Pork Stuffed Acorn Squash! Lemme reiterate, Pork. Stuffed. Acorn. Squash!
It’s taking winter comfort food to a whole new eat-on-the-couch-watching-Netflix-while-it-snows-outside level! I cannot express my obsession with Acorn Squash, I recently played with it during Thanksgiving with SQUASH AND CARROT ROSETTES and I haven’t fallen out of love with it.
Here’s a quick overview:
- You get half a mini pumpkin- the size of your face, sweet with honey and olive oil roasted and with a really nutty flavor, almost like pine nuts
- Tender, sesame, honey pork sauteed with cabbages and caramelized onions (notice the sweet trend?)
- Chopped Cashews
- Baaaacon
- Mint (yes mint! it adds a refreshing note to this experience) Though chopped cilantro is equally good for a more summery feel
You need to plan a little ahead with this recipe, get your ingredients the night before and dedicate an hour to this. It’s the kind of thing that takes a little time, but also makes a statement- YOU GONNA EAT TODAY!
Making it is pretty easy, split the acorn squashes into halves, scoop out the seeds, and drizzle olive oil, salt, and honey. (Fun fact: this is a Biblical combination mentioned a lot in Israeli cuisine, the flavors compliment very well and give you a sweet, salty, nutty flavor profile). Roast in the oven at 400 for an hour.
While that’s happening, in a pan, saute everything else, starting with the veggies and adding the pork at the end. (you wont undercook it, but most people cook it to death and end up with chewy pork, no no no). Once everything is sauteed, adding soy sauce, honey, and apple cider vinegar, this is really the flavor enhancers. Soy sauce adds a little umami, that you feel all over your mouth; the vinegar lends a sweetness and acidity that highlights the sour notes of the cabbage. Trust me on this, you’ll taste everything: sweet, sour, salty, and acidic.
I love this Pork Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe! I love how gluttonous it feels while still being relatively low carb and good for you.
FYI: make extra stuffing! I used the leftover stuffing for some BOMB tacos that I’ll be posting soon! If you made this, give me a shout out! Taste test together!
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Pork Stuffed Acorn Squash
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 60 min
- Total Time: 70 min
- Yield: 4 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
Pork Stuffed Acorn Squash to melt away the winter blues! Sweet, nutty, crunchy and ready to meet your immediate comfort food needs.
Ingredients
1 Acorn Squash: split in half and seeds scooped out
1 onion sliced thin
1 cup cabbage sliced thin
1 cup pork diced*
6 oz chopped cashews
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp soy sauce
6 oz thick cut bacon.
Olive oil
1 tbsp chopped mint
Instructions
- Rub honey, kosher salt, and olive oil on the acorn squash halves. Set in the oven at 400 for an hour
- In a pan, saute onions, cabbage, bacon, with a little olive oil until the cabbage is tender. Add the pork and stir for one minute. Add soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and more honey. Stir until the liquid is almost evaporated. Add cashews and chopped mint.
- Once the squash is roasted, pull out of the oven, fill it with the stuffing, and serve.
Notes
Use any cut of pork you have on hand. loin, butt, pork chops, its all good!
- Category: Comfort Food
- Method: Roasting
- Cuisine: American
A little about me
I’m a chef and a former psychologist. I spent years studying how we experience food to make the best eating experiences possible- and I show you how to eat well on this site. I host secret popups in Miami, FL teaching people how to approach good food that’s never been done before.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @CasaLagoTastingRoom on Instagram! I wanna see it!
I enjoyed this recipe. My only comments were that you don’t need 6 oz of cashews. I did 3 oz and it was way too much for us. Not that we won’t eat leftover chopped cashews. There was no measurement amount for the apple cider vinegar. I guessed and matched the 3 TBPS of soy with 3 TBPS vinegar. It tasted great.
★★★★★