We're halfway through quinoa week and I have to say, I'm loving the enthusiasm! We got tons of entries in our first giveaway and I'm hoping to continue the trend with this one.
Today, we're featuring a recipe for quinoa stuffed acorn squash that uses Bob's Red Mill white quinoa. White quinoa (or golden) is the most common form of quinoa and the one that I use most often. White quinoa is fluffier than red quinoa, and goes well with pretty much every cuisine. I haven't found a dish using white quinoa that I didn't fall in love with.
And this recipe is no exception.
I'm a serious squash lover. My two favorites (if you don't count pumpkin, which I guess is technically a squash) are acorn and delicata. If you don't know delicata squash, it's that one that is yellow with green stripes and kind of oblong shaped.
But we're not talking about delicata, we'll save that for another recipe. Today it's all about acorn squash, and quinoa of course!
Acorn squash is just lovely when roasted and even more lovely when stuffed. It has a slightly sweet flavor, and beautifully creamy texture. Often times I'll just roast it with salt and pepper, but I wanted to heighten the sweetness slightly with this recipe (to balance the smokiness of the chicken and quinoa) so I added a touch of coconut sugar and a little coconut oil. It was divine.
For the stuffing ingredients, I went with shredded chicken, sautéed kale and quinoa. Thrown with some salt, pepper and smoked paprika. Each bite was the perfect blend of sweet and savory. It was an autumn party in my mouth. So tasty!
[don't forget to scroll below the recipe and enter the giveaway!!]
Chipotle Chicken & Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients
- 1 acorn squash halved & seeded
- 2 teaspoons melted coconut oil divided
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar divided
- 1/4 cup white/golden quinoa
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup shredded chicken we used leftover grilled chicken
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups kale finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Rub 1 teaspoon of coconut oil onto each half of the squash. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of coconut sugar. Bake until the acorn squash, flesh side up, until tender, about 30 - 40 minutes.
- While the squash is cooking, prepare the chicken and quinoa. If you're not using leftover chicken, either grill or pan-sear the chicken as you would normally. For the quinoa, add the quinoa and water to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, and keep covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the kale and cook until it's started to wilt, add the chicken and quinoa and toss to combine. Season with spices and remove from the heat.
- Remove the squash from the oven, and let cool for a few minutes. Transfer to two plates and stuff with half the chicken-quinoa mixture.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
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I can’t wait to try this!
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Yes I am confused on this recipe also. It listed coconut sugar divided, but didn’t explain where you divide it. I also seen where someone put onions in but mine didn’t have onions. Am I missing part of the recipe?
Hi Maggie – I’ve updated the recipe to make a bit more sense now 🙂 Basically, you rub each half of squash with the coconut oil and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar prior to baking. Then pop the squash in the oven, bake until tender and then stuff with the other ingredients. Enjoy!
This was lunch today, paired with the prune, orange, and herb salad on the back of a Del Monte prunes package. I’m on the no gluten, no sweeteners, no dairy, etc. diet these days so I omitted the sugar. I had to substitute in ground turkey for the chicken and yellow onions for the green onions. I also had two lonely mushrooms that I chopped and sauteed with the onions and some minced garlic to add to the turkey and kale. Hopefully, I kept to the spirit of your recipe enough that when I say it was outstanding, it was your recipe that did the trick and not the changes I made.
The texture and flavors in the stuffing were fantastic. Thanks for sharing this!
All those swaps sound delicious, Malcolm. Thank you for sharing! Hopefully you will inspire others to make it fit for their tastes. I’m all about it 🙂
Hi -I was just wondering in the list of ingredients -where do I use the coconut oil? Said to saute the kale in olive oil. Also you mentioned coconut sugar in your intro to this recipe? The title is chipolte,- where do I add that-just saw smoked paprika? So sorry for my confusion. Any help would be great! I made this without those ingredients and it was good but I bet with the ingredients that I missed it would have been better! Thank you in advance for your time and patience.
Hi Christina – sorry about that, the recipe wasn’t written right. I have corrected it now and it should make a bit more sense 🙂 You actually rub the coconut oil on each halves of the squash and then sprinkle with coconut sugar. Then bake until tender. Thanks for catching it!
I don’t have a favorite kind of Quinoa, I love them all.
I would love to try the tri-color. It would make such a pretty side dish. I’m thinking a Mexican or Greek inspired quinoa salad!
I absolutely love acorn squash. I usually stuff it with fruit and go for a sweeter recipe, but I’m loving what you’ve done here!
The tri-color looks great! Can’t wait to try it!!!
I’m excited about the tri-color. Hopefully my grocery store will start carrying it soon…
This looks great. Will have to try this one. Love acorn squash and quinoa. Thanks.
I like the red quinoa. So earthy!
This looks absolutely incredible!! I love roasted acorn squash.
I’m a huge acorn squash fan – I’m going to try this over the weekend!
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Would love to try the tri colored quinoa 🙂
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
the tricolor one looks like it would make a beautiful salad!
Tricolor is my favorite. Love the different textures!
I love this recipe! I always tend to do a sweeter twist on acorn squash but really like the idea of the spicy chicken instead!
I’d like to try the white quinoa; I would make a pumpkin loaf recipe I just found!
Looks like a perfect combo of flavors for Fall.
I am on my way to the store today for a fresh acorn! Acorn and butternut are so yummy! Chipotle ?? I repeatedly read the recipe…must be blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other.
I am going to try this!
I can’t wait to try the tri-color one! It adds great color to any dish!
I’d LOVE to try the Red Quinoa!!:-)
this recipe looks delish!. I am most excited to try the tri color. It looks so pretty and isn’t one I readily see in stores these days.
Tri color quinoa – fall festive and so good or you. I would say that stuffing any stuffable veg such as zucchini, peppers, squash or just a base for a veg ragout would be perfect.
love the suggestions
Love your recipes! Wish you’d put a facebook share button, make it easier for me to spread the word… :O)
I love squash too, especially acorn and delicata. I’m glad to see the addition of chipotle in this one. I’ll be sharing this recipe on my FB page for sure:)
The tricolour quinoa looks great. I would add it to my morning oats