Happy almost-Thanksgiving everyone!
I’m sure that most of you are way more organized than me and already have your meals planned down to the last detail. But just in case you’re running a little behind (like me!), or for those of you who may be looking for a healthier stuffing recipe (like me!), or, ahem, might not even be a huge fan of traditional stuffing (like me!), I have a last-minute winner of a recipe for you — Butternut Quinoa Stuffing.
Actually, there’s no “stuffing” involved with this tasty dish, as it is cooked 100% outside of the bird. It’s technically more of a “dressing”, if anything. But whatever you call it, this healthy and fabulously delicious quinoa is filled with so many of my favorite stuffing ingredients — roasted butternut squash, pistachios, cranberries, spinach, red onions, and more. And it can be ready to go in about 45 minutes, with only 15 minutes of prep time. And it’s gluten free. And vegetarian. And vegan. So basically just about anyone at your Thanksgiving meal can happily dive in.
Did I convince you yet??
Ok, let’s talk about how easy it is to prepare.
Here are all of the ingredients you need. Fresh, very healthy, and scrumptious.
(Although if you like to cook your quinoa in veggie or chicken broth — as I recommend in my tutorial on how to cook quinoa — be sure to add those in too. Or you can just cook quinoa in water.)
Simply chop up a butternut squash and a red onion. Toss them with some cloves of garlic in olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast them until they are nice and cooked. Your home is going to smell a-mazing.
Meanwhile, cook a batch of quinoa, seasoned with orange zest. You can use any color of quinoa — white, red, black, or multicolored. I went with red for this recipe since it seemed Thanksgivingish. (Yes, that’s a word.)
Then chop up a bunch of fresh spinach (or any greens — kale, arugula, etc.), and toss it with the roasted veggies, cooked quinoa, pistachios and cranberries. Then season with extra salt and pepper if need be.
And people — that’s it! I told you it was easy!
And holy moly, is it tasty.
And healthy!
Quinoa is naturally packed with protein. But add in all of those pistachios, fresh spinach, squash, and even the dried cranberries, and lemme assure you — you won’t need to feel guilty going back for seconds of this fresh stuffing. So, so, so much healthier than its traditional counterpart.
Perfect for Thanksgiving, or any other day of the year you are looking for a delicious and healthy meal. Enjoy!
Quinoa with Butternut Squash, Cranberries & Pistachios (Quinoa “Stuffing”)
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed (see tutorial for cutting a butternut squash)
- 1 red onion, peeled and diced
- 3-5 cloves garlic, with peel still on
- 1 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil (or any high-heat oil)
- salt and pepper
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed
- 3 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth, or water
- zest of one orange
- 2 cups roughly-chopped fresh spinach
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup shelled pistachios
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss butternut squash, onion, and garlic cloves (with peel still on) until they are evenly coated with oil. Spread then out in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, or until soft and cooked and the edges begin to slightly brown. Remove and set aside. Discard the garlic peels.
- Meanwhile, stir together quinoa, broth (or water), and orange zest, and cook according to package instructions. (Or you can follow my tutorial for how to cook quinoa). When cooked, set aside.
- Add the cooked veggies, quinoa, spinach, cranberries and pistachios to a large mixing bowl, and gently toss to combine. Season with additional salt and pepper if need be. Serve warm.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
This looks amazing and so healthy! I think this could be a meal in itself. Thanks for sharing! :D
Thanks, Leslie — we hope you enjoy it! :)
My significant other is allergic to pistachios. What could I substitute for those?
Hi Yvonne, you can just leave the pistachios out or replace them with any other nut you like. We hope you enjoy!
OMG! This is so worth every minute it took to make. All the yummy favors attack the taste buds from all directions. One suggestion I would give is to leave making this dish until fairly close to meal time (like within an hour). Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!!
Thank you Diana, that’s so sweet of you! We’re happy you enjoyed this, and we appreciate your suggestion as well! We hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Sure thing!
My 13 year old said we need to make more healthy food like this. She had it cold for lunch the next day and really liked it. Simple and delish-I need to find precut squash, chopping took a while. So what do we do with the garlic cloves after they are roasted (didn’t see that step listed). We roasted some fresh cauliflower too and used tri-color quinoa. I would roast on two sheet pans since there was alot of squash and it didn’t brown so well.
Are the pistachios salted or unsalted?
You can use either. :)
My friend recommended this recipe to me and I made it yesterday with some adjustments — delicious!!! Just posted it on my blog with a link back to your original recipe of course!
thank you so much for sharing this recipe! it was the perfect dish to make for our thanksgiving gathering, and i can’t wait til everyone else gets excited over the colors like i did while i was making it! :)
Oh my, this looks bursting with flavor and so vivid :)
Lovely colours! My boyfriend is a coeliac so we eat a lot of quinoa. Can’t wait to give it a go!