Stuffed Butternut Squash with Spinach, Bacon, and Cheese is a perfect recipe to make in the Fall and Winter. The stuffing is creamy and cheesy and pairs well with the sweet flavor of the butternut squash. This gluten-free recipe is a perfect addition to the holiday menu and is also great for an easy weeknight meal.
Stuffed Butternut Squash - easy side dish or main meal
This is an incredibly easy recipe that will for sure be a crowd pleaser! The butternut squash is first roasted in the oven for about 40 minutes. In the meantime, you will prepare the delicious filling made with cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, spinach, and bacon! After the butternut squash is roasted, stuff it with the cheesy filling and reheat it in the oven (or under the broiler) briefly. That's it! It's a simple recipe that a whole family will love! Easy enough to make it on a busy weeknight, yet the presentation is so appealing that you can serve it when you have company over. You can serve it as a side dish or as a meal in itself!
Holiday recipe
What can be more attractive on a holiday table than a colorful, festive dish featuring seasonal ingredients? Butternut Squash stuffed with Cheese, Bacon, and Spinach is a great side dish to serve for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even New Year's Eve! It will surely please almost every taste because this dish combines both savory and sweet flavors in a perfect combination!
Main ingredients
- Butternut squash is the star of the show! It's a winter squash with a beautiful orange color that has a sweet and nutty flavor. Fun fact: Did you know that in Australia it's called butternut pumpkin?
- Cream cheese adds creaminess and great texture to the filling. Use softened cream cheese by heating it in the microwave oven briefly.
- Parmesan cheese - use shredded or grated parmesan. It's always best to shred or grate the cheese yourself!
- Spinach - I used fresh spinach, but frozen spinach can certainly be used! Make sure to thaw it and drain it from any liquid. I would even pat it dry with paper towels.
- Bacon - use chopped, cooked bacon. It's easy to cook the bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet in the oven at 350 F.
How to make stuffed butternut squash (step-by-step photos)
Prepare the butternut squash
Slice each one in half lengthwise. Keep fingers away from the knife to avoid injury. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and fleshy strands tangled with the seeds.
Drizzle the cut sides of butternut squashes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Turn the squash over, and place it cut sides down on a baking sheet. Tip: you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean-up.
Roast it for 40 minutes
Then, roast the butternut squash in the preheated oven at 400 F for 40 minutes.
Prepare the cheese mixture
Next, combine cooked spinach with softened cream cheese and shredded Parmesan cheese. Mix everything well. Fold in chopped cooked bacon. Tip: save a few bacon pieces to arrange on top of the cheese mixture.
Stuff the squash
By this time, you have roasted the butternut squash for 40 minutes. Remove it from the oven and turn cooked squash halves cut sides up. Let it cool slightly.
Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh leaving about a 1-inch border along the sides. See photos for more clarity:
Divide the spinach, bacon, and cheese mixture among the 4 halves and stuff the squash until the mixture is leveled.
Top with the chopped cooked bacon.
Bake it some more and broil
Roast the stuffed butternut squash in the preheated oven at 400 F for 15 more minutes until the cheese mixture melts.
Optionally, broil for 3 or 5 minutes to get golden crust over cheese.
Substitutions
- You can use either butternut squash or acorn squash. When using acorn squash, keep in mind that they are smaller in size and bake faster in the oven (about 30 minutes in the preheated oven at 400 F).
- You can use Asiago cheese or Gruyere cheese instead of Parmesan.
- Other greens besides spinach that will work well in stuffed butternut squash are kale and arugula.
Storage and Reheating Tips
What I love about this recipe is that it stores well and reheats well!
- Fridge. Refrigerate the leftover stuffed butternut squash in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Reheat in the oven. Reheat it in the preheated oven at 350 F for about 30 minutes.
- Reheat in the microwave oven. You can also microwave the stuffed butternut squash. For best and fastest results, you can take the spinach, bacon, and cheese mixture out of the butternut squash, and reheat this mixture and the butternut squash separately. Then add back the cheese mixture into the butternut squash.
What to serve with stuffed butternut squash
Serve something equally simple and easy-to-make, such as these delicious holiday side dishes:
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Toasted Pecans, and Dried Cranberries
- Cheesy Baked Asparagus with Gruyere cheese, Garlic, and Bacon
- Green Beans with Pine Nuts
More butternut squash recipes you might like
- Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta with Sausage and Spinach - This easy and flavorful recipe is packed with veggies and will become your favorite Fall and Winter family weeknight dinner!
- Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce and Pecans - you can use store-bought ravioli and just use the recipe for the delicious sauce!
- Creamy Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sausage, Thyme, and Sage is the ultimate Autumn comfort food.
Stuffed Butternut Squash
Ingredients
Butternut squash
- 2 butternut squash medium
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- black pepper freshly ground
Spinach, bacon, and cheese mixture
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 oz spinach fresh
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 6 strips bacon cooked and chopped
- 3 tablespoons fresh thyme
Instructions
How to roast butternut squash
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Prepare the butternut squash. Slice each one in half lengthwise. Keep fingers away from the knife to avoid injury. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and fleshy strands tangled with the seeds.
- Place butternut squash cut sides up on a baking sheet. Drizzle the cut sides of butternut squashes with olive oil and rub the oil into the squash. Season generously with salt and pepper. Turn the squash over, and place it cut sides down on a baking sheet. Tip: you can line the baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean-up.
- Roast in the preheated oven at 400 F for 40 minutes.
Make spinach, bacon, and cheese mixture
- While the butternut squash is roasted, prepare the cheese mixture.
- In a medium skillet, heat olive oil on medium heat and add fresh spinach. Cook for about 5 minutes until the spinach wilts. If there is any liquid in the pan, drain it.
- Add cream cheese to a microwave-safe large-sized bowl. Soften cream cheese briefly in the microwave oven. Make sure the cheese does not actually melt, just softens.
- Add shredded Parmesan, cooked spinach, and half of the chopped cooked bacon to the same bowl. Mix everything well. Tip: save the remaining half of the bacon pieces to arrange on top of the cheese mixture.
How to stuff butternut squash
- By this time, you have roasted the butternut squash for 40 minutes. Remove it from the oven and turn cooked squash halves cut sides up.
- Let it cool slightly. Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh leaving about a 1-inch border along the sides. (For reference, I provide the step-by-step photos, including for this step, above the recipe card).
- Divide the spinach, bacon, and cheese mixture among the 4 halves and stuff the squash until the mixture is leveled. Top with the remaining chopped cooked bacon.
- Roast the stuffed butternut squash in the preheated oven at 400 F for 15 more minutes until the cheese mixture melts.
- Optionally, broil for 3 or 5 minutes to get golden crust over cheese. Watch closely and be very careful not to burn the squash and the cheese mixture. Tip: Broil on the second oven rack from the top - not on the very top rack so that it doesn't burn. Do watch carefully because all ovens are different. My squashes were fine broiled for 5 minutes on the second oven rack from the top.
- Top with freshly ground black pepper and fresh thyme.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I have made this recipe twice and every one loved it making it again this weekend.
Dee, I am glad you tried this recipe TWICE - a huge compliment to me! 🙂
Good morning. Wondering if this could be made ahead at all and then finished the day serving???
Donna, yes, you can make the whole recipe the day ahead and reheat it when ready to serve. There are 2 ways to reheat the stuffed squash the next day:
➡️ 1) The best way to reheat it is, of course, in the preheated oven at 350 F for 20 or 30 minutes.
➡️ 2) But I also reheated this in a microwave. When reheating in a microwave oven, remove the stuffing from the squash (or better yet, don't even add the stuffing when you make it ahead). I always reheat stuffing separately from the squash in the microwave - it's much faster that way and reheats much more evenly. Also, with the creamy stuffing - you have to be really careful reheating it in the microwave - as it can separate if you reheat it for too long.
Just made this super easy. I added garlic and shallots and left over butternut squash. My family loved it
Stephanie, I am happy to hear you loved this recipe! 🙂 Love the addition of garlic and shallots!
Fantastic tastes, had it as main course
Going to try to reheat leftovers
How d
o you share this.i would love to make it.it looks so good.
Diana, you can save this to your Pinterest board.
Virginia, I am glad you tried it and enjoyed it! Thank you for the 5-star review! 🙂
Excellent! Enjoyed this as a main course. Will make this again.
Stacy, thank you for trying the recipe and the 5-star review! 🙂 I really appreciate it! 🙂
Has anyone tried this with subbing or adding feta or goat cheese?
Joella, goat cheese sounds interesting - I haven't tried it. I think this would be good with Gruyere cheese, Asiago, or Pecorino cheese.
I can't wait to try this..... I have passed it on to friends as well! Thank you for my Thanksgiving side dish 🙂 !!
I look for ward to more of your recipes!!
Thank you,
Jewel
I sauteed the kale in the bacon drippings (didn't take a whole lot longer than spinach would have) and added some chopped red onion, jarred marinated artichokes, and garlic. After letting it cool a bit in the pan, I added the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, half the bacon, dried thyme, and the scooped-out squash. Saved me from washing an extra bowl to mix it all in the same pan! My family really enjoyed this.
Alice, I love your version - the addition of red onions, artichokes, and garlic. Sounds delicious! Thank you for taking the time to share this feedback and the 5-stars! 🙂
This is such a great recipe! The only thing I changed was that I added a little sharp cheddar and a dash of cayenne. Thanks so much!!!
Maria, thank you so much for such an enthusiastic comment! 🙂 Love the addition of sharp cheddar and cayenne pepper!
Jewel, thank you for sharing this recipe - this would be an AMAZING holiday side dish! I hope you find other recipes here that you love.
This looks fabulous! I just got butternut squash, acorn squash, AND kale in my CSAbox, and was windering what to do with them. I do have a question about using kale instead of spinach. Do I need to cook it first somehow, as it is tougher than spinach? Thanks!
I sauteed the kale in the bacon drippings (didn't take a whole lot longer than spinach would have) and added some chopped red onion, jarred marinated artichokes, and garlic. After letting it cool a bit in the pan, I added the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, half the bacon, dried thyme, and the scooped-out squash. Saved me from washing an extra bowl to mix it all in the same pan! My family really enjoyed this.
And, it sounds so good with kale!
Alice, yes, I would cook kale until it's softer before adding it as a stuffing to the squash. Happy Fall cooking with all that squash! 🙂
What could you use in place of spinach
Nancy, you can use kale (cook it until it's soft), arugula, or Swiss chard (also needs cooking a bit longer as it's tougher than spinach).
I really liked it but it was lacking something. There was hot honey on the table so I gave it a drizzle and it really hit the spot. I will make it again.
Pam, I am glad you tried this recipe and liked it! Love your addition of a sprinkle of honey - sounds delicious!
I love it
Cheryl, glad you've enjoyed this!
I have a question. What do you do with the extra flesh you scooped out? Do you add it to the cheese mixture?
Phyllis, yes!
1)
Add the cooked squash you scooped out back into the cheese and spinach mixture.
2)
Or, add the squash that you scooped out to the bottom of the indentation in the butternut squash halves and then top with the cheese mixture.
I made it and loved it. Unfortunately I am the only person in my family who loves squash though. I wondered if the finished product can be frozen?
Colleen, thank you for trying the recipe! I wouldn't freeze this because creamy cheese-based sauces generally do not freeze well.
You can also try these stuffed butternut squash recipes - and you can freeze these:
https://juliasalbum.com/ground-beef-stuffed-butternut-squash/
https://juliasalbum.com/sausage-stuffed-butternut-squash/
Hi I am going to make this tonight. How do you serve it? Just cut the inside out
I would serve each half of butternut squash (or half of it) in a deep pasta bowl and use a spoon or fork to eat right out of the squash.
I am glad you asked that because I was thinking the same thing .
Thanks for asking this. It was never mentioned what was done with the scooped out squash!
Well, I tried this recipe this evening. It was good but not as good as I expected it to be. I used gruyere cheese because it is one of my favorites. I think it was the cream cheese that I wasn’t liking. I used philly low fat. Maybe that was the issue. I think I prefer the spinach with the classic cream rather than the cream cheese. I am going to try that next time. I do like the stuffed squash concept though. I always loved serving squash and spinach together.
Gruyere is an amazing cheese - I love it! Regular creamed spinach (without cream cheese) would work well here, too! Glad you tried the recipe and thank you for such constructive feedback - I really appreciate it! 🙂
I made this yesterday just how it was printed and it came out wonderful I love the taste of all of it thank you for the recipe
Rebecca, you are very welcome! So glad you loved this recipe as is! 🙂
This sounds delicious, but with the fat, calories and sodium, I think I’ll serve it as a side dish. Thanks for the recipe.
Janelle, you're welcome! This recipe will work great as a side dish!
pERFECT !! This is a keeper !!
Bev, I am glad you loved it! Thank you for the 5 stars! 🙂
OMGosh this is absolutely amazing!
My new go to recipe for squash.
Jean, I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for taking the time to share this positive feedback and the 5-star rating! 🙂
Can you make this with spaghetti squash.
Yes, you can - it will be delicious!
Delicious! Made this for dinner tonight and it turned out so perfect! Husband is impressed and even out dogs are squash lovers now!
Kris, I am so glad everyone loved this dish, including the dogs! 🙂