Get Baked: Acorn Squash and Quinoa

This acorn squash and quinoa is easy and delicious. The original recipe uses butternut squash, so you could probably use that if you can’t find an acorn squash. But! Acorn works, and it fits in completely with the flavour palate.*

Vegan Acorn Squash and Quinoa

Ingredients

1 acorn squash
1 cup quinoa
3-4 green onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth
2 tbsp. lemon juice, preferably fresh
pinch lemon zest
2 tsp fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Halve the acorn squash, scrape out the seeds, and cut it into peel-less half-inch chunks. Toss with a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and lemon juice, spread the evenly over a greased or no-stick baking sheet, and bake for 15 minutes, stirring after 10.

3. Rinse the quinoa (I used white, but I think red would be OK). In a large pot over medium heat, lightly sautee garlic and green onion until the garlic starts to turn golden brown. Add the drained quinoa and stir until the quinoa started to smell toasted (it is weird. You will know when it happens). Add half of the thyme, all of the squash, and the broth.

4. Cover and simmer over medium heat until all liquid is absorbed (about 15 minutes or however long it takes). Remove from heat, and add the rest of the thyme, the lemon juice, the zest, and salt and pepper to taste. Add even more thyme if you really like thyme. Serve.

Adapted from Fat-Free Vegan.

* I am not really sure what a flavour palate is, but this recipe is pretty delicious. 

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Ryan Yates

Ryan Yates was the NSFW Editor (2013–2018) and Literary Editor for Autostraddle.com, with bylines in Nylon, Refinery29, The Toast, Bitch, The Daily Beast, Jezebel, and elsewhere. They live in Los Angeles and also on twitter and instagram.

Ryan has written 1142 articles for us.

13 Comments

  1. i have a recipe like this, but instead of cubing the acorn squash i like to stuff the quinoa in the cavity and top it with cheese and then bake it. food bowls are the best bowls.

  2. oh man this sounds awesome. and I have quinoa and some sort of squash (might be acorn) so I can totally make this!

  3. Pingback: Latest Butternut Squash Pasta Recipes News | Butternut Squash

  6. Perfect indeed! I happen to have bought an acorn squash last weekend and I now have a way to make it interesting. :-)

  8. just made this for lunch this afternoon and it is FABULOUS. I am in love. Definitely saving this recipe.

    Oh! Any tips on how to peel the squash? It literally took me forever. :D
    Thanks for sharing!

    • Microwave the squash for 30 secs in the microwave. Cut the top and the bottom off, so it lays flat. Cut it in half then scoop out the seeds. Slice the squash into wedges and use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin off.

      I learned to do it this way after I cut my finger, peeling it the hard way. D:

  9. Pingback: Latest Quinoa News | Quinoa Benefits

  10. Made that tonight, but with butternut squash. But in the end ? Yummy yummy yummy all the same !!! Definitely having that again !! :)

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