Roasted Butternut Squash Sausage and Quinoa Stuffing

Roasted Butternut Squash, Sausage and Quinoa Stuffing is a wonderful alternative to the usual bread or cornbread stuffing most families eat at Thanksgiving.   The stuffing has small bite-size pieces of roasted butternut squash and browned sausage with lots of celery, onion, sage, thyme and quinoa to create a wonderfully flavorful stuffing that will make your Thanksgiving table very inviting. 

The grocery store is abundant with all kinds of squash during the fall months and I had to grab a few butternut squashes and make a recipe for Thanksgiving.  I made this Roasted Butternut Squash, Sausage and Quinoa Stuffing as an easy stove-top and gluten-free alternative to making  regular bread or cornbread stuffing on the Thanksgiving table.  It still has the sausage I love in stuffing and all the flavors of stuffing, but roasted butternut squash and quinoa is the base of this recipe so it's healthy too. 

I made this stuffing a few days ago and there was was no turkey or other sides to join it.  I actually loved it just as it was as a main dish.  So, I definitely will not be waiting for Thanksgiving to make this again.  Of course I added extra spice to mine because I love everything extra spicy.

If you have not worked with butternut squash before, it's very easy.  I see a lot of folks at the grocery store buy the prepackaged cleaned and cut butternut squash.  If you can peel a potato, you can definitely work with a butternut squash.  I really love roasting the squash to bring out all the sweetness and give it more depth of flavor.  

I also love quinoa and don't fret if you think it's hard to cook.  I cook it all the time on the stove and it comes out perfectly every time with with my method.

 Thanksgiving is almost a week away... I can't wait to dig in!  

Directions on how to clean and roast butternut squash:  

Step1:  Wash squash and use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin off the butternut squash. 

Step 2:  Cut the squash in half by cutting at the base to remove the "round bulb" as shown above.  The seeds are only in the round base part of the of the squash. Use a spoon to scrape out all the seeds. 

Step 3: Cut butternut squash into the size of pieces you want. 

Step 4:  Place cut pieces of butternut squash onto a baking tray (I lined mine with parchment).  Season with salt and black pepper and add 2 Tbs of canola oil and toss well to coat all the pieces.  Then Bake in a 425 degree oven for 25-35 minutes or until the squash is roasted to your desired texture.  



Roasted Butternut Squash Sausage and Quinoa Stuffing 
Recipe by Ramona from Kitchen Simmer

Ingredients:
4-5 cups of cooked Quinoa (cooking instructions here)
1 large butternut squash/3-4 cups roasted small diced pieces
1lb hot sausage browned well
1 large onion finely diced
2-3 stalks celery diced
1 tsp dried thyme
1-2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
red chili flakes to taste
2 Tbs fresh sage finely minced
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Step 1: Roast butternut squash per directions above.

Step 2:  Cook quinoa. Here are my cooking instructions for quinoa.

Step 3: Brown sausage well.  If you have more than 2-3 Tbs of oil, drain excess fat out of the pan.  Then add the onion and celery to the browned sausage and cook for several until they soften.

 
Step 4: Then add the dried herbs, garlic powder, fresh sage, red chili flakes, salt and black pepper. Saute for another few minutes and add the chicken stock. Next add the roasted butternut squash and toss well. 

Step 5:  Finally add the cooked quinoa and toss with all the other ingredients in the pan.  Taste for salt and seasoning and adjust as needed.  Serve warm or hot. Enjoy. 
 

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