This honeynut squash is stuffed with quinoa, caramelized onions in smoked paprika, and of course, the most delicious pan fried pancetta. It’s topped with fresh pomegranate seeds, creamy crumbled goat cheese, parsley, and is the perfect thanksgiving meal! Use this as a thanksgiving dinner side dish, or add chicken to make it the perfect family dinner meal! It’s easy to make, and completely delicious! This recipe is the perfect thing to help me hang onto the last month of autumn!
The Ingredients:
The ingredients in this super easy recipe are as follows: 3 honeynut squash, quinoa, onion, pancetta, goat cheese, and pomegranate. This recipe uses some simple ingredients too, like olive oil and salt, but other than that the ingredients are all super easy to find!
The only ingredient that can be hard to find is honeynut squash, and while it is a crucial part of the recipe, never fear! There are many alternatives!
The Honeynut Squash-
Honeynut squash in a “new and trendy” type of squash. While you can find it at Whole Foods occasionally, it can generally be kind of tricky to find! If you cannot find honeynut squash for this recipe, you can TOTALLY use acorn squash! It cooks the exact same way, has a similar flavor, and is perfect for filling.
The Directions for Stuffed Honeynut Squash:
Cooking the Honeynut Squash:
Other than caramelizing the onions and cooking the quinoa, the first step of this recipe is to prep the honeynut squash. Using a large spoon, scoop out the insides of the squash. By the time you are done, there should be no seeds or guts left in the squash, just what we want to cook.
It should look like this-
To cook the honeynut squash, I like to use my Ninja Foodi! The Ninja Foodi is essentially an instant pot and air fryer hybrid, and the pressure cooker setting is absolutely perfect for quickly cooking squash.
Here’s the link to the Ninja Foodi if you are interested:
I add about an inch of water to the bottom of the instant pot, then prop the squash up on top of the tray. Cook the squash for 3 minutes using the pressure cooker, then use quick release once it is finished cooking.
Cooking the Pancetta:
I like to cook the pancetta in the pan after the onions, ghat way it absorbs the flavors in the extra olive oil and butter in the pan. Add your package on pancetta to the pan on medium heat, and cook until crispy!
Filling the Squash:
To make the filling, combine the quinoa, onions, and pancetta in a large bowl and mix until fully combined. At this point, taste it! You may find it needs more salt, or want to add a certain spice you particularly like. You can flavor this to your liking!
To fill your squash, use an ice cream scooper! Because the hole in the honey squash is small, I like to use a mini scoop! Really pack the filling into the scoop, then turn in over into the squash. I find that using a scoop gives you more control.
To fill your squash, use an ice cream scooper! Because the hole in the honey squash is small, I like to use a mini scoop! Really pack the filling into the scoop, then turn in over into the squash. I find that using a scoop gives you more control.
After filling, top the squash with pomegranate seeds, goat cheese, and chopped parsley. Then, serve and enjoy!!
My Notes on the Recipe:
Just like with any recipe, I have a few notes for this one!
- Use acorn squash if you can’t find honeynut! Size-wise, it’ll work out perfectly! If you want to keep the flavor of the honeynut squash however, you can use a full butternut squash for this recipe. One butternut squash is way bigger than a honeynut, so cooking time will need to increase.
- Really take your time caramelizing the onions! A good, slowly cooked on a low heat, caramelized onion is hard to beat. It’s worth keeping the heat down.
- Be careful with cooking time of the squash! It can take a while to cook a squash, but in the instant pot, it’s so quick. Make sure to use quick release at the end of the cooking time! If your squashes fall in on themselves, never fear! It’s easy to push the squash back into place and add the filling. It won’t look as pretty, but it will taste the same.
HAPPY COOKING EVERYONE! I hope you love this recipe as much as my family and I do!
Quinoa Stuffed Honeynut Squash
Ingredients
- 3 honeynut squash
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- 1 large onion
- 4 oz cubed pancetta
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
- chopped parsley, for garnishing
Instructions
- First, cook the quinoa according to the package, for me I used 1 cup raw quinoa and 2 cups water, but you could use 1/2 cup raw with 1 cup water, because we ended up with a lot of extra quinoa. You really only need about 1 cup cooked quinoa for the filling.
- While your quinoa is cooking, julienne your onion. Heat your olive oil in a large pan over medium to low heat, and when the oil heats up, add your onions. These will need to cook on a low heat for about 30-45 minutes in order to become nice and caramelized.
- While your onions are cooking, prep and cook the squash. Cut each honeynut squash in half vertically, then use a large spoon to remove the seeds. This will leave a large hole where the filling will go. You can roast you squash, but I cooked mine in the instant pot.
- Fill your instant pot with about an inch of water, and place the tray in. Lay the squash on top of the tray (they should all fit in one time) and pressure cook for 3 minutes.
- When the squash are done, quick release the pressure cooker so the squash do not over cook. Remove them from the instant pot and set aside until the filling is ready.
- When the onions are almost done cooking (they will have cooked down significantly and will be golden brown), add the paprika, dried parsley, salt, and butter to the pan and stir. Cook until fully caramelized.
- Once the onions are done, remove them from the pan and add the pancetta. Cook in all of the juices from the caramelized onions for about 5-10 minutes on medium heat, or until nice and crispy. Remove them from the pan and transfer into a bowl using a slotted spoon to avoid transferring the fat that cooked off.
- In a large bowl, mix together the 1 cup cooked quinoa, cooked pancetta, and caramelized onions. Taste as you go, as this may need more salt.
- To fill the squash, pack the quinoa filling into a small ice cream or cupcake scoop. Place the filling in the empty area of the squash. Repeat until every squash if filled.
- Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds and crumbled goat cheese onto the squash, evenly dividing the 1/4 cup of each into every squash. Feel free to add more or less of each topping depending on your personal preference.
- Garnish with chopped parsley and serve!