Garden fresh stuffed patty pan squash with a french meat filling.
This is a low carb gluten free recipe for small and large patty pan squash!
Watch and learn how to prepare this dish at home with my video and process shots further below.
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I came up with this recipe with the help of my uncle, who grows squash in his garden.
The recipe is loosely based on the French meat stuffed tomatoes recipe.
If you like stuffed vegetables, then check out this veg zucchini boats and my colorful rice stuffed vegan peppers.
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📕 What is patty pan squash?
A patty pan squash is a summer squash variety which comes in various varieties.
This squash resembles a UFO in shape and comes in white, yellow or green.
The squash is also known as button squash, sunburst squash and various places around the world call it by a local name.
We know it as Patisson mainly, because this vegetable was introduced to us by my uncle in France, who successfully grew a whole lot.
The Squash comes in 2 major sizes:
- small baby squash - about 1-2 inch/ 3-6 centimeter wide
- large patty pan squash - about 4-6 inch/10-15 centimeter wide
Small baby patty pan squash are more common in stores.
Large patty pan squash are most commonly homegrown or farmer's market material.
The growing season for this humble summer squash variety is from May to late summer/beginning fall.
This squash plant grows like other squash varieties in well-drained nutritious rich mud.
❓ How long is it good?
I have kept my oversized large white patty pan squash for over 5 weeks in a cool and dry place without that they turned bad.
They were literally the same for weeks and didn't get any harder.
These squash are like butternut squash, they keep well for a long time.
I'm less experienced with yellow patty pan squash or the green variety.
👍 Peeling, yes or no?
The squash is best when harvested young when the outer skin is still tender.
If your garden-fresh patty pan squash peel is soft, you can choose to leave it on and eat the peel.
A large flying saucer squash can have a soft skin too.
I recommend you peel the squash if you bought it in-store and if it was treated with pesticides.
You can also peel your skin if you intend to cook the squash in any other way then stuffed.
However, leave the skin on in this meat stuffed squash recipe because it's great for the presentation of the dish.
You can always take off the cooked vegetable flesh from the skin in your plate.
🔪 How to cut it?
Baby Patty pan squash are easily cut because they are small in size.
Large patty pan can be a bit more daunting but it shouldn't be that way because it's just a large squash.
The seed case is rather soft like a sponge and can be cut out easily.
The squash seeds can be roasted separately like butternut squash or pumpkin seeds.
To make stuffed patty pan, cut your squash top off and hollow your squash.
You can cut the squash in slices too or in cubes.
Just make sure the squash pieces are all of the same sizes so that they can cook evenly.
❔ How to stuff it?
To make meat stuffed pattypan squash, you can choose to use large or baby squash or white, yellow or green squash.
If you use small squash, use about 4-6 pieces (depending on the size).
View the full recipe with detailed ingredients, instructions, and how to video at the bottom of the post.
Step 1
Prepare your squash by cutting off the top to create a "hat".
Hollow your squash.
Separate the seeds from the squash flesh and keep the seeds for another recipe or to plant.
Cut your leftover squash flesh small, which you took out from the center and keep aside.
Place your hollowed-out squash with the cut off the top on a baking tray.
Sprinkle with olive oil, season with black pepper and salt.
Place into oven and to roast until cooked almost soft.
Step 2
In a bowl combine the stuffing ingredients including the ground meat, onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, olive oil, thyme, oregano, and the cut squash pieces.
Step 3
Place roasted squash into a baking dish and stuff with the ground meat mixture.
Close with the top lid-like hat.
Prepare a sauce in the baking dish around the summer squash, by adding in whole peeled canned tomatoes, water, onion, bay leaves, salt and black pepper.
Roast your meat stuffed squash on medium-high heat in the oven, until the meat and the squash are cooked through.
Serve hot by cutting the squash into portion-sized pieces.
💡 More squash prepping ideas
Patty Pan Squash can be cooked in various other ways like any other squash.
Small and large squash can be...
- cut your squash into cubes and sautee or turn them into roasted patty pan squash
- cut into slices and grill
- boil your squash to use in soups and puree
- steam, oven roast or boil your squash as a whole (without stuffing it)
👁️ More recipes
- Pickled Patty Pan squash - A great way to preserve your pattypan vegetables through pickling without canning.
- Red Lentil Spaghetti with grilled patty pan squash - An easy dinner that will leave you feeling healthy and nourished with a dose of hidden protein!
- Coconut Curry patty pan squash soup - It’s an exciting, new way to use that summer squash, and is dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan, too!
📖 Recipe
Meat Stuffed Patty Pan Squash Recipe
Ingredients
To roast squash:
- Patty Pan Squash *see Notes
- Olive Oil as much as you need to roast
- Salt pinch
- Black Pepper Ground pinch
For the stuffing
- 7 Ounces Ground Beef and Pork Blend *See Notes
- Patty Pan Flesh cut out from the center of the squash
- 1 Onion chopped
- 2 Pieces Garlic Cloves chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Teaspoon Oregano Dried
- 1 Teaspoon Thyme
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
For the sauce:
- 8½ Ounces Whole Peeled Tomatoes
- 1 Onion cut small
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- Black Pepper Ground pinch
- ¼ Cup Water
- 2 Small Bay leaves
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° Fahrenheit/180° Celsius.
- Rinse your patty pan squash to get rid of any impurities and mud.
- Cut the top of your squash off so that you have a "hat" to cover your stuffed squash later.
- Cut with a knife into your squash center to cut out all the center flesh. Hollow out further with a spoon if necessary. Separate flesh from seeds, keep seeds to roast in another recipe or to plant. Cut the center flesh small and keep aside.
- Place the squash with cut off top on a baking sheet and tray. Sprinkle olive oil all over the hollow patty pan squash and on the hat and season with salt and black pepper.
- Roast the squash at 350° Fahrenheit/180° Celsius until it's cooked almost through. This can take somewhere between 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of your squash (*see Notes).
- In the meanwhile prepare the stuffing by combining all the stuffing ingredients together in a bowl. That includes the ground meat, the chopped onion, chopped garlic, olive oil, thyme, oregano, black pepper, salt, and the previously small cut patty pan center flesh pieces. Keep aside.
- Once your hollowed out patty pan is done roasting, place into a baking dish and place all the meat stuffing mixture into the vegetables. Close with the lid.
- For the sauce, arrange all the sauce ingredients around the squash in the baking dish, including the whole canned tomato, onion, salt, black pepper, water and bay leaves.
- Roast the stuffed patty pan squash for about 30 minutes at 350° Fahrenheit/180° Celsius (more or less depending on the size of your squash). Check if it's done by poking into the squash. Keep in mind that the meat takes about 30 minutes to cook through in a large patty pan squash.
- Serve hot by cutting the squash into 4 potions or by serving each baby patty pan individually per person.
Notes
- If you are using a large squash, use only one. If you are using baby squash, use 4–6 pieces, depending on the size of your baby squash.
- We use a 50:50 ground pork and beef blend in France. This is because pork is fattier and helps in keeping it all juicy, and with the beef, it combines well.
- The roasting time depends on your patty pan squash size. A large one will take about 1 hour cooking time. Small ones will take less, so the cooking and total time can be a little more (if you use a huge one) or way less (if you use baby squash).
- Only use a patty pan which hasn't been sprayed with pesticides in this stuffed squash recipe because you cook the squash as a whole. Organic may not always mean pesticide-free (depending on the regulations in your country).
