Crisply seared ground turkey, nutty farro, woodsy sage, wild mushrooms, and sweet apples make the perfect filling for sweet roasted squash. This stuffed butternut squash recipe is a perfect main course for two, or served as a holiday side dish.
If you feel stuck in a rut with your butternut squash recipes, I’ve been there! Soup is of course a solid go-to option, but aside from that or simply steaming or roasting it in cubes, my mind has been known to draw a big blank when faced with this oversized, overtly orange autumn fruit.
Recently while picking up one butternut squash at a local farm, the owner charitably said “here have another!” and handed us a second hulking specimen–hail damaged, but still plenty edible!–that he wouldn’t otherwise sell. Just like that, one became two. So I set off on a butternut brainstorming session and came up with these autumn-inspired stuffed butternut squash.
Think zucchini boats, but richer, heartier, and featuring all the cozy fall flavors. It’s just the thing to pull you from your butternut squash soup rut. It also makes a perfect savory alternative to the brown sugar smothered sweet treatment this ingredient usually receives as a holiday side dish.
There are a few different stages of this recipe for stuffed butternut squash, but don’t be dismayed by the number of steps you find below! They work alongside each other in perfect harmony. The savory turkey-farro stuffing can easily be made in the time the squash roasts in the oven. Then, once the squash is mostly cooked, we scoop out some of the flesh to form our boats.
Unlike many other stuffed butternut squash recipes, I work the scooped cooked squash right back into the stuffing. This marries the sweet flavor of the squash itself into the savory stuffing mixture and also acts as a binding agent, helping all of our beautiful fall ingredients to stick together.
ingredients for stuffed butternut squash recipe
ingredient notes & swaps
- Choosing a medium sized butternut squash that is fairly symmetrical will make it easier to halve and scoop. For reference, my squash weighed about 2 ½ pounds before cooking. Smaller butternut squash will work too, but you may need to get more of them for the same amount of filling. Take note that smaller squash will cook more quickly.
- Many stores offer a variety of wild mushrooms like shiitake, king trumpet, oyster, porcini, hen of the woods, and more. I used a mixture of shiitake, king trumpet, and oyster mushrooms. If choices are limited in your store, you can fill in the gaps with more common mushies like portobello or cremini (baby bella).
- You’ll notice we’re using a combination of fresh sage + dried sage, a duo which gives our butternut stuffing a citrusy-woodsy flavor that is oh so festive! I love doubling up on multiple forms of the same ingredient like this because they intensify and support one another, creating an echoey depth of flavor. You’ll see this method come into play again in my Thyme-Roasted Carrots with Tahini Sauce!
- As for quick cooking farro, Trader Joe’s 10-Minute Farro is my go to. This is almost always in my pantry and I use it to round out meals all the time! If you can’t find quick farro like this, regular farro is just fine but you’ll need to get it started earlier to account for the longer cook time.
stuffed butternut squash recipe
Crisply seared ground turkey, nutty farro, woodsy sage, wild mushrooms, and sweet apples make the perfect filling for sweet roasted squash. This stuffed butternut squash recipe is a perfect main course for two, or served as a holiday side dish.
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 portions as a main dish or 4–6 portions as a side dish 1x
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash – mine is about 2 1/2 pounds by weight
- 6 ounces mixed wild mushrooms – enough to yield 2 cups chopped
- 1/2 yellow onion – enough to yield 1 cup minced
- 1 medium poblano pepper – enough to yield 2/3 cup chopped
- 1 small apple – enough to yield 1 cup diced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 sprigs fresh sage – enough to yield 2 tablespoons minced
- Cooking oil, as needed
- Salt and black pepper, as needed
- 1/2 cup dry quick cooking farro
- 1 1/3 cups chicken stock, plus more for deglazing as needed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 pound ground turkey
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
Instructions
- Prep ingredients! Slice the butternut squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Clean and chop the wild mushrooms, removing any tough stems as you do so. Peel and mince the yellow onion. De-seed and mince the poblano pepper. Dice the apple, keeping the peel on as it adds great color and texture. Peel and thinly slice the garlic. Finally, pick and finely chop the sage leaves.
- Preheat the oven to 375℉. Lightly drizzle the cut size of the squash with oil and season with salt.
- Place the squash halves face down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Transfer to the oven and roast for about 45-60 minutes until tender. The exact amount of time will depend on the size of your squash.
- In a small saucepan, combine the dry farro, chicken stock, and bay leaf. I don’t add salt here because the chicken stock I’m using is salted. If your stock is unsalted, go ahead and give it a good pinch.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium low. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until the farro is tender. After 10 minutes, remove the lid. If you see any liquid remaining, continue cooking it over low heat with the lid off, stirring often, just until all of the excess liquid is gone. Remove from the heat.
- Heat a light drizzle of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey and let it cook undisturbed for a couple of minutes to develop that delicious golden browning. Once you have those golden brown edges, you can start breaking up the ground turkey into smaller pieces. Keep stirring and moving the meat around until cooked through and golden-brown on all sides, about 6-8 minutes.
- Season the browned turkey with the dried sage, garlic powder and salt and black pepper to taste.
- Transfer the seasoned turkey to a large mixing bowl.
- Return the skillet to medium heat. Add another drizzle of oil, then add the chopped wild mushrooms.
- Cook the mushrooms over medium-high heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until softened and lightly golden. You’ll notice they shrink down a lot! This means their savory flavor is becoming more concentrated.
- Add the minced onion and chopped poblano pepper to the skillet with the partially cooked mushrooms.
- Continue cooking, stirring often, for about 5 more minutes until the onion and pepper are slightly softened.
- Now add in the diced apple, sliced garlic, and chopped sage. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Continue cooking for about 10 more minutes until the mixture is softened and caramelized around the edges. If you have some browned bits on the bottom of your pan, deglaze it with a splash of chicken stock, scraping the delicious up and into the veggie mixture. This brings all of those roasty toasty fall feels into our filling!
- Remove the bay leaf from your cooked farro and discard. Add the farro to the bowl with your cooked turkey.
- Add your cooked veggie mixture to the farro and turkey mixture, stirring it all together.
- Add the melted butter and shredded parmesan, then toss to combine.
- Remove the roasted squash from the oven and use tongs to flip it over. You’ll notice the color of the squash is more vibrant and the texture is very tender.
- Allow the squash to cool for a few minutes so that you don’t burn your fingies! Use a metal spoon to scoop out some of the flesh, creating a relatively even cavity from top to bottom.
- Add about 1 cup of the cooked squash flesh to the filling mixture, giving it a good stir. Taste and adjust for seasonings (it’s all fully cooked and safe to eat!), making sure the texture is a bit tacky, which will help the filling to stay put when you go to stuff it.
- Fill each squash half with the filling mixture. It’s good if you really pack it in there! I used all of my filling between the two halves but you may have some leftover and that’s okay. Return to the oven and roast until hot all the way through, about 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle each stuffed butternut squash half with a bit more parmesan, then return to the oven just to melt, about 2-3 minutes. Serve hot!
Notes
- If using super lean turkey (93% or 97% lean), you’ll need to cook it in a bit more oil as opposed to less lean options like 85% or 90%.
- Note that the bulb area (the part where you scooped the seeds out) of the butternut squash will cook more quickly than the neck (the solid part going up the length of the squash), so make sure you use the neck of the squash to check for doneness.
- Depending on the size of your squash, you may have more scooped flesh than is needed to stir back into the filling. Save it for another meal (it freezes well) or mash it and eat as a side dish; I highly recommend topping it with cracked black pepper and parmesan cheese! I actually had a container of Cauliflower and Pumpkin Soup in the freezer so I pulled that out the following night and blended my extra cooked butternut right into it to stretch the soup.
- If you have extra butternut squash filling that doesn’t fit into your scooped squash halves, definitely save that too! It’s so good on its own as a quick lunch.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Category: dinner
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
FAQs
Can I make this Stuffed Squash in advance?
For sure! You can certainly prep, roast, and scoop your butternut squash ahead of time, then store the halves covered in the fridge until you’re ready to use. To prep the filling you can either A) complete step 1 and have all of your ingredients prepped in advance, storing each in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to cook. Or B) make the filling in its entirety, then let it cool and store in the fridge until you’re ready.
When you’re ready to serve, stuff the filling into your roasted butternut halves, heat in the oven for 20-30 minutes (this takes a little longer if the components have been refrigerated), then top with parmesan cheese to melt and serve.
How do I serve this Stuffed Butternut Squash?
I serve these simply: each person gets their own whole butternut half served on a plate with a spoon! If you want to use it as a side dish, I would recommend slicing each stuffed butternut half in half again. If serving as a Thanksgiving side dish or part of a larger meal, you could slice them into thirds.
Love all things winter squash? Celebrate the season with other winter squash centric recipes like Pumpkin Spice Blondies, Acorn Squash Bread, and Pumpkin Brioche Bread Pudding!
dig in!
Enjoy & let me know what you think 🌙 💛
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