The Best Stuffed Acorn Squash for One

This easy stuffed acorn squash with ground beef and rice is made in an Instant Pot and on the stove, in less than an hour. Batch cook rice, squash, beef, & vegetables for so you can reuse leftover ingredients in different dishes.

[This stuffed acorn squash main dish recipe was originally posted in November 2018. It has been updated with new photos, cooking instructions, expert tips, FAQ, related recipes, video and ways to repurpose/use up ingredients]

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This delicious stuffed acorn squash recipe has minimal ingredients, limited chopping, and is so easy. No need to spend 30 minutes chopping vegetables and ingredients. Buy pre-chopped vegetables to save more time.

All you have to do is cook the acorn squash in your Instant Pot and then quickly cook the beef and rice mixture.

Ingredients

Scroll down to the stuffed acorn squash recipe card for the amounts of each ingredient, but here’s a quick description of what’s in this recipe.

• Acorn squash: acorn squash is a great size to cut into 2-3 servings for stuffed acorn squash. It’s got nice, soft flesh after cooking, and is easy to find. You can also chop other types of winter squash to include in your recipe.
• Onion: It adds some nice texture and sweetness to this recipe. It’s a great staple to include. It’s ok to skip the onion in your stuffed acorn squash if you don’t have any.
• Vegetables: I use onion, green bell pepper, asparagus in this recipe. Onion is great, I recommend using it. The other vegetables can be swapped for what you have. Lots of vegetables will be good in this stuffed acorn squash.
• Ground beef: ground beef has a nice meaty, rich flavor that goes well in this fall recipe. Swap for ground turkey, chicken, sweet Italian sausage, or even plant based protein like TVP.
• Italian seasoning
• Rice: use whatever kind of rice you have like brown, white rice, wild rice, etc. Make it from dried, frozen, or quick cooking. Use what you have and like!
• Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Scroll down to the stuffed acorn squash recipe card for more detailed instructions. Here’s a quick overview + photos to see how to make this recipe in general.

1.Slice squash in half along the center with a sharp chef’s knife, on a cutting board, then scoop out seeds.

2. Prepare squash. Add water to Instant Pot, insert trivet. Place squash cut side down. Cook on MANUAL for 7 minutes.

3. Release pressure immediately when timer goes off. Carefully remove lid and remove each half of squash with tongs. Set aside your fork tender squash.

4. Cut onion and asparagus for stuffed acorn squash.

5. Make beef stuffing. Add olive oil to hot skillet. Add onion, vegetables, salt, black pepper and Italian seasoning to skillet. Cook about 5 minutes.

6. Add ground beef, cook about 5-10 minutes until browned. Break up beef so it’s in smaller chunks.

7. Add pre-cooked rice, and cook until rice is warmed, about 3 minutes. 

8. Place squash half on plate, cut side up, fill with beef mixture. Top your stuffed acorn squash with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy.

How to bake acorn squash

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash then drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay cut sides down in a baking dish. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until squash is tender. It’s just as good as in the Instant Pot.

Storage/Reheating Tips

You can store leftover stuffed acorn squash dish in an airtight container, all assembled or separated for about a week.

Freezing instructions: Peel the skin before freezing. And then freeze the squash separately from the ground beef & vegetables. Place the squash in a freezer bag, and press air out of it, do the same with the beef mixture.

When you’re ready to eat your stuffed acorn squash, add the squash and beef mixture to a microwave safe plate and microwave until hot. The texture of the squash & of the filling will be better this way.

To reheat, slice acorn squash into bite sized pieces (for quicker cooking), and cook squash and filling together in the microwave or toaster oven.

Substitutions/Tips

• Place both parts of the squash in Instant Pot to have squash for other recipes.
• Remove asparagus from pan before adding beef if you don’t want to use it all in this stuffed squash dish. That way you can us it in soup or another dish.
• To save time, cook beef mixture while squash is in Instant Pot. They will take about the same amount of time.
• There are lots of foods and flavors you can stuff in your squash, you can add a quinoa mixture, sausage mixture or sausage stuffing and herbs for fall flavors.
• Use any similarly sized squash. Acorn is often the most available, but this stuffed acorn squash recipe will be great with any winter squash like spaghetti squash or delicata squash.
• Easily double this recipe to use the whole acorn squash. Or cook the whole squash, and use in other recipes. Sprinkle the leftover squash half with fresh thyme/herbs or even brown sugar or maple syrup for a treat.
• You can substitute the ground beef in this stuffed acorn squash with ground pork, ground chicken, ground turkey, sausage or TVP for a vegetarian option.
• Other great add-ins: other vegetables like mushrooms, finishing salt, chopped nuts, chopped pears or apples, feta cheese etc are great added to stuffed acorn squash.

FAQ

Other good squash recipes

How to repurpose this stuffed squash recipe?

• Slice the remaining squash, serve all stuffed acorn squash ingredients over lettuce/greens. It would also be great with an apple cider vinaigrette (olive oil & apple cider vinegar to keep it really simple)
• Want to reuse the stuffing part differently? Don’t add the rice to the whole pan of beef mixture, just to the part that you’ll eat in the stuffed acorn squash. Add leftover beef to spaghetti sauce to it and serve over pasta.

What can I make with leftover ingredients?

When you’re cooking for one, you often have leftover produce, cans of whatever ingredient, etc. Here are a couple ideas on how to use up the leftover ingredients. It’ll help you save money by wasting fewer ingredients.

Did you make this stuffed acorn squash? Leave me a comment & rating to share how it turned out!