White Cheddar Mac n’ Cheese Stuffed Squash

I made the most incredible stuffed acorn squash for Christmas dinner a couple of years ago. It was stuffed with apples, cranberries, and pecans, then drizzled with maple syrup. I’m tempted to make it for every holiday, but I can’t just keep blogging the same recipe. Well, I could, but it would get very boring! So this year I decided to make stuffed acorn squash for Thanksgiving dinner and with a savory twist instead of sweet. My husband has been asking me to make macaroni and cheese, so this White Cheddar Mac n’ Cheese Stuffed Squash was the answer to both our cravings. How perfect is that?!

The weather hasn’t cooled down in LA yet, but I’m ready for fall and some good fall comfort food. Let’s start with some extra-sharp white cheddar mac n’ cheese, shall we? I’m a huge fan of mac n’ cheese and have made many different variations using different types of cheese, but the classic cheddar is still my favorite. I’ve used extra-sharp white cheddar here, which goes so well with the acorn squash. You can use any type of squash you’d like, although you may need to adjust baking times.

Recipe Author: Karen at Honestly Yum
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The Ingredients

The first thing I noticed when preparing my shopping list was this recipe makes 8 Mac n’ Cheese Stuffed Squash. It’s just the two of us, so I decided to cut the recipe in half. Two servings with Thanksgiving dinner and 2 more leftovers for dinner the next day sounded generous.

This time of year it was easy to find the acorn squash. I lucked out and had everything else on hand except the macaroni and extra sharp white cheddar cheese. They’re pretty basic items, though, so no problem finding either. A short grocery list is always good, and somehow even better during the holidays!

White Cheddar Mac n’ Cheese Stuffed Squash Ingredients
Acorn squash, pepper, salt, vegetable oil, milk, flour, extra sharp white cheddar cheese, butter, panko breadcrumbs, elbow macaroni, and nutmeg

The Process

This recipe only had the cooking times listed and no prep or total. I didn’t separate the prep and cooking times, but everything took exactly 1 hour.

Things went pretty smoothly and according to the instructions, although cutting the tops off the squash was tough at times. I tried my usual santoku knife and a serrated bread knife. The santoku was the best for this job, it just took some elbow grease. That reminds me, I need to be better about sharpening my knives.

Cutting the bottoms of the acorn squash was very easy, but it was also easy to cut too much off and create a hole in the bottom. You can see the holes in the photo below. It was my first squash, and I figured out what not to do pretty quickly.

Seeding the acorn squash
Seeding the acorn squash

Getting the squash ready to bake was a good chunk of the work, and I was glad once I had them ready to bake. My only question during the entire process was on this step. Was I supposed to bake the squash with the lids on or off? The recipe and accompanying blog post’s pictures didn’t specify, so I chose to put them on.

Getting ready to bake the acorn squash
Getting ready to bake the acorn squash. Spraying them with vegetable oil made it easy to ensure they were fully covered.

With the squash baking in the oven, it was time to move on to the macaroni and cheese. It took three pots going simultaneously, but it wasn’t too hectic. I used two 2.5-quart saucepans for the milk and macaroni. My 4.5-quart pot was perfect for the flour and cheese mixture that the milk and macaroni were ultimately added to.

Stuffing and baking the Mac n’ Cheese Stuffed Squash was easy, but I was disappointed that the macaroni and cheese didn’t bubble up like it was shown in the author’s pictures. that left me wondering if the macaroni I used was too small. Also, breadcrumbs didn’t brown, so I turned the broiler on for a few minutes to fix that.

So how was it?

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Mac 'n cheese is one of those classic comfort foods I never thought could be improved on. I'm happy to admit I was wrong! Creamy mac 'n cheese stuffed into acorn squash and baked with breadcrumbs on top is not only a lovely presentation, but it also adds an extra layer of flavor. The flesh of the squash is a little sweet, and it's the perfect pairing with the sharp white cheddar macaroni. The topping of crisp breadcrumbs is the equivalent of icing on a cake. Scooping it all out with a spoon is the way to go when you eat this dish--you'll get all the flavors that way. This recipe did take an hour from start to finish, which I think is a long time for a side dish. However, it wasn't too difficult, and I think the payoff was worth it. I served the first two with chicken fried chicken, and we had the leftovers as dinner by themselves a couple of nights later.
The Hungry Pinner
The Hungry Pinnerhttps://www.hungrypinner.com
I'm Candice, and I'm The Hungry Pinner. I created this blog to share my love for cooking and my experiences with the MANY recipes I've found on Pinterest over the years. Join me as I blog my way through those recipes to find out if they are worth trying yourself.

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Mac 'n cheese is one of those classic comfort foods I never thought could be improved on. I'm happy to admit I was wrong! Creamy mac 'n cheese stuffed into acorn squash and baked with breadcrumbs on top is not only a lovely presentation, but it also adds an extra layer of flavor. The flesh of the squash is a little sweet, and it's the perfect pairing with the sharp white cheddar macaroni. The topping of crisp breadcrumbs is the equivalent of icing on a cake. Scooping it all out with a spoon is the way to go when you eat this dish--you'll get all the flavors that way. This recipe did take an hour from start to finish, which I think is a long time for a side dish. However, it wasn't too difficult, and I think the payoff was worth it. I served the first two with chicken fried chicken, and we had the leftovers as dinner by themselves a couple of nights later. White Cheddar Mac n’ Cheese Stuffed Squash