15 Kabocha Squash Recipes to Elevate Your Thanksgiving Feast! – One Green Planet

Kabocha squash is an excellent choice for a vegan main dish for Thanksgiving. Often filled with flavorful stuffings like rice, legumes, veggies, and herbs, or made into a creamy soup or curry, these beautiful kabocha squash recipes are showstoppers that will make for a wonderful holiday addition to your dinner table!

1. Kabocha Squash Stuffed With Black Rice, Kale, and Wakame

Source: Kabocha Squash Stuffed With Black Rice, Kale, and Wakame

This squash – also known as Japanese pumpkin – is an undeniable, and often overlooked delight. If you’ve encountered this unassuming gem, it has most likely been that buttery component of a Thai curry you just couldn’t place or a veggie tempura. This Kabocha Squash Stuffed With Black Rice, Kale, and Wakame by Zuzana Fajkusova and Nikki Lefler is the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving table.

2. Kabocha Squash, Fennel, and Red Lentil Soup

Source: Kabocha Squash, Fennel, and Red Lentil Soup

This rich Kabocha Squash, Fennel, and Red Lentil Soup by Living Ayurveda incorporates the six tastes and yields a delicious, balanced Autumn meal. The fennel and fenugreek give it a maple-like sweet taste, while the red lentils provide protein and grounding nourishment with the squash. If you can’t find kabocha squash, butternut or pumpkin work as wonderful alternatives.

3. Kabocha Squash Lentil Curry

Source: Kabocha Squash Lentil Curry

This healthy Vegan Kabocha Squash Lentil Curry by Kaylee Pauley has a lovely robust flavor and hearty texture, a perfect combination.

Gratitude: Plant-Based Thanksgiving Cookbook

No other holiday captures the spirit of home cooking the way Thanksgiving does. This is why you need the ultimate Thanksgiving cookbook, One Green Planet’s Gratitude: Plant-Based Recipes to Create your own Thanksgiving Tradition! In the cookbook, you’ll find our 100 most popular plant-based thanksgiving recipes like Soft Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts, Spiced Apple Cake with Cashew Frosting, Sweet Potato Chocolate Pudding with Nut Crumble Topping, Cinnamon Apple Hand Pies, and hearty entrees like Roast Root Vegetable Stack With Dukkah, Vegducken: Butternut Squash Stuffed With Eggplant, Zucchini, and a Mushroom Lentil Stuffing, and Seitan Roast With Sausage and Pear Stuffing and Apple Cider Gravy and so much more!

4. Kabocha Squash Soup With Apples and Cashew Crema

Source: Kabocha Squash Soup With Apples and Cashew Crema

You’ll love this cashew crema with hints of maple and cinnamon. The spiced cashews make a terrific, crunchy garnish that perfectly contrasts the creamy, sweet kabocha base. This Kabocha Squash Soup With Apples and Cashew Crema by Karen Sheer is a universal soup that all your company will adore.

5. Kabocha Squash and Red Lentil Soup

Source: Kabocha Squash and Red Lentil Soup

This flavorful Kabocha Squash and Red Lentil Soup by Claire Ragozzino is a satisfying blend of lentils, squash, and warming spices, a great hearty dish for cooler weather!

6. 20-Minute Lentil and Kabocha Squash Curry

Source: 20-Minute Lentil and Kabocha Squash Curry

Packed with filling kabocha squash and high protein lentils, this warm, cozy, grounding curry is full of vibrant spices and loaded with intense flavor. Although many curries rely on canned coconut milk to make the dish hearty, the combination of winter squash and lentils is filling enough on its own, so this dish uses regular coconut milk instead. It makes the creamy consistency of this 20-Minute Lentil and Kabocha Squash Curry by Angela Simpson just right.

7. Sake-Stewed Miso Kabocha Squash

Source: Sake-Stewed Miso Kabocha Squash

In this Sake-Stewed Miso Kabocha Squash recipe by Valentina Goltara, kabocha, also known as Japanese pumpkin, is stewed in sake until tender then tossed with miso for umami flavor. The result is a soft winter squash with a unique flavor that’s slightly sweet and a little salty. This quick and simple recipe can be turned into a complete meal by serving the stewed kabocha with rice and green vegetables.

8. Cheesy Kabocha Squash Pizza Sauce

Source: Cheesy Kabocha Squash Pizza Sauce

Getting sick of the same old marinara sauce that usually sits atop your pizzas? Switch things up with rich and creamy Cheesy Kabocha Squash Pizza Sauce by Kelly Williams! It’s garlicky, creamy, and cheesy – this needs to be the star of your next pizza!

9. Kabocha Squash With Fresh Fenugreek and Coconut

Source: Kabocha Squash With Fresh Fenugreek and Coconut

A delicate and fresh-tasting Kabocha Squash With Fresh Fenugreek and Coconut by Rinku Bhattacharya made in the Bengali style of cooking, pairing kabocha with fresh fenugreek and coconut.

10. Kabocha With Maple Butter Glaze and Fried Sage

Source: Kabocha With Maple Butter Glaze and Fried Sage

Butter squash is a delicious, golden-hued favorite in the fall, but if you feel like trying something new, check out this Kabocha With Maple Butter Glaze and Fried Sage dish by Sabrina Russo! In this recipe, the orange squash is sliced, tossed in a buttery mixture of maple sugar, cinnamon, and vegan butter, and then baked until brown. As if this wasn’t delicious enough, it’s also topped with crispy, fried sage, and plenty of pine nuts.

11. Kabocha Temaki 

Source: Kabocha Temaki 

Liven up your appetizer table with something unique, like these Kabocha Temaki by Kathryn Geyer. You don’t need to be a chef to make picturesque hand rolls. Stuffed with roasted kabocha, rice seasoned with homemade sushi vinegar, and crispy kale chips, these delicious fusion rolls will disappear in an instant.

12. Kabocha Croquettes 

Source: Kabocha Croquettes 

Also known as Japanese pumpkin, kabocha squash is like a velvet butternut squash, and it is the squash you have been searching for your whole life! You might find something similar to these Kabocha Croquettes by Renee McKenzie served in Japanese restaurants called “kabocha korokke,” but here I’ve amped up the seasoning and shallow fried them as opposed to no special seasoning and deep-frying.

13. Tender Turmeric and Squash Soup

Source: Tender Turmeric and Squash Soup

In this Tender Turmeric and Squash Soup, Kabocha squash is slow cooked until it reaches tender, soft perfection and then is blended with apple and dates for a little extra pop of fruity-sweetness. All of this sweet, subtle goodness is balanced out by the warm flavors of turmeric and the rich, velvety smooth coconut milk that calms all that spice. Toss on some chewy golden raisins and crispy apple noodles for a crazy awesome texture that is gonna make you all that much more excited to enjoy this soup by Taylor Kiser.

14. Veggie-Stuffed Squash

Source: Veggie-Stuffed Squash

This Veggie-Stuffed Squash by Zuzana Fajkusova and Nikki Lefler is a great choice for a vegan main dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any holiday. Stuffed with wild rice, celery, goji berry, veggie, and herb filling, it will be a showstopper at your dinner table. It might even have meat eaters saying, “Who needs a turkey?” This stuffed kabocha squash truly makes a wonderful holiday addition to your dinner table. If you have trouble finding a kabocha squash, this will work wonderfully with any winter squash – buttercup, hubbard or butternut would be the best ones. You can also make things faster by using eggplant or zucchini instead of squash! This stuffed kabocha squash is an easy, delicious, and festive main dish for your next fall dinner party––you have to try it!

15. Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

Source: Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

This Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash by Dominique Ebra makes a perfect cold-weather meal!

Gratitude: Plant-Based Thanksgiving Cookbook

No other holiday captures the spirit of home cooking the way Thanksgiving does. This is why you need the ultimate Thanksgiving cookbook, One Green Planet’s Gratitude: Plant-Based Recipes to Create your own Thanksgiving Tradition! In the cookbook, you’ll find our 100 most popular plant-based Thanksgiving recipes like Soft Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts, Spiced Apple Cake with Cashew Frosting, Sweet Potato Chocolate Pudding with Nut Crumble Topping, Cinnamon Apple Hand Pies, and hearty entrees like Roast Root Vegetable Stack With Dukkah, Vegducken: Butternut Squash Stuffed With Eggplant, Zucchini, and a Mushroom Lentil Stuffing, and Seitan Roast With Sausage and Pear Stuffing and Apple Cider Gravy and so much more!