The best vegan side or main dish for Thanksgiving this year that both vegans and meat-eaters will love! It’s a rustic stuffed squash dish that’s as delicious as it is colorful.
This stuffed squash recipe can be served as a Thanksgiving side dish or as a main course. It’s hearty and delicious. And everyone has at least one guest who might not be thrilled with turkey and all the butter that accompanies the usual Thanksgiving side dishes.
The most popular Thanksgiving side dishes
The most popular Thanksgiving side dishes are often made with butter, cream, and chicken broth. I like to make a few side dishes that are vegan, just in case. We all make several side dishes at Thanksgiving, but most of my favorites have butter, lots of butter. Mashed potatoes, loads of butter, and heavy cream. Is there really any other way to make them? Even my favorite crispy sweet potato roast has butter, quite a bit actually. Then there’s the stuffing, yep, more butter and chicken broth. Popovers, more butter.
A few side dishes we love without butter!
Vegetables don’t always need butter. They have great flavor on their own. Green beans with caramelized shallots, maple-glazed autumn carrots with garlic cloves, and this Roasted Brussels Sprouts recipe are a few regular go-to’s that are full of flavor, delicious, and free of butter.
Acorn squash
Acorn Squash is a winter squash recognizable by its dark green color on the outside with one splotch of orange on the side or top.
Wild rice stuffed acorn squash
What I love about wild rice stuffed acorn squash is that it’s a substantial serving. Acorn squash is quite large and since I want this to be the main dish for vegan guests, I did not try and find small ones. This recipe can be doubled or tripled. The recipe below makes four large halves, To add protein for a main course, you could add roasted garbanzo beans.
It’s a beautiful dish that is rustic and colorful. I arranged them on a large platter with fresh sage from the garden. Sage is one of the ingredients and since it’s quite hardy, it survives in the garden until the first hard frost. A little topping of chopped walnuts and dried cranberries add a bit of brightness to the finished dish.
Ingredients for wild rice stuffed squash recipe
- Acorn squash
- Wild rice
- Onion
- Maple syrup
- Apple cider vinegar
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Curry powder, ground cinnamon, cayenne pepper
- Cranberries
- Chopped walnuts
- Fresh parsley and sage
Wild Rice Stuffed Acron Squash
This is an excellent vegan side dish for Thanksgiving, but we love it for dinner anytime!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: vegan
Ingredients
- 2 acorn squash
- 1/2 cup wild rice
- 2 cups water
- one medium onion or two large shallots, chopped
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup (divided)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries, plus a few extra for garnish
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, plus a little extra for garnish
- 1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley, chopped, plus a little extra for garnish
- 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400º
- Cut squash in half length-wise and scoop out the flesh. Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil.
- Whisk together 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup, and the apple cider vinegar and brush on the flesh side of the squash, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper generously.
- Turn over and brush on the skin side with the cider-olive oil-maple syrup mixture and salt and pepper the skin side as well. Bake flesh side down for 30-40 or until fork tender. Try a couple of spots to check.
- While the squash is in the oven, heat a little oil in a medium pan and saute the chopped onions or shallots until soft and turning golden.
- Add the rice and stir until the rice, and the spices are toasted golden brown, about a minute. Then add the 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook until most of the water is absorbed, about 35 minutes and rice is tender. Remove from the heat.
- Add the dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, sage, and parsley and toss with a fork to combine with the rice. (Remember to save a little fresh parsley, cranberries, and walnuts for the garnish).
- Stuff the scooped out squash halves with the filling. Place on a platter and add the garnish and drizzle the leftover olive oil-maple syrup on top. Serve immediately or hold off on adding the garnish and re-heat when ready to serve, adding the garnish and sage leaves to the platter for serving.
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Hello,
This acorn squash looks wonderful, but I couldn’t find the actual recipe. I’m sure I’ve overlooked it somehow.
I always enjoy your posts.
Hi Nancy! I am so sorry! The recipe was somehow removed. I just added it! I am so sorry I published it without noticing that detail! thank you for reading!!
Hi Leslie,
You have a great site. I enjoy and look forward to it every day.
You are unbelievable. You get so much done and you are so organized. I really enjoy all of your decorating ideas. I have used some of them in my home.
I would like to have the wild rice stuffed acorn squash recipe. I did not see the recipe on your blog or or on Lovely Things blog.
Hope you can publish the recipe as it looks delicious.
Thanks for your help.
Hi! I’m so sorry about the recipe! It somehow was removed and I did not even notice it before I published it! Thank you for letting me know!! Thank you so much for your kind words! I could use a little more organization though! haha
Maybe I’m missing something but I don’t see an actual recipe or link – only ingredients and lots of photos and ads, but can’t find directions. What am I missing?
Hi Linda! THANK YOU!! Somehow it was deleted from the post and I did not even notice before I went to publish it. I just added it!
The acorn squash recipe looks delicious, perfect addition for my vegan guests.
Always looking for more sides for Thanksgiving !
It’s perfect for your vegan guests, but it’s also a great main dish meal and it can be made ahead!
Thank you Annie for a vegan dish! It looks delish. So many bloggers post non-vegan dishes for the holidays. I appreciate your healthier alternatives. There are several vegans in my family who will enjoy this recipe.
Karen, I feel like this is traditional and it happens to be vegan! We’ve made it a few times already this fall and have enjoyed it as a main course. It’s so hearty!
Might have to try this vegan thing… looks awesome!
Made your granola this morning….and this recipe looks delish…however, didn’t you mean scoop out the seeds instead of “scoop out the flesh”? It looks easy and will be perfect
to bring for a family Thanksgiving dinner for me and my husband and some of the other
guests.
Oh, you’re right, Joan! I was thinking of the stringy part of the inside with the seeds! THank you for bringing this to my attention. I’m going to change that!
Hi! This recipe looks delicious and just what I need for guests this Christmas! I had a question about the ingredients. You mention wild rice but the photo looks like maybe rice and a little wild rice. Is this a mix with its own spices? If so, would you please share what brand you used? If I use just plain rice, will I need additional seasonings to what you listed in the recipe? Thank you.
Hello, there,
Thank you for sharing this recipe. My Nana can’t have dairy and lives two hours away so I’d like to make this for her and bring the syrupy dressing in a squeeze bottle with extra chopped walnuts and cranberries or even pomegranate seeds for garnish. Can you recommend an oven temperature and cook time for heating them up, as well as an herb or spice to go with the top garnish (Pumpkin pie seasoning? Rosemary? Sage? Thyme?)
Thank you!
Hi Erica! What a sweet thing to do for your nana! I woud reccomend re-heating in a 350º oven with the diah loosely covered with aluminim foil. I would maybe add a little ground cinnamon or nutmeg on top? Or pumpkin seeds?