Sausage Stuffed Butternut Squash
Summary
Sausage Stuffed Butternut Squash with italian sausage, pecans, cranberries, and spinach
Info
SERVINGS: 4
PREP:
20 min
COOK:
40 min
TOTAL:
1 hour
INGREDIENTS
Roasted Butternut Squash
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2 butternut squash medium or large
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2 Tbsp olive oil
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¼ tsp salt or more
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black pepper freshly ground
Sausage Filling
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1 Tbsp olive oil
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1 onion small, diced
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14 oz Italian sausage spicy, crumbled
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4 cloves garlic minced
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1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
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4 oz spinach fresh
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½ C dried cranberries
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½ C pecans chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
Roast Butternut Squash
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Prepare the butternut squash. Slice each one in half lengthwise. Keep fingers away from the knife to avoid injury. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and fleshy strands tangled with the seeds.
- Place butternut squash cut sides up on a baking sheet. Drizzle the cut sides of the butternut squash halves with olive oil and rub the oil into the squash. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Turn the squash halves over, and place it cut sides down on a baking sheet. Tip: you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean-up.
- Roast in the preheated oven at 400 F for 30 or 40 minutes.
Make sausage filling
- Make the sausage filling while the squash is being roasted in the oven.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil, add diced onion, and cook it on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes until cooked and a bit charred.
- Add crumbled sausage, minced garlic, and Italian seasoning and cook for about 5 minutes or more on medium heat until the sausage is cooked through.
- Add fresh spinach and cook for another 5 minutes on medium heat until the spinach wilts.
- Add dried cranberries and chopped pecans and mix everything.
- Season with salt and pepper. Probably not necessary since the sausage is already usually salty (unless you use sweet sausage which I do not recommend).
Assembly
- By this time, you have roasted the butternut squash for 30 or 40 minutes. Remove them from the oven and turn the cooked squash halves cut sides up.
- Let it cool slightly. Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh leaving about a 1-inch border along the sides.
- Reheat the sausage mixture in the same skillet in which you made it to warm it up.
- Divide the sausage filling among the 4 halves and stuff the squash until the mixture is leveled or a little bit higher.
- Top with freshly ground black pepper and fresh thyme.