This stuffed delicata squash is a delicious follow-up on last weeks recipe – easy tahini gravy. Seriously y’all, if you’ve never had delicata squash before, now is the time to try it! Sweet, creamy, and really easy to hollow out and pack full of stuffing (hearty wild rice, kale, walnuts and cranberries), it’s an excellent squash that makes even more excellent nosh. Ladle over some of my famous tahini gravy, and it’s truly a dish to remember!
Easy Delicata Squash Stuffing
Stuffing delicata squash is quite easy. It’s an incredible way of transforming gourde into gourmet.
Here’s what you’ll need for the filling.
- Yellow onion
- Garlic
- Kale
- Wild Rice (cooked)
- Dried cranberries
- Walnuts
Simple, dynamic, and delicious. The onion and garlic play to the heartiness, the kale for something green and chewy, the wild rice for body and nuttiness, the cranberries for sweet, and the walnuts for texture.
Stuffed Delicata Squash 101
One of the amazing things about delicata squash is that, once stuffed and baked in the oven, you can eat the entire thing – skin and all. Unlike other gourdes, where it’d usually be better to forgo eating the skin (it’s tough), delicata squash skin becomes very creamy and tender after baking. No need to peel it off before you eat it!
With that said, it’s just a few easy steps to bake these stuffed delicata squash in the oven.
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F, and then halve the delicata squash. Scoop out the seeds, and hollow out the inside slightly until it’s completely clean.
2. Lightly coat the delicata squash in olive oil (inside and out), transfer them to an 8×8 baking dish (or a larger dish if they don’t fit), and then add the filling to the squash, stuffing them full. Any excess filling that doesn’t fit in the squash, just lay it around the outside of the squash in the 8×8.
3. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, and then bake for 45 – 55 minutes, until the squash are completely tender and easily give way when poked with a fork.
That’s it.. hollow ’em, stuff ’em, and bake ’em. Simple as that. Your stuffed delicata squash beckons you!
Wild Rice Hacks
This stuffed delicata squash recipe does take a bit of preparation, namely in the cooking of the wild rice beforehand.
Personally, I like to use freshly cooked wild rice for this recipe, but it’s totally an option to use instant microwaveable brown and/or wild rice if you’re strapped for time (er – what does that phrase even mean? does time have straps?).
If you are going to make your own wild rice (which I’d highly recommend), I suggest that, instead of boiling it in plain water, you use vegetable broth instead. Doing so will imbibe the wild rice full of that savory vegetable broth-y goodness, and so yield a more flavorful squash stuffing for your stuffed delicata squash, too.
Rehydrating Cranberries
This is another one of those clever hacks that I learned awhile back.
Dried cranberries, especially when they’re baked in a hot oven for a prolonged period of time, can become even more chewy and hard post-bake than they already are straight out of the bag. Therefore, it’s helpful to soak them ahead of time in lukewarm water, rehydrating them into plump little fruit rubies. About 5 to 10 minutes should do the trick.
Doing so ensures that your stuffing will not be overly chewy and tough. The cranberries should hold their moisture throughout the entire bake, and still be moderately plump at the end of it.
I do hope that you enjoyed this stuffed delicata squash recipe with tahini gravy. If you’re curious to see the intricasies of this tahini gravy recipe, and would like to delve into it more, check out the recipe here.
Stuffed Delicata Squash with Tahini Gravy
Equipment
- 8×8 baking dish
- Cast-iron pan
Ingredients
- 1 medium delicata squash, halved and seeds scooped out
- Some olive oil, to coat
For the wild rice filling
- ½ yellow onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Handful kale, de-stemmed and torn into smaller pieces (about 2 – 3 cups)
- Some olive oil, for sautéing the onion, garlic and kale
- 1 ½ cups cooked wild rice, use minute-made microwaveable rice for faster prep time
- ½ cup dried cranberries, rehydrated in warm water for 5 minutes
- ½ cup roughly chopped walnuts
- Some salt & ground black pepper, to taste
For the tahini gravy
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil, divided
- ½ yellow onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, gluten-free flour/chickpea flour for a gluten-free version
- 1 ½ cups mushroom broth, low-sodium preferred
- 2 ½ tablespoons tamari, low-sodium preferred
- 1 ½ tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 ½ tablespoons raw tahini
- Some violife parm, for garnish
Instructions
- First, begin by preparing the wild rice. I'd recommend cooking the rice yourself, since it'll be more flavorful. Instead of boiling the rice in water, boil it in vegetable broth, or a combination of water and vegetable broth, and add about a tablespoon of olive oil, too. Wild rice should usually take about 45 minutes to cook, and then 10 minutes to steam. If you'd like a shorter version of this recipe, simply use microwaveable rice instead.
- Next, in a cast-iron over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic until golden brown, about 5 – 6 minutes. Once the onion and garlic are near finished sautéeing, add the shredded kale, and sauté until wilted, about 3 – 4 minutes. Transfer the onions, garlic and kale to a large mixing bowl, and add the wild rice, cranberries, walnuts, and season with salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F, and then halve the delicata squash. Scoop out the seeds, and hollow out the inside slightly until it's completely clean. Lightly coat the delicata squash in olive oil (inside and out), transfer them to an 8×8 baking dish (or a larger dish if they don't fit), and then add the filling from the large mixing bowl to the squash, stuffing them full. Any excess filling that doesn't fit in the squash, just lay it around the outside of the squash in the 8×8. Cover the entire baking dish with aluminum foil, and then bake for 45 – 55 minutes, until the squash are completely tender and easily give way when poked with a fork.
- About 10 minutes from when the squash are finished, begin the tahini gravy. In the same cast-iron that you used to sauté the onions and garlic, now sauté the other half of the yellow onion and some more garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once golden brown (5 – 6 minutes), add another 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, and then the flour, letting it clump up around the onions. Toast the flour for about 1 – 2 minutes. After that, add the mushroom broth, low-sodium tamari nutritional yeast and raw tahini. Bring this to a light boil, and then reduce the heat to low-medium, continuously whisking the gravy well until it has thickened into a texture that you like. This should take 3 – 5 minutes or so to thicken sufficiently. Turn the heat to low, and cover to keep warm.
- Once the squash are done, transfer them to a platter along with the leftover filling that didn't make it in the squash, drizzle on some tahini gravy, and shred some violife parm over the top.
Nutrition
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
This is a delicious dish. Delicata squash is beautiful even when cooked and with the wild rice and tahini gravy, it is both visually appealing and tasty. I just got a little jar of chanterelle mushrooms from a friend that seems it would be a savory addition to this dish. Thanks Vegan Nephew for another great recipe and the ideas good food inspires in the kitchen.