Savory Stuffed Pattypan Squash

A recipe for stuffed pattypan squash stuffed with grass-fed ground beef, quinoa, spinach, and cheese. This recipe is fun to serve and delicious to eat and makes a healthy summertime meal.

I am featuring another stuffed squash recipe this week with these beautiful pattypan squash from our local farmer’s market. Haydengrove Farms has the most gorgeous produce and I love supporting local farmers.

The stuffed pattypan squash contains a blend of grass-fed beef, quinoa, spinach, garlic, onion, and Parmesan cheese. The flavors are so wonderful together. This was also a successful attempt to get my kids to love quinoa.

Cooking the quinoa in beef broth gives it a lot of great flavor before adding to the dish. The recipe makes enough filling for 6-8 squash (depending on the size), so you can bake any extra filling in small ramekins. This is a one-dish meal that the whole family will enjoy. Who wouldn’t love eating out of a personal squash bowl?!😃

Ingredients you’ll need

• Patty Pan Squash- you can also use large yellow squash, Gold Rush squash, or zucchini
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Onion- I use sweet Vidalia onion
• Fresh garlic 
• Quinoa 
• Beef broth-you can use regular beef broth or low-sodium, beef stock also works great
• Parmesan cheese- freshly shredded
• Spinach- both thawed frozen spinach and fresh spinach work well in this recipe
• Lean ground beef- grass-fed or regular lean ground beef
• Salt and pepper- to taste

How To Make Stuffed Pattypan Squash 

Step 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with a little cooking spray. Bring the beef broth to a boil over high heat. Add quinoa, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 12-15 minutes until all liquid is absorbed. Set aside and allow to cool. Now you are ready to prepare your squash for filling.

Slice the tip off the pattypan so it will lay flat in the baking dish. You can cut it from the top or bottom, you want a flat surface so it will sit in the baking dish without tipping over. Like this…

Step 2. Now slice off the other end of the squash and carefully scoop out most of the inner flesh, be careful not to break through the sides and bottom. If you are slicing off the tops- save the cap to cover the squash while baking. If I have gorgeous squash with nice stems, I cut them from the top for a pretty presentation. I’ve done it both ways for this post so you can see the difference. Dice the scooped squash into small pieces and use 1/2 of the amount for your filling. Save the remaining squash for another recipe or enjoy it raw with a sprinkle of sea salt.

Step 3. Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic, and squash in the olive oil for about 3-4 minutes until onions begin to soften. Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Stir in spinach (if using fresh cook until just wilted). Remove from heat and stir in the cooked quinoa, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Step 4. Fill squash, full to the top, with stuffing mixture and place them into the greased baking dish. If you cut the stem end, place the tops back onto the squash and drizzle with a little olive oil. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 10-15 minutes more.

This batch was stuffed from the top with the tops placed back onto the squash before baking.

Recipe tips

• For a vegetarian version, skip the beef and use all of the chopped squash for the filling along with the other ingredients.
• You can cut either end of the squash to stuff. If your patty pans have pretty stems, then I usually save the cap and stuff from the top. If the tops are more flat, then I flip them and cut from the bottom.
• If you are not a quinoa fan, you can swap the quinoa with freshly cooked rice and omit the beef broth.
• Go for Patty Pan squash that are about 4″ in diameter for best texture and flavor.

This batch was scooped from the bottom before stuffing.

More tasty squash recipes

Stuffed Air Fryer Acorn Squash

Tex-Mex Stuffed Yellow Squash

Roasted Butternut Squash with Cinnamon

Grilled Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Cauliflower Squash Casserole

If you love this stuffed patty pan squash recipe, I would be so grateful if you could leave a 5-star 🌟 rating in the recipe card below. I love reading your comments and feedback!

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Grass-Fed Beef-Stuffed Pattypan Squash

Delicate patty pan squash stuffed with grass fed ground beef, quinoa, spinach and cheese – a delicious and healthy dinner!

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 6

Calories: 342kcal

Author: Amee

Ingredients

• ▢ 6 Patty Pan Squash can also use large regular yellow squash
• ▢ 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ 1/2 sweet onion chopped
• ▢ 1-2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 1/2 cup quinoa 
• ▢ 1 cup beef broth low-sodium
• ▢ 1 cup Parmesan cheese freshly shredded
• ▢ 8 oz frozen spinach thawed, squeezed and drained of all liquid (or a packed cup of fresh spinach, stems removed)
• ▢ 1 lb ground grass fed beef
• ▢ salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9×13 baking dish with a little non stick cooking spray.  

For the squash:

• Bring the beef broth to a boil in a sauce pan over high heat. Add quinoa, reduce heat to low and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Set aside and allow to cool.  Now you are ready to prepare your squash for filling.
• Slice the tip off the patty pan squashes so they will lay flat in the baking dish.
• Now slice off the other end (if slicing the tops- save the cap) and carefully scoop out most of the inner flesh, being careful not to break through the sides and bottom.  
• Dice the scooped squash into small pieces and use 1/2 of the amount for your filling.
• Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic and squash in the olive oil for about 3-4 minutes until onions begin to soften.  Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Stir in spinach (if using fresh spinach, cook until just wilted).
• Remove pan from heat and stir in cooked quinoa and cheese; season with salt and pepper.
• Fill squash, full to the top, with stuffing mixture and place them into the greased baking dish. Place tops back onto each squash (if using) and drizzle with olive oil. Now they are ready for the oven.
• Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake 10-15 minutes more.
• Serve and enjoy!

Notes

• • For a vegetarian version, skip the beef and use all of the chopped squash for the filling along with the other ingredients.
  • You can cut either end of the squash to stuff. If your patty pans have pretty stems, then I usually save the cap and stuff from the top. If the tops are more flat, then I flip them and cut from the bottom.
  • If you are not a quinoa fan, you can swap the quinoa with freshly cooked rice and omit the beef broth.
  • Go for Patty Pan squash that are around 4″ in diameter for best texture and flavor.

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Nutrition

Calories: 342kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 490mg | Potassium: 792mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 3548IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 287mg | Iron: 4mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @ameecooks or tag #ameecooks!

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Amee Livingston

Hi, I'm Amee and I'm completely obsessed with all things fitness, recipe makeovers, and creating tasty, time-saving, recipes. Born and raised in South Carolina, I have a deep love for southern food culture. I am a Certified Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach, Cancer Exercise Specialist, recipe developer, and freelance content creator. I believe that anyone can be an amazing home cook, and there's nothing better than family time around the table!

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