Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash (VIDEO) – Kalyn's Kitchen

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Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash is delicious for dinner, and with a moderate portion size this recipe is surprising low in net carbs!

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Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash is a recipe that combines Italian Sausage with onions, peppers, and cheese, and then stuffs the mixture inside a partly pre-baked acorn squash. My infatuation with butternut squash is well-documented on the blog, but this is the very first recipe using acorn squash to appear on Kalyn’s Kitchen!

I came up with this recipe a few years ago when my sister Val gave me some acorn squash from her garden. I enjoyed the flavor, and the shape of acorn squash made me think it was begging to be stuffed with something tasty. And although I know winter squash isn’t a super low-carb vegetable in a recipe like this where there’s plenty of low-carb sausage, peppers, and cheese it may be a lower-carb dish than you’d think.

Since then I have made this every year when acorn squash starts showing up in the stores. I’m reminding you about this for my Friday Favorites pick for the week, and if you like winter squash and Italian Sausage I bet you might love it as much as I do.

What ingredients do you need for this recipe:

medium-sized acorn squash
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Olive Oil (affiliate link)
Italian Sausage, either pork or turkey Italian Sausage will work
red bell pepper
onion
grated Mozzarella cheese
grated Parmesan cheese

How can you make this recipe lower in carbs?

In the nutritional information I’m assuming that most people who are watching carbs would eat half of one of these pieces of Acorn Squash with the stuffing, which makes it not that much of a carb splurge. But you could stuff some of the sausage mixture into peppers for some family members who wanted fewer carbs if you prefer.

What winter squash could you use that is lower in carbs?

You could definitely use one of the other winter squashes that have less carbs for those recipe. Good options include Kabocha or Buttercup. (Thanks to a smart reader for alerting me to that in the comments!)

What kind of Sausage did I use for Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash?

I’m a big fan of turkey Italian Sausage, especially for a dish like this where there is also cheese in the stuffing. But lately I haven’t been finding the turkey Italian Sausage in my stores, and if you prefer pork sausage, that will certainly work.

Steps for making Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash:

(This is just a summary of the steps; scroll down for complete printable recipe with nutritional information.)

Wash the squash, cut in half, and cut out the stem.
Scrape out the seeds and the stringy parts.
Put in a baking dish, season with salt and fresh-ground pepper, and bake until squash is starting to get soft.
While squash bakes, brown sausage and chop the onion and pepper.
When sausage is nicely browned, add onion and pepper and cook a few minutes more.
Turn off heat, season with fresh-ground black pepper to taste, and stir in grated Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan. (Save a little cheese for the top.)
Take squash out of the oven and make sure you can easily pierce with a fork.
Divide stuffing mix between the four squash halves, pressing it down.
Cover each piece with grated Mozzarella, then bake until squash is piping hot and the cheese is browned to your liking.

More Stuffed Vegetables You Might Like:

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep where you’ll find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Ingredients

2 medium-sized acorn squash (about 1.5 lbs each)

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 tsp. olive oil

12 oz. Turkey Italian Sausage (see notes)

1 red bell pepper, chopped small

1 small onion, chopped small

3/4 cup + 1/3 cup grated Mozzarella

2 T finely grated Parmesan

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.
Choose the smallest dish you can get away with that holds all the squash to keep them from rolling around in the dish.
Wash the outside of the squash, cut in half lengthwise, cut out the stem area, and use a sharp spoon to scrape out the seeds and the stringy part that surrounds the seeds.
Put squash pieces in a baking dish, season with a little salt and fresh-ground pepper, and bake until the squash is starting to get soft when you stick a fork in it, about 30-35 minutes.
While the squash bakes, brown the Turkey Italian Sausage and chop the onion and red bell pepper.
When the sausage is nicely browned, add the onion and pepper and cook a few minutes more.
Turn off heat, season the mixture with fresh-ground black pepper to taste, and stir in 3/4 cup grated Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan.
Take the partly cooked squash out of the oven and test to make sure you can easily pierce the squash with a fork.
Divide the stuffing mix between the four squash halves, pressing it down so it’s tightly packed.
Cover each piece with a generous pinch of grated mozzarella.
Then put the squash halves back into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes more, or until it’s piping hot and the cheese is browned to your liking. Serve hot.

Notes

If you want to cook the extra two sausages go ahead, then bake the extra stuffing in one or more silicone baking cups or in a small baking dish. You could also bake extra stuffing inside a bell pepper for those who want a low carb option.

Recipe was created by Kalyn, inspired by acorn squash from my sister Val’s garden and my love for Turkey Italian Sausage.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 149Total Fat: 7.1gSaturated Fat: 1/9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3.9gCholesterol: 44mgSodium: 410mgCarbohydrates: 9.6gFiber: 2.6gSugar: 1gProtein: 12g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
For low-carb diets, if you eat half of one of the stuffed squash pieces, that is 7 net carbs, so this lower in carbs than you might think. Even if you ate a whole half it’s not that huge of a splurge on carbs. Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash would be Phase Two or Three for the original South Beach Diet.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Oven Dinners to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for the Recipe:
This recipe was posted in 2016. It was last updated with more information in 2022.

Pinterest image of Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash

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