The Ingredients for Stuffed Baked Squash

The Ingredients List for this Vegetarian Recipe

• 2 butternut squash
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 red onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 red or green chili
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 3 button mushrooms
• 2 cups baby chard (or any other green of choice)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup feta (skip for vegan version)
• salt and pepper to taste

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The Squash

My recipe is vegetarian and so full of flavour. It has onions, garlic, fresh ginger, and red chilies to give it that fresh seasoning. It’s stuffed with mushrooms, baby chard, feta, cranberries, and pecans. I even use the pulp that I remove from the center, so there’s no waste!

In order to get this delicious recipe, you need to clean and prep it.

• Cut 2 pumpkins into halves lengthwise. Remove the pulp and seeds. (Do not throw away the seeds. They are delicious when baked.)
• Line a baking dish with parchment paper and place all 4 halves on the dish – face up.

• Prick each piece with a fork and sprinkle it liberally with salt. This helps the salt to penetrate as it cooks and helps the gourd cook a little bit faster.
• Bake it in a 400 degree F oven for 40 mins. It needs to be cooked through before you can stuff it.

Let the baked gourd cool down enough so you can handle it. Once it’s cooled down

• using a spoon, scoop out the center, leaving about 3/4 of an inch all around and at the bottom. I use the natural center pit to guide me. It’s the perfect depth and allows me to judge how much I need to scoop. Keep this scooped squash for use later in the recipe.

The Stuffing with the Feta and Pecans

It’s time to flavour the recipe.

• Heat the oil in a pan and into it put 1 finely chopped red onion, 3 sliced garlic cloves, 1 finely chopped red or green chili, and 1 teaspoon of grated ginger.
• Let the onion cook and soften – about 5 mins.

• Chop three mushrooms into small cubes – the same size as the onions and put them into the pan.
• Let them cook for about 2 mins.
• Now you can add 2 cups of baby chard to the pan and continue cooking for a further 2 mins.

• At this point, you can take the pan off the heat and add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and 1/2 cup of chopped pecans.
• Mix everything to combine all the ingredients so they are evenly distributed.

Prepping the Vegetarian Recipe

It’s time to use the scooped squash.

• Chop the bits that you had scooped out from the center into tiny 1 cm or so cubes.
• Put all of the chopped pieces into the pan and mix to combine.
• Now you can add the feta too. (Skip for a vegan version)
• Season with salt and pepper. Note that feta is quite salty, so put a little salt at a time and taste as you go.

Baking the Stuffed Baked Squash

It’s time to stuff the squash.

• Put 1/4 of the mix into the center of each half. It will fill the hole you created in the center. Put enough of the mix in so it looks a little over-stuffed.
• Repeat till all of the stuffing is gone.

• Line a baking tray / dish with parchment paper and place the stuffed vegetable on it.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake for about 20 mins.
• Remove from the oven and enjoy with a side salad.

Tried and Liked the Recipe?

Scroll to the bottom of the page, and past the recipe to find the comment form. Please fill out details of what you liked and what you would like to see improved. Comments are loved! I look forward to hearing how much you enjoyed the recipe!

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