Wild rice with roasted squash and dried apricots and cherries—it’s DELICIOUS and the perfect Thanksgiving side dish. Swap out the chicken stock for vegetable stock, and vegan butter for the regular stuff, and voila, you’ve got yourself a vegan-friendly dish!

Wild Rice with Roasted Squash and Dried Fruit

It’s that time of year when you start seriously thinking about which tried-and-true holiday recipes you want to showcase this year. Is it. Your grandmother’s special turkey stuffing with that “secret ingredient” you learned about as a child? Might it be a great-aunt’s green bean casserole? Or do you have a celebrity chef that you adore and want to be inspired by his or her holiday dishes? 

This dish, right here, is going to be your legacy to the holiday menu. I won’t tell anyone where you got it. Sweet and savory, gorgeous in texture, color and taste, it screams “It’s fall/winter, and this is what you should present to those you care for the most!”

As pretty as it is to look at, it can’t be easier to make. I won’t tell anyone that, either. 

You can use any orange-fleshed gourd squash you desire. I used butternut because it’s plentiful around here. You’ll notice this is a meatless dish, too, so you will be able to serve it to your vegetarian guests with pride. You have a vegan coming? Simple! Substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth, omit the butter and sauté the shallots in olive oil. 

Any wild rice-blend will do, and that immediately puts depth and a healthy slant on this dish. The butternut squash is chock full of nutritious stuff, including Vitamin A, vitamin E, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B-6, folate, pantothenic acid, manganese and potassium. It’s also a great source of dietary fiber and is relatively low in calories, too. This is important, so you can sneak seconds and not feel a bit guilty. 

Honestly, with all of these superlatives I’ve already thrown at you, this dish smells absolutely amazing while cooking and it will sear a time and place memory in anyone who happens to be around your house for a holiday meal. The scent of the sautéed shallots, along with the cumin (yes cumin) and the dried fruit (you are going to sauté a little of that, too, in the shallots) will be as olfactory-pleasing as a holiday visit to grandma’s house when you were a kid. It’s going to get everyone’s digestives juices going, just as well as the smell memory of a holiday turkey coming out of the oven. 

What are your family’s go-to recipes? Who created them and have they evolved throughout the years? How receptive is your family to trying new traditions at the holidays?