17 Festive Vegan Stuffed Squash Recipes

Hard winter squashes — butternut, acorn, golden acorn, spaghetti squash, and sugar pumpkin are ideal for stuffing. So are zucchini — the oblong and round (8 ball) varieties. Here’s a roundup of festive vegan stuffed squash recipes for cool weather meals, holiday fare, and creative ways to use zucchini.

Varieties of winter squash are pretty interchangeable in these recipes — if a recipe calls for acorn, feel free to use butternut and vice versa. Experiment with delicata, hubbard, sugar pumpkin, Hokkaido, and kabocha squashes as well.

You’ll find that the majority of the winter squash recipes here call for acorn or butternut squashes — the classics for stuffing — but feel free to use less common varieties listed just above. Keep going for some delectable stuffed zucchini recipes.

Are winter squash varieties interchangeable for stuffing?

Yes, pretty much; their initial baking time varies a bit according to size. And the size of the cavities after scooping out the seedy, fibrous part is the variable. You may find yourself with more filling than you need, or occasionally not enough.

Leftover filling can always be used as a side dish, and if you find yourself with an empty squash half or two, use them for another purpose — peel and add to roasted vegetable dishes, or puree and use to make pie. See our guide to winter squash varieties.

How to cut winter squashes easily

Many recipes that blithely call for the cook to cut them in half — something the average kitchen knife can’t do well (other than delicata, which is relatively easy to cut when raw). There’s an easy way to avoid the squash struggle:

1 wrap the entire squash in aluminum foil and place in a casserole dish.

2 Bake at 375º F for 30 minutes (for smaller squashes) to 45 minutes or slightly more (for butternut, sugar pumpkin, and larger squashes). You should be able to just pierce through the skin and flesh, a couple of inches for larger squashes, about an inch for smaller ones.

3 Then, once the squash is cool enough to handle, go ahead and cut it in half. Scoop out and discard the seedy, fibrous part and proceed with the specific recipe you’re following.

That’s pretty much all it takes, though if you want more details, see How to Cut Winter Squashes Easily.

Stuffed vegetables also make festive main dishes for vegan and vegetarian guests at holiday meals — notably Thanksgiving. Thanks to the talented bloggers who have participated in this roundup for permission to link back to their recipes and use their photos.

Thanks to the talented bloggers who augmented The Vegan Atlas recipes for this roundup, for permission to link to their recipes and use their photographs.

Stuffed winter squash recipes

Roasted Acorn Squash with Quinoa Stuffing (Kristin Kiminski)

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Wild Rice (TY Berry Much)

Roasted Squash Stuffed with Roasted Vegetables
(Panning the Globe)

Vegan Stuffed Acorn Squash
(a great Thanksgiving dish; Vegan Blueberry)

Stuffed Acorn Squash (with wild rice or other rice;
Eat Plant Based)

Air Fryer Acorn Squash (with quinoa, apples & cranberries;
The Food Blog)

Bread and Wild Rice Stuffed Butternut Squash

Quinoa and Mushroom Stuffed Golden Squashes

Vegan Stuffed Butternut Squash
(with Lentils & Porcini; Somebody Feed Seb)

Stuffed Butternut Squash with Rice and Lentils (Plant Based Folk)

Baked Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Wild Rice and Delicata Stuffed Squash (Kitchen Treaty)

Zucchini (including round, or “8-ball” zucchini)

Round, aka 8-ball zucchini is ideal for stuffing. Or, for the more common long variety, medium-size zucchini are best for stuffing.

In either case, Remove the stem end. A grapefruit spoon is ideal for removing the seeds and creating a cavity, but if you don’t have one, use a small, sharp knife to carefully remove enough pulp to result in a 1/2-inch-thick shell.

Chop the zucchini pulp and steam it; if desired, incorporate it into the stuffing or save for another use. However, if most of what you’ve scooped out are seeds, then discard.

Fill the zucchinis with the desired stuffing and arrange in a foil-lined baking dish. Cover loosely with more foil and bake in a preheated 375º F to 400º F oven (according to what recipe you’re following) for 20 minutes, or until the zucchinis are done but still firm — again, according to specific recipes.