This maple bacon stuffed acorn squash is so delicious! It’s buttery, sweet, salty, smoky and has just the perfect touch of spice. It will fill your house with amazing Thanksgiving smells when you are ready to dig in. This recipe can be made on a smoker or pellet grill or in an oven. The pellet grill gives it an extra layer of smokiness but the oven also works great!
The bacon wrapped around the squash adds an extra layer of tastiness, the center is filled with bacon acorn squash, optional pecans, pumpkin seeds and chopped apricots. The extra add in give this dish a little extra texture but this dish is also great without them in it too. If you love textures then I would say definitely add them, if you are more about soft and silky with bits of bacon I would say leave them out.
These stuffed acorn squash get super buttery texture in the center because we sauté the center mixture before adding it so it gets extra soft and delicious when you bake it inside of the acorn squash.
This recipe does make 4 whole acorn squashes so it can be eaten as a main course, it can also feed 8+ if being served as a side dish. The recipe can be easily halved if you aren’t wanting enough to feed a crowd.
What you need to make Maple Bacon Stuffed Acorn Squash:
Makes 4 whole stuffed squash
- 4 acorn squash – peeled squash, remove seeds and and stems and cut off the bottom tip so the squash will sit upright without rolling over. Removed the top 1/4 of the squash off and diced it up for the filling.
- 8 slices bacon – for wrapping around the squash
- 5 slices bacon – chopped and cooked
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup pecans – chopped, optional
- 1/3 cup dried apricots – diced – optional
- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds – no shells, optional
- 1 teaspoon salt – plus more for seasoning the squash
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper – plus more for seasoning the squash
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon – if you like cinnamon increase to 1/4 teaspoon
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup – preferably natural maple syrup – plus more for the drizzle on top after cooking
- 2 tablespoon salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat smoker, pellet grill, grill or oven to 400 F..
- Peel the acorn squash and then cut off about the top 1/4 of the squash or until you reach the center opening of the squash. Save the tops of the squash because that will make the majority of our filling.
- Scoop out the seeds and cut off the bottom tip of the squash so it can sit up without falling over.
- Season the squash with salt and pepper, inside and outside.
- Take the bacon pieces and wrap under the squash so it forms a cross across the bottom and them bring it around so the bacon rests on the inside of the squash.
- Cook the remaining bacon pieces and dice it up into pieces – set aside but leave the grease in the pan.
- Dice the squash tops into small chunks and add to the bacon greased pan.
- Add butter and olive oil, pecans, apricots, pumpkin seeds, salt, pepper, ground cinnamon and cayenne pepper.
- Sauté until squash starts to soften.
- Add in the maple syrup and bacon and stir together until the maple syrup starts to caramelize the squash a little bit.
- Remove pan from heat and fill the squash with the filling mixture.
- Bake for 1 hour, cover the tops with aluminum foil half way through to avoid burning on the tops.
- When you remove from the smoker, pellet grill, grill or oven, drizzle tops with maple syrup, melted butter and a pinch of salt.
- Enjoy!
Here are a few other squash recipes you may love:
- Delicata Squash Salad
- Butternut Squash Coconut Curry
- Butternut Squash Lasagna
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup
- Chili Mac Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
- Sweet and Smokey Butternut Squash Soup
- Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Patty Pan Squash
- Garlic Basil Chicken and Butternut Squash Noodles
- Supreme Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
- Oven Baked Butternut Squash “Fries”
- Butternut Squash Soup with Maple Butter Croutons
Maple Bacon Stuffed Acorn Squash
Ingredients
- 4 acorn squash – peeled squash remove seeds and and stems and cut off the bottom tip so the squash will sit upright without rolling over. Removed the top 1/4 of the squash off and diced it up for the filling.
- 8 slices bacon – for wrapping around the squash
- 5 slices bacon – chopped and cooked
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup pecans – chopped optional
- 1/3 cup dried apricots – diced – optional
- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds – no shells optional
- 1 teaspoon salt – plus more for seasoning the squash
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper – plus more for seasoning the squash
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon – if you like cinnamon increase to 1/4 teaspoon
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup – preferably natural maple syrup – plus more for the drizzle on top after cooking
- 2 tablespoons salted butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat smoker, pellet grill, grill or oven to 400 F..
- Peel the acorn squash and then cut off about the top 1/4 of the squash or until you reach the center opening of the squash. Save the tops of the squash because that will make the majority of our filling.
- Scoop out the seeds and cut off the bottom tip of the squash so it can sit up without falling over.
- Season the squash with salt and pepper, inside and outside.
- Take the bacon pieces and wrap under the squash so it forms a cross across the bottom and them bring it around so the bacon rests on the inside of the squash.
- Cook the remaining bacon pieces and dice it up into pieces – set aside but leave the grease in the pan.
- Dice the squash tops into small chunks and add to the bacon greased pan.
- Add butter and olive oil, pecans, apricots, pumpkin seeds, salt, pepper, ground cinnamon and cayenne pepper.
- Sauté until squash starts to soften.
- Add in the maple syrup and bacon and stir together until the maple syrup starts to caramelize the squash a little bit.
- Remove pan from heat and fill the squash with the filling mixture.
- Bake for 1 hour, cover the tops with aluminum foil half way through to avoid burning on the tops.
- When you remove from the smoker, pellet grill, grill or oven, drizzle tops with maple syrup, melted butter and a pinch of salt.