Bacon and Butternut Squash Stuffing
This Bacon and Butternut Squash Stuffing is packed with classic autumn ingredients…and bacon! Whip up a batch for dinner tonight!
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From the ranks of “Everything’s better with bacon!” comes this Bacon and Butternut Squash Stuffing. This stuffing (or dressing) is delicious, and the bacon does indeed add a depth of flavor. I highly recommend adding this to your list of delicious autumn recipes to make!
This stuffing sorta came about last year due to necessity. We were planning on making a batch of this Cheesy Butternut Squash Casserole as one of our Thanksgiving side dishes. I love that casserole! Well, as luck – in this case, bad luck – would have it, our family members who were planning on visiting for Thanksgiving all came down with colds. Just like that, Thanksgiving went from a large celebration to a small one.
Laura and I regrouped and cut way back on the number of recipes we planned to make for Turkey Day. And while I do love that casserole, we decided to save it for another time. The problem was we had already chopped all of the butternut squash for that casserole.
So there I was looking at a gallon-sized Ziploc bag full of cubed butternut squash. It was a lot of squash! We roasted some of it for easy side dishes, but we still had half a bag left. That’s when it hit me – stuffing. Stuffing is a great way to use up extra veggies, so I decided to make a batch…with bacon!
Bacon and Butternut Squash Stuffing
Stuffing (or dressing) is basically a blank slate – it’s an easy recipe for trying new flavors and mixing up seasonings. Traditionally, stuffing consists of breadcrumbs, onions, celery and various spices. All of those ingredients make an appearance in this recipe, although I did use larger bread cubes instead of breadcrumbs – I just like the rustic look of bread cubes when they come out of the oven!
All of the ingredients for this Bacon and Butternut Squash Stuffing get cooked in a large skillet first. While that does add an extra step to the process, it also means you can prep this entire recipe a day or two before you want to serve it. Instead of baking the stuffing, just cover and refrigerate it. Then you can bake it up on the day you want to serve it – say maybe Thanksgiving Day?
Sometimes great things come from “oops” moments, and I can say with certainty that this Bacon and Butternut Squash Stuffing is one of those. This stuffing was delicious, and this recipe will certainly be making an appearance in our house again at some point – maybe the next time I chop too much butternut squash! I hope you enjoy this stuffing recipe as much as we did. Cheers!
Did you make this Bacon and Butternut Squash Stuffing at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog) – I’d love to see your version!
Bacon and Butternut Squash Stuffing
Ingredients
- 10 cups stale bread cubes ~½” cubes
- 8 oz. bacon
- 3 celery stalks finely chopped
- 3 medium carrots diced
- 2 large yellow onions diced
- 4 cups butternut squash cubes ~½” cubes
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1¼ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 3 large eggs
- {for garnish} Italian parsley chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Spray a 3-quart casserole dish with nonstick baking spray; set dish aside.
- Spread bread cubes on a sheet pan and bake for 6-8 minutes. Remove bread cubes set aside.
- Increase oven temperature to 400°F.
- Using a large, deep skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and pat dry with paper towels; set bacon aside.
- Drain excess bacon grease from skillet, leaving ~1 Tbsp of grease in skillet.
- Add celery, carrots, onions and butternut squash to the skillet. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 13-15 minutes, or until vegetables have begun to soften.
- Add garlic and continue sautéing for 1 more minute.
- Transfer vegetables into a large bowl. Add toasted bread cubes and cooked bacon (from above), dried thyme, dried rosemary, salt, pepper, broth and eggs; stir until well combined.
- Transfer mixture into prepared baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove foil and continue baking for 15-20 minutes, or until top is golden brown in color.
- Garnish with chopped Italian parsley before serving.
Notes
Looking for more stuffing/dressing recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
Cant wait to make this soon for me can i use mushrooms and vegetarble broth i never had bacon and butternut squash stuffing before perfect for my after office meals love your recipes as always brightens up my day everyday after work
I would think mushrooms would work well in this recipe, Ramya – the earthy flavor would pair well with the other flavors going in here. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Well, you guys certainly managed to use all that chopped butternut squash … and in such a delicious way, may I add!! I absolutely adore stuffing. Like, love it. I could honestly make a whole meal out of just that (topped with gravy, of course). This version with bacon and squash sounds amazing and I just know that it’ll have to happen soon. It would be great for the holidays!!
Oh man…there was so much chopped butternut squash, Dawn! Like days and days of it. Haha. But this was a happy problem as it led to this stuffing recipe…and now we love this! You’re right that this could be a meal in itself. 🙂
What a great idea! I love that you basically have two dishes in one! Now I might need to go rework my Thanksgiving menu and fit this one in!
There’s always room for another Thanksgiving side dish…always! 🙂 Thanks, Kathy!
I’m so sorry some of your family members came down with colds. But hey what a fabulous pivot with this bacon and butternut squash stuffing. I absolutely love the idea of squash in this recipe. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a recipe with both of these ingredients in a stuffing recipe. What a brilliant idea. Hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Yeah, last year’s Thanksgiving ended up being a total bust. But we made the best of it…including this stuffing. It’s so good! The bacon adds a nice layer of flavor to all of the autumn ingredients in this one. Hope you and your family have a great Thanksgiving as well, Kristy!
Such a clever twist on classic stuffing, David! Love the warm, sweet flavor of butternut squash and, as you said, everything is better with bacon. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, my friend!
When faced with bags and bags of butternut squash, you have to get a little creative. I’m glad we did as this stuffing turned out so well! It started as a way to use extra squash, but now it’s earned a spot on our favorites list! 🙂
Seems to be the season of colds, David. That’s Lynne down with one here too. But this bacon and butternut squash stuffing looks amazing. And I’m sure this is just the tonic to actually help to get rid of colds. Great comfort food if you ask me!
Oh man, so sorry to hear about Lynne’s cold, Neil. Hopefully she’s on the upswing now! Comfort food always makes things better. It might not actually help get rid of a cold, but at least it’ll make you feel better along the way! 🙂
oh yes david bacon does make everything better – if only we still ate it. I have kind of gone off meat lately esp. young meat (lambs, etc) and sadly bacon. Hubby can’t eat it anymore so it’s off the list. Sigh! never mind, you could do this without bacon of course!
I totally hear ya, Sherry. I remember you going off bacon – that would be a hard challenge, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I’ve been been a young meat fan myself, but bacon? That’s a different story! You could certainly do this without bacon. Use a bit of olive oil and perhaps some mushrooms??
I hope you’re all set to enjoy Thanksgiving in your new place, David! And if this stuffing makes an appearance, I’m sure it’ll be a memorable meal. A turkey trick I learned years ago, is to stuff the neck cavity of the turkey with sausage, to help keep the turkey moist. Afterward, I chop the sausage up and add it to the stuffing. That is just a short jump from adding bacon to a stuffing, and I’m sure the smoky flavor of the bacon would be fantastic.
We are gearing up for what we hope is a great first Thanksgiving here in the NC mountains. Family is set to come in town – so fingers crossed no-one gets sick this year!
Interesting tip about sausage in the neck cavity of the turkey. We’ve switched to frying our turkey every year, so I wonder how that would work out? There’s only one way to find out!! 🙂
Looks delicious, David! In our family we’re pretty staid when it comes to stuffing/dressing usually bread with celery and sage. But this is awfully tempting… maybe I can convince my sister (who’s hosting this year) to mix things up a bit…
Enjoy your holiday!
I totally understand about the classic stuffing/dressing, Frank. It really is delicious! But if you’re looking for a way to mix things up, then grab a butternut squash or two. This turned out really well! Hope you and the family have a great Thanksgiving this year, my friend!
Nice spin on the regular dressing — love the bacon and butternut squash pairing! Of course, bacon makes everything taste better! 😉
Bacon and butternut squash go really well together – who would’ve thought!? This turned out really well, and now the recipe is on our list of favorites!! Thanks, Michelle!
this is one of the more unique stuffings I’ve ever come across! So many are boring to me. Wet bread with some parsley. Ugh. I love the combination of ingredients in here! Great recipe!
Ugh. I just shuddered at the thought of wet bread and parsley. Haha! This stuffing came about out of necessity, but now it’s earned a spot on our list of Thanksgiving favorites. The flavors all work really well together…and there’s no need for any wet bread! 🙂
Love the large chunks, defintiely will help with a nice texture. Definitely unique like Mimi said, never seen butternut squash on a stuffing before. Yum
You should totally try it out, Raymund – this recipe is like a cross between roasted butternut squash and stuffing. It’s delicious!