Vegan stuffed butternut squash with wild rice, mushrooms and pomegranate

Vegan stuffed butternut squash from the oven with wild rice, mushrooms, toasted hazelnuts and pomegranate. A gluten-free main course for the Christmas menu with 14 g fibre.

At a glance

• Serves 4
• Prep time: 25 min
• Cooking time: 60 min
• Total time: 85 min
• Calories: 543 kcal per serving
• Protein: 15 g
• Fat: 18 g
• Carbs: 73 g

Ingredients

• 2 butternut squash
• 150g wild rice
• 250g mushrooms
• 1 pomegranate
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 60g hazelnuts
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Method

You’ll need: oven · saucepan · chopping board · knife · sieve

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C (180 °C fan). Halve the squash lengthways, scoop out the seeds and score the flesh in a diamond pattern.
2. Brush the squash halves with a third of the olive oil, salt them and bake cut-side up for 40 min at 200 °C.
3. Cook the wild rice in salted water according to the packet instructions, usually 35 min, and drain.
4. Dice the onion, garlic and mushrooms and fry them in the rest of the olive oil for 6 min. Roughly chop the hazelnuts and toast them with the mushrooms for the last 2 min.
5. Remove the pomegranate seeds. Mix the rice, mushrooms, thyme, lemon juice, chopped parsley and half the pomegranate seeds and season with salt and pepper.
6. Fill the squash halves with the mixture, bake for another 10 min at 200 °C and scatter the rest of the pomegranate seeds on top.

Good to know

A whole squash half on the plate looks festive and takes hardly any work. The wild rice with mushrooms and hazelnuts is hearty, and the pomegranate seeds add acidity and colour. This way your vegan guest gets a main course of their own.

Swaps

Wild rice → brown rice or millet. Hazelnuts → walnuts. Pomegranate → unsweetened dried cranberries. Butternut squash → red kuri squash (the skin can stay on).

Cooking tips

Scoring the flesh in a diamond pattern helps the squash cook evenly. The cleanest way to remove pomegranate seeds is under water in a bowl.

Storage

Stuffed, 3 days in the fridge; reheat in the oven at 180 °C for 15 min.

Allergens

Vegan and gluten-free; contains hazelnuts. Suitable for children; chop the nuts finely for young children. Suitable in pregnancy.

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