It’s finally sweater weather here in Ottawa, so I’m leaning hard into this stuffed squash recipe. I’m not normally a fan of stuffed vegetables. It always seems like too much work for too little flavour payoff. But this kale and sausage stuffed squash really delivered big with taste and comfort. These were inspired by Lena Abraham’s recipe on delish.com.

The squash needs to be roasted before stuffing. I made this with acorn squash, but it would also be delicious with honeynut squash (mini butternuts), delicata squash or sweet dumplings. The skin on most of these small squash get quite tender with roasting, so they are completely edible.

While the squash is roasting, make the filling. This recipe is infinitely customizable. Start with the carbohydrate element. Farro, barley, rice, wheat berries, freekeh or Israeli couscous can be used. You could cook them in water, vegetable or chicken stock, but try using apple cider as Lena did. I simmered some Israeli couscous in apple cider and added a big splash of apple cider vinegar to balance out all that sweetness.

Next select your aromatics. Shallots, onions, garlic, leeks are all good choices. Celery is a traditional stuffing ingredient for good reason. It adds great taste and texture.

To bulk the stuffing up you can add ground meat of some kind (beef, turkey, chicken or lamb) or some spicy sausage. I used a plant based Spicy Italian Sausage to keep it vegetarian. If you leave out the cheese, it could also be served to your sweet vegan nieces.

A hearty green is the next component. Kale or Swiss chard are perfect. Just stir them in and mix until they wilt. You need that hit of bitterness to balance the stuffing. Cheese is optional but I love the richness it brings. I used a mix of Havarti, Gouda and Monterey Jack. Mix some in but save a bit to put on top for a molten golden crust.

The final component is the garnish. I’m all about texture so after filling and heating I topped mine with roasted salted pumpkin seeds and some ruby red juicy pomegranate seeds.

Click here to print recipe for Kale and Sausage Stuffed Squash.