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This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

You may remember that a few weeks ago we went to a super cute pumpkin patch/apple farm (I put a bunch of photos on Steller, snapchat and instagram).  We picked some apples and grabbed some pumpkins – although not nearly as many as I wanted to grab.  I have never seen so many varieties of pumpkin!  Since my husband and I are living in an apartment this year, I didn’t want to go too crazy with the pumpkins.  No front porch to display them on.  So, I stuck with a few small but adorable pumpkins.  And also some squash.  So much squash.  I have already professed my love for spaghetti squash, as you know.  But my love doesn’t stop there.

This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

I also love a good stuffed squash in the fall.  I usually make a stuffed acorn squash, which is super cute because it is sort of pumpkin-esqe, and also really tasty. But even though they are cute, they are on the large side and can be a little cumbersome when it comes to eating them. Which is why this year I decided to try stuffing some delicata squash.  For some reason I had never heard of delicata squash until a year or two ago.  I feel like they just hit the big time in food stardom, following kale and brussel sprouts.

This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

And for good reason too.  As squashes go, delicata are pretty awesome.  They are super easy to cut, unlike some other squashes that we know (side eye, butternut), and you can even eat the skin!  The first time I made these, I thought it would look cool to cut them in half crosswise and stuff the center (more like a stuffed pepper) – and although they were very aesthetically pleasing, the stuffing to squash ratio was off.  Too much squash, not enough stuffing.  So it is better to slice them lengthwise as shown in the photos and stuff them that way, more like a boat.  Bonus – they are much easier to clean and stuff that way.

This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

This stuffing is pretty simple, and if you have some leftover rice and sausage it is even easier.  If you are planning on making some rice earlier in the week, just make a little extra, since this recipe only uses 1 cup of cooked rice.  Otherwise, a fresh pot of rice is fine too.This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

After browning the sausage, remove it from the pan.  Use the same pan to saute the onion and pepper until soft.  Add the garlic and saute just until fragrant, being careful not to burn.  Add the wine to the pan to deglaze, scraping up the brown bits, or “fond” as they say in the culinary world. Does anyone else find the word “fond” to be, like, the most food snobbish word of all time?  I don’t know why it bothers me so much.  I complain about it every time they say it on Americas Test Kitchen, and my husband asks “Well, what should they call it?”.  I don’t know.  But “fond”….I feel like you need to be wearing a big white chefs hat and speak in a thick, fake French accent to be talking like that.  Actually it doesn’t need to be a fake accent because the word is actually French, but you know what I mean. Just me?

This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

The wine gives a really nice flavor, so I do encourage you to use it.  But, if for some reason you don’t want to/can’t use wine, I would suggest using chicken broth.  It won’t taste exactly the same, but it should be an OK sub.  After deglazing the pan, add the sausage, rice, salt, pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes to the pan. I didn’t suggest measurements for the salt, pepper and red pepper flakes because that is really going to depend on the sausage you use, and your taste preferences.  Just add those to taste. Stir to combine and cook until heated through.  Evenly divide the mixture between the squash.  This was the perfect amount of stuffing for the amount of squash that I had.  Lightly pack the stuffing into the indentation in the squash, and then mound any extra on top.
This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

Cover with foil and place in the oven.  Bake at 400 degrees for about an hour, or until the squash is tender.  About 20 minutes before finished cooking, remove foil so the tops can brown up a bit.  If you cook uncovered the whole time they will get a little too brown and crispy.

This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

 

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Stuffed Delicata Squash Boats

4.50 from 2 votes
Prep 10 minutes
Cook 1 hour
Total 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 4 Servings
This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe is uses chicken sausage and is so flavorful

Ingredients 

  • 2 delicata squash
  • 1/2 large onion I used a sweet onion
  • 1/2 red bell pepper about 1/2 cup
  • 4 garlic cloves finely minced or pressed
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1 cup cooked brown rice
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil plus more for brushing
  • 1/2 pound chicken sausage
  • 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
  • red pepper flakes optional, to taste
  • kosher salt
  • pepper

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F
  • Cut the squash in half length wise and scrape out seeds. Brush the cut side of the squash with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking sheet or dish. Set aside.
  • Brown the sausage, remove from pan. (depending on how lean your chicken sausage is, you may need to add some oil to the pan to keep it from sticking or burning. Mine did not need any oil. Just keep an eye on it).
  • Heat olive oil, sauté onions and bell pepper with a little salt and pepper until soft and golden 7-10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant, being careful not to burn.
  • Add wine to pan and deglaze, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom.
  • After pan is deglazed, add sausage back into the pan, as well as the rice, oregano and red pepper flakes, kosher salt and pepper to taste ( how much you add will depend on how hot the sausage you use is, as well as how salty.
  • Cook until everything is mixed and heated through.
  • Divide the mixture between the squash.
  • Cover the squash with foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Uncover and bake another 20 minutes or until squash is tender.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dinners
Cuisine: American
Did you like this recipe?Please comment, rate and share! And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @foxandbriar AND #foxandbriar so I can see what you made!

Stuffing adapted from Alton Brown

This Stuffed Delicata Squash Recipe uses chicken sausage, brown rice and white wine and is so flavorful

What is your favorite squash?  And how do you feel about the word “fond” in the culinary world?

Hello! I’m Meghan.

I am so glad that you are here! I am the recipe developer, photographer, and writer here at my blog Fox and Briar. I am a passionate, self-taught home cook and believe that most things are better homemade and that good food doesn’t need to be complicated.

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10 Comments

    1. Yes, this was homemade chicken sausage by Mr. Briar 🙂 Still working on the sausage recipe and then we will post it!

  1. I’ve never had delicata squash! I’ll have to find some. This sounds like a great filling, hooraaaay for wine! 😀

    1. I bet you will love it, it is so good! It is kind of sweet but not too much so. I have seen it described as similar to sweet potato but I don’t think it is really, I would say it is closer to acorn squash. Plus being able to eat the skin is pretty cool, it makes cooking it and eating it much easier.

  2. 4 stars
    Chicken sausage and I have a very close relationship … I don’t think I could live without it! (Especially since my stomach can’t handle traditional pork sausage.) I love that you added wine to the recipe. I usually have three bottles in my fridge to use for cooking as needed. 🙂

    1. Thanks Lauren! “I enjoy cooking with wine…sometimes I even put it in the food!” May be my favorite Julia Child quote 😉 Chicken sausage is the best. We recently started making our own chicken sausage but I want to work on the recipe a little more before I post it.

  3. Sounds great!i have never heard of that type of squash…I’m thinking you’re right @ it being a recent addition. Sounds like a delicious & quick-fix meal! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️