Sausage Stuffed Butternut Squash Recipe

Stuffed butternut squash has been topped with pomegranate seeds.

5 — Votes 2 votes

Sausage Stuffed Butternut Squash Recipe

This stuffed butternut squash is the perfect tasty, healthy whole meal for your fall table. Complete with spicy Italian sausage, butternut squash, bright pomegranate seeds, and a savory grapefruit goat cheese sauce, you will want to put this dish on repeat.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 30

Total Time1 40

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Servings: Servings

Author: Cassy Joy Garcia

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter, ghee, or avocado oil
2 pounds Italian sausage, hot or mild
2 small-medium sized butternut squash, halved lengthwise and deseeded
½ teaspoon salt
1 large pomegranate

For the Sauce

4 ounces goat cheese
¼ cup grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon grapefruit zest
½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Add the butter to a large frying pan over high heat. Once melted, add the sausage. Using a spoon to break it up as it cooks, cook the sausage until it’s brown and slightly crispy, about 10 minutes.
Place the halved butternut squash cut-side up in a large casserole dish or on a large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with the sea salt. Once browned, spoon the sausage over the squash, tint the top with a sheet of aluminum foil (lightly it place it on top), and bake at 375°F for 1 hour.
Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until a fork slides easily into the thickest part of the squash.
While the squash is in the oven, de-seed the pomegranate. Then, make the sauce by whisking or blending all of the ingredients together until smooth.
Once cooked, sprinkle the top of the squash with the pomegranate seeds, drizzle the sauce over top, finish with the fresh thyme, and serve.

Notes

Make-Ahead Tips:

While this recipe is mostly hands-off, it does take a bit of time to cook the squash. If you don't have an hour and 30 minutes (give or take a few minutes) to make this dinner from start to finish during the week, feel free to make a couple of components ahead of time so that the night of is super easy. Here's how you can get ahead:

- Pre-bake the squash - cut the butternut squash in half (if this intimidates you, check out our tutorial on how to cut butternut squash) and bake it, cut side-up, in a 375°F for an hour. Once it's out of the oven, let the squash cool and then store it in the fridge for up to a week.

- Pre-cook the sausage - cook and crumble the sausage until slightly crispy, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

- Make the sauce - whisk or blend the sauce ingredients together and then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

- De-seed the pomegranate - if you bought a whole pomegranate, feel free to go ahead and de-seed it on your prep day, then store it in the fridge for up to a week.

If you do the prep above, you'll just need to stuff the squash with the crispy sausage and bake it in a 375°F oven for 15-20 minutes, until warmed through.

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