Crave-Worthy Flavor, Bone-Loving Magic: The Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe You Need!
Prepare to tantalize your taste buds with one of the most sensational stuffed acorn squash recipes ever created. This gem is a culinary delight that marries health and flavor in every bite.
Imagine the delicate sweetness of acorn squash, roasted to golden perfection and generously filled with a mouthwatering medley of pork sausage, sweet onion, crisp apple, and a blend of fragrant spices and aromatic herbs.
But it’s not just about taste. This dish is a nutritional powerhouse. You see, acorn squash is a significant source of the powerful antioxidant vitamin C, which is essential for supporting your bones [1].
It’s also a treasure trove of bone loving minerals your skeletal system craves including:
- magnesium
- potassium
- manganese
- calcium
- phosphorus
- zinc
- copper
- selenium
And the best part? You won’t be stuck in the kitchen for ages. Nope! You can prepare one of the most enticing acorn squash recipes stuffed with sausage and veggies in just 15 minutes. So it’s perfect for those jam-packed weeknights when you’re craving something easy, delicious, and bone healthy.
Stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients
Stuffed Acorn Squash Ingredients
- 2 acorn squash cut in half, guts removed
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
Filling
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 sweet onion diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp fresh sage
- 1 lb pork sausage
- 1 honey crisp apple cored and diced
- 1 cup gluten free breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup parmesan reggiano grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking pan with parchment paper.
- Slice each squash in half and remove seeds.
- Drizzle the open side of each squash with avocado oil. Place open side down and roast for 30 minutes until fork tender.
- In a medium skillet, over medium heat, add oil, onion, celery, salt, pepper and sage. Sauté until onions become translucent, approximately 10 minutes.
- Add sausage and sauté until fully cooked.
- Add apple and sauté until softened.
- Remove from heat. Add breadcrumbs and parmesan.
- Once Squash has finished roasting (when you can easily poke it with a fork) remove from oven and fill each with prepared stuffing mixture.
- Return to oven and roast for 15 minutes until the stuffing is a golden-brown color.
- Garnish with additional herbs or parmigiano reggiano if desired and serve!
Nutrition
Acorn Squash: The Key to Better Digestion and Healthy Bones
You already know acorn squash is packed with bone supporting nutrients like magnesium, potassium, manganese and vitamin C.
But did you know it’s also brimming with fiber? Not only is this nutrient essential for healthy digestion, it also plays an important role in calcium absorption [5]. How so?
Picture this: your colon is like a bustling city. It’s home to a huge variety of bacteria that all live and thrive in balance and help you maintain health.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting: when you eat a diet rich in vegetable fibers, it’s like giving these bacteria a gourmet feast!
They flourish and multiply. Then they produce these powerful little agents called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that help increase calcium absorption [6]. So eating a healthy diet that is high in plant fiber can reduce your risk of losing bone mass.
Takeaways
Your taste buds and bones are in for a treat with our fantastic stuffed acorn squash recipe. It’s the nourishment you’ve been craving — so why wait? Dive right in and experience the goodness for yourself.
But hey, I’m not just a messenger dropping recipes and disappearing into the ether. I want to hear from you.
Did these squash delights light up your taste buds like the Fourth of July? Drop us a comment and spill the beans about your culinary escapade.
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Therese
November 26, 2023 , 4:20 pmAs written this was too much for me. Too much fat, too much sodium, too many carbs, too many calories for a single serving especially for seniors!!
I omitted the added salt, the apple, drained the fat from the cooked pork sausage, and used pecorino romano cheese sparingly on HALF the portion stated in recipe. I wanted to taste the squash as well as the other ingredients. Doesn’t too much salt in the diet also leach calcium from bones?