Stuffed Squash with Ground Beef and Rice

Stuffed squash recipes are the epitome of delicious fall flavors. This easy stuffed acorn squash recipe with ground beef and rice is made in an Instant Pot and on the stove, in less than an hour. It's also a great recipe to batch cook rice, squash, beef, & vegetables for so you can reuse leftover ingredients in different dishes.

[This recipe was originally posted in November 2018. It has been updated with new photos, cooking instructions, expert tips, FAQ, related recipes, video and ways to repurpose/use up ingredients]

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How will this stuffed acorn squash recipe make your life easier?

I know you don't want to spend the time chopping, measuring out, and adding tons of ingredients, to then stand over the burner and cook it for 30 minutes. This delicious stuffed squash recipe requires none of that yet has minimal ingredients, and is so easy.

All you have to do is cook the acorn squash in your Instant Pot and quickly cook the beef and rice mixture. You can use all the ingredients in different dishes like asparagus soup, grilled lamb steak with asparagus, Thai beef, or swap out the squash for sweet potatoes in this creamy sweet potato soup.

What makes this stuffed squash so great?

• Acorn squash
• Onion
• Green bell pepper
• Ground beef
• Italian seasoning
• Brown rice
• Asparagus
• Parmesan cheese

How do I make this stuffed acorn squash recipe?

Start by cooking the squash. Slice squash in half along the center, and then scoop out seeds.

Place trivet in Instant Pot, then fill with 1 cup of water. Place squash cut side down on-top of the trivet. Secure lid on Instant Pot, set vent to sealing. Set Instant Pot to MANUAL, and set timer to 7 minutes.

Release pressure immediately when timer goes off. Carefully remove lid and remove each half of squash with tongs. Set aside.

Expert Tip: Place both parts of the squash in Instant Pot to have squash for other recipes.

Cut ⅛ whole onion and about 8 stalks of asparagus.

Expert Tip: Remove asparagus from pan before adding beef if you don't want to use it all in this stuffed squash dish. That way you can us it in soup or another dish.

Make beef stuffing. Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil to hot skillet. Add cut onion, sliced asparagus, salt and ½ T Italian seasoning to skillet. Cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add ground beef, cook until beef is no longer pink, about 5-10 minutes. Breaking up beef so it's in smaller chunks.

Add pre-cooked rice, and cook until rice is warmed, about 3 minutes. 

Place squash half on plate, cut side up, fill with beef mixture. Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy.

Expert tips

• Place both parts of the squash in Instant Pot to have squash for other recipes.
• Remove asparagus from pan before adding beef if you don't want to use it all in this stuffed squash dish. That way you can us it in soup or another dish.
• To save time, cook beef mixture while squash is in Instant Pot. They will take about the same amount of time.
• Use any similarly sized squash. Acorn is often the most available, but it'll be great with any winter squash.

FAQ

How do I cook the squash without an Instant Pot?

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and slice squash in half. Remove seeds. Rub olive oil on inside of squash. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay cut sides down in a baking dish. Pour water into baking dish. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until squash is tender.

Can I freeze stuffed squash?

I'd recommend peeling the skin before freezing. And then freeze the squash separately from the ground beef & vegetables. Place the squash in a freezer bag, and press air out of it, do the same with the beef mixture.

When you're ready to eat it, add the squash and beef mixture to a microwave safe plate and microwave until hot. The texture of the squash & of the filling will be better this way.

How can I make this recipe more quickly?

Use a big pan, grab pre-chopped vegetables, and throw it all together. Buying pre-chopped and frozen veggies saves so much time. Sure it may seem better to chop it all yourself, but let's be real here. Are you more likely to grab veggies that are pre-chopped vs whole ones when cooking? What tends to go bad faster in your fridge? When I cook at night, I'm usually so hungry that I'm only looking for recipes that take 15 minutes. I'm going to intentionally pass by whole vegetables in my fridge that need to be chopped and prepared. I eat fewer vegetables than I usually plan on, and easily let my vegetables go bad in the fridge. So, again, it may seem better, it's a bit less expensive, but if you look at convenience and the cost of throwing food away, it's better to buy pre-chopped veggies.

How to repurpose this stuffed acorn squash?

• Slice the remaining squash, serve squash and stuffing mixture over a bed of lettuce. It'd be great with an apple cider vinaigrette (olive oil & apple cider vinegar to keep it really simple)
• Want to reuse the stuffing part very differently? Don't add the rice to the whole pan of beef mixture, just to the part that you'll eat in the stuffed squash. Repurpose the remaining beef mixture by adding spaghetti sauce to it and top pasta with it. It's already got the Italian seasoning, onions & peppers.

Other recipes using the ingredients

• (acorn squash) swap for butternut squash in this Harvest Bowl
• (rice) Easy Beef & Broccoli, Coconut Green Lentil Curry
• (ground beef, rice) Thai Beef with Fried Garlic and Spinach

Did you make this stuffed acorn squash recipe? Leave me a comment & rating to share how it turned out!

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