The Best Festive Stuffed Butternut Squash (Gluten Free, Vegan)

Prep: 5 minutesCook: 90 minutesTotal: 95 minutes
Yield: serves 4Category: Dinners
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This delicious Festive Stuffed Butternut Squash is the ultimate show stopper and will make a great plant based centrepiece on your dinner table come Christmas day!

This consists of a whole roasted butternut squash that is packed full of my homemade sausage and apple stuffing. The stuffing itself contains fresh herbs such as sage and rosemary and pieces of apple and cranberry that give this sausage stuffing so much flavour. It is absolutely delicious and, when paired with the sweet butternut squash that has started to caramelise in the oven, this makes the ultimate addition to any roast dinner in colder weather.

I have to admit, I am a huge fan of roast dinner style meals. Even though I no longer eat meat I still long for that comforting hearty family dinner on a weekend! Finding meat free substitutes that are vegan and gluten free can be quite a challenge and I do not want to just eat the same thing each week so I have turned to creating my own plant based substitutes such as this delicious Stuffed Butternut Squash and my Mushroom & Chestnut Wellington, etc instead.

This recipe may look quite time consuming, however, with the exception of the fifteen minutes needed to make the stuffing, the rest of the time is simply needed for the squash to bake. You could easily prepare the stuffing in advance so you already had it to hand to make this recipe even simpler. If you like the sound of this recipe but want something a little more traditional you could experiment by using the stuffing in some kind of pastry wreath or plait instead of the squash or even just turn it into stuffing balls – get the separate recipe for my Sausage & Apple Stuffing here.

I use a large butternut squash in this recipe but you could always use two smaller ones instead. I would consider this amount of food to serve four people so you would just be creating individual portions rather than the sharers a larger one makes. You could even substitute the butternut squash for another type of squash or pumpkin if preferred.

I like to make this stuffing with breadcrumbs I make myself from blending gluten free and vegan bread rolls into crumbs but you can make this part of the recipe easier for yourself and opt to use shopbought gluten free breadcrumbs instead if you want.

I love this Stuffed Butternut Squash served as part of a larger meal alongside my Buttery Sprouts with Bacon, my Pistachio Topped Maple Glazed Carrots, and a potato side such as my Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes or my Buttery Garlic & Thyme Roast Potatoes.

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Ingredients

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  • 1 large butternut squash
  • 6 meat free sausages
  • 2 gluten free and vegan bread rolls (approx 200g)
  • 2 sticks celery
  • 1 red apple
  • 1 handful dried cranberries
  • 1 red onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 handful fresh sage leaves
  • 1 sprig rosemary
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 tbsp dairy free butter
  • 200ml 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp water
  • big pinch sea salt
  • pinch black pepper
  • splash olive oil

Method

  1. Use a sharp knife to slice the butternut squash in half lengthways
  2. Place the halves on a lined baking tray, fleshy side facing up, and add a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. Bake for one hour at 180 degrees Celsius in a preheated oven
  3. Peel and finely dice the onion before adding to a large frying pan along with the olive oil
  4. Remove the sausage from the casing and add to the pan. Cook over a low heat constantly stirring and using your wooden spoon to break the sausage up into small pieces
  5. Finely dice the red apple, discarding the stem and pips, and the sticks of celery. Add both to the pan along with the minced garlic cloves and fry, stirring often, until the onion, apple and celery soften and the sausage browns
  6. Remove the rosemary and thyme leaves from their stems and add to the pan along with the sage leaves, cranberries, salt and pepper. Stir well and reduce the heat
  7. Place the gluten free bread in a blender and blitz until fine crumbs form
  8. Add the bread crumbs to the pan along with the water and butter, stir well until all of the ingredients come together
  9. Remove the squash from the oven and stuff with the contents of the tray. Use the back of a spoon to really pack the mixture in
  10. Return the tray to the oven and bake for another thirty minutes at 180 degrees Celsius

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