This plant-protein packed roasted lentil stuffed butternut squash recipe is so easy and full of fresh herbs and fall veggies for a healthy and flavorful dinner!
Table of contents
- Ingredients:
- Do I need to peel the butternut squash before baking?
- Overview: How to make stuffed butternut squash:
- Variations:
- How to prepare this dish for the holidays:
- What to serve with this dish:
Tell me about this roasted quinoa & walnut stuffed butternut squash:
If you’re looking for a delicious fall recipe that serves as a complete meal, then look no further than this unbelievably easy and simple yet flavor packed roasted lentil stuffed butternut squash.
This is autumn in a bite. With fresh sage and roasted garlic all mixed with lentils, quinoa, and walnuts (for somehealthy fatsandplant based protein– seriously, 1/2 cup of cooked lentils packs in 12 grams of protein!), all twice baked in roasted butternut squash boats.
That’s right, you don’t even need to peel the butternut squash because we’re using the whole squash as the actual serving dish for these stuffed butternut squash boats (just like my quinoa stuffed acorn squash!).
This is a butternut squash lover’s recipe for sure (and if you’re really about that squash, make sure to check out my butternut squash soup as well!).
And the best part? This whole recipe is so pantry friendly and naturally dairy free and gluten-free (and vegan!), but you’d honestly never know.
And if you really didn’t feel like serving it as boats, you could easily just chop the butternut squash up and toss everything together to be roasted in a casserole dish, like my roasted butternut squash!
You’re just going to love this dish- it’s so easy, flavor packed, and the perfect savory recipe to even serve at Thanksgiving or Christmas as a side dish or main!
Ingredients:
- Butternut squash
- Quinoa:For a wild rice stuffed butternut squash, swap out the quinoa for an equal amount of cooked wild rice!
- Lentils:You can also use black beans, cannellini beans, or butterbeans. Feel free to swap in a torn crispy tofu for that “sausage” texture as well!
- Walnuts:If you’re nut free, feel free to swap in pumpkin seeds! You can also use another nut, like almonds or pecans.
- Mushrooms
- Sage & thyme
- Cashew butter:You can also use almond butter or tahini (use tahini if you have a nut allergy!)
- Soy sauce
- Rice vinegar:You can also sub in lemon juice.
- Dried onion & ground cumin
For garnish, I like to top with more fresh sage and pomegranate seeds, but you can also top some grated vegan parmesan cheese!
Do I need to peel the butternut squash before baking?
Nope! The skin of the butternut squash is going to serve as our boat for serving these roasted butternut squash halves. It makes it super easy for serving as well!
Overview: How to make stuffed butternut squash:
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
Variations:
- Add in dried cranberries or chopped apples:For a little extra sweet and tart flavor!
- Stir the vegan parmesan into the quinoa stuffing mixture:For more of a cheesy stuffing, you can opt for stirring in 1/4 cup of vegan cheese. You can even use vegan cheddar too, but I prefer vegan parmesan!
- Use wild rice instead of quinoa:This would be 2 cups cooked wild rice!
- Use pumpkin seeds and tahini for nut-free
- Swap acorn squash for butternut squash:The method will be quite similar, but I would grab 3-4 acorn squash, as they’re quite small!
- Add in kale:Chop up 2 cups of washed kale for some extra greens!
How to prepare this dish for the holidays:
This is honestly one of my favorite dishes to serve at both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I know with everything going on those days, it can be overwhelming to think of the prep!
So here’s how I prep this roasted stuffed butternut squash recipe for the holidays:
The day before:Prep and roast the butternut squash and garlic, along with making the quinoa lentil mixture. Then cover and chill the quinoa stuffing in the fridge, along with the butternut squash and roasted garlic.
The day of:Continue onto Step 8 of stuffing the squash, then bake for 20-25 minutes before serving! Serve warm and enjoy!
Leftovers? Here’s how to store & reheat this stuffed butternut squash recipe:
If you have any leftovers, you can easily store the butternut squash halves for later and reheat them!
Simply store the leftovers in an airtight container and in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Then to reheat, place the butternut squash halves onto a baking sheet and into the oven for 10 minutes at 350F.
What to serve with this dish:
With any squash, I immediately think hearty vegetables, so here are a few of my favorite veggie side dishes to serve up alongside this roasted stuffed butternut squash:
- roasted Brussels sprouts
- Crispy sweet potatoes
- Roasted red cabbage
- Maple glazed balsamic carrots
- Warm fall harvest salad with crispy kale and Brussels sprouts
Because this butternut squash recipe is so full of healthy plant protein, carbs, and fat, all you really need is to serve a veggie alongside it! But if you’re looking for more holiday sides, here are a few of my faves:
- Vegan sweet potato casserole
- Creamy vegan mashed potatoes
- Gluten-free vegan stuffing
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
Roasted Lentil & Walnut Stuffed Butternut Squash Recipe
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- Author: Britt Berlin
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 65
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Roasting
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This plant-protein packed roasted lentil stuffed butternut squash recipe is so easy and full of fresh herbs and fall veggies for a healthy and flavorful dinner!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 medium butternut squashes
- 1 bulb garlic
- 1 tbsp cooking oil (olive oil, avocado oil, or melted vegan butter)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2/3 cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup dry lentils (any type)
- 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped*
- 1 cup shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and rubbed dry
- 1 tbsp chopped sage
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
- Pomegranate seeds, for garnish
- Vegan parmesan cheese, for garnish
Cashew Sauce:
- 1 tbsp cashew butter*
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar or lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
- 1/4 cup filtered water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
Instructions
- Prep:Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Wash the outside of the butternut squash, then carefully slice it in half with a large kitchen knife on a cutting board. You can either keep the squash as halves or slice them into quarters for smaller portions (suitable for holidays with lots of other dishes!). Peel part of the shell of the garlic bulb and trim 1/4″ to 1/2″ off of the top of the bulb. Slice the mushrooms and set aside.
- Finish prepping the butternut squash:Use a fork and spoon to scoop out the seeds. Then place the butternut squash halves and/or quarters onto the baking sheet, along with the garlic bulb. Brush the tops of the butternut squash with the oil, and give a drizzle to the top of the garlic. Sprinkle everything with sea salt.
- Roast:Place the baking sheet into the oven to roast for 25 minutes at first. After 25 minutes, remove the garlic bulb with oven mitts (it will be hot!), and set aside onto a plate to cool. Keep the butternut squash roasting for another 30-35 minutes, or until fork tender.
- Cook the quinoa and lentils:While the butternut squash finishes cooking, prepare the quinoa and lentils according to the packaging instructions. Once both are cooked, spoon the quinoa and lentils into a large bowl.
- While the quinoa and lentils are cooking, make the sauce:In a small bowl, whisk together the cashew sauce ingredients until combined. Set aside.
- Steam or sauté the mushrooms:In a small saucepan, you can either lightly sauté or steam the mushrooms just until soft (about 3-5 minutes).
- Mix the stuffing mixture:Add the mushrooms to the lentil quinoa bowl, along with the chopped walnuts, sage, and thyme. Squeeze the roasted garlic from the bulb into the bowl. Mix everything together. Then pour in the sauce into the lentil mixture, and toss to evenly combine.
- Stuff the squash:Remove the roasted butternut squash from the oven (keeping the oven on!), and using oven mitts, carefully scoop out about 1/2 of the flesh of the butternut squash. Place the extra butternut squash into the lentil stuffing bowl and toss to combine. Then fill the cavity of the butternut squash with the lentil stuffing, being generous with each squash half and/or quarter.
- Bake again:Place the butternut squash back into the oven to bake at 400F for another 20-25 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!Remove the roasted butternut squash from the oven and carefully plate. Top with pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries and vegan parmesan cheese. Serve and enjoy!
- Storage:Store any leftovers in an airtight container and in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes.
Notes
Nut-free:Swap in pumpkin seeds and tahini respectively.
See blog post for all tips & variations!
