Wondering how to cook Delicata squash? This Delicata Squash recipe makes a delicious main course filled with black beans and topped with chipotle glaze.
It’s the coldest day of the year here in Indianapolis. But it is still possible to have a successful meal with local products that bring color and warmth. Delicata Squash to the Rescue! This oblong squash is one of our favorite varieties to work with. Our favorite farmer at our farmers market convinced us to try it and made sure it tasted sweet, almost like a yam. Turns out he was right! Here we turned it into a hearty fall meal by filling it with rice, salsa, and black beans and topping it with a chipotle glaze. And my, oh my god: you’re going to want to try this out ASAP.
How to Cook Delicata Squash
Not only is the Delicata squash delicious, but it’s super easy to make! Unlike butternut squash, which is tedious to clean and prepare, delicata squash is easy to cut and doesn’t need to be peeled. Yes, you can eat the skin! The taste is soft and delicate, a bit like a sweet potato. To top it off, it also roasts fairly quickly, giving it many advantages over more well-known squash varieties like butternut squash and acorn squash.
To prepare the Delicata squash, follow these steps:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Halve the Delicata squash and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
- Rub the squash with olive oil, salt and place cut-side down on the parchment paper.
- Roast until tender, about 25 minutes.
For this Delicata Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe, we made it a main dish by filling it with rice, salsa, and black beans. We also added chipotle frosting for the outside of the squash which gives it great flavor. But if you want to keep it simple, you can slice the Delicata squash into crescents to make fries. Here is our recipe for Delicata Squash Fries.
Make this Stuffed Delicata Squash recipe
To create this Delicata Stuffed Pumpkin recipe we had some inspiration. First, this Chipotle Frosted Butternut Squash was inspired to make the chipotle frosting for the outside of the squash. The filling was inspired by some stuffed poblano peppers we made a few years ago. In this Stuffed Delicata Squash recipe, the filling is rice, black beans, corn, and salsa. Here are the key steps for preparing this Delicata Pumpkin recipe:
- Cook the rice: You can use brown or white rice.
- Roast the squash: see instructions above. Before frying, rub in the chipotle glaze (a mixture of minced garlic and chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, honey, and olive oil).
- While the squash is roasting, prepare the filling: mix together the scallions, salsa, black beans, corn, adobo sauce, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, shredded cheese, and rice.
- When the squash is cooked, add the hot filling. Top with additional grated cheese: the heat from the filling and squash will melt the cheese. Garnish and serve.
Our secret ingredient for filling and icing is a Can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Only one bell pepper is used for the icing, but a few tablespoons of adobo sauce in the can for the frosting, then again a few tablespoons in the topping. The adobo sauce gives the dish an indescribable smoky flavor! Make sure you don’t replace this one. Read on to learn more about adobo sauce…
What is adobo sauce?
What is adobo sauce? Alex and I like to use adobo sauce in our recipes to add a hearty, smoky flavor to Mexican dishes. Chipotle in adobo sauce are sold here in the United States in most major grocery stores that line up alongside Mexican products. The small box includes Chipotle peppersthese are smoked and dried jalapeños that are then rehydrated and canned Spanish spice and marinade mixa tomato puree, vinegar, garlic and some other spices.
Looking for more pumpkin recipes?
This Stuffed Delicata Squash recipe is a fan favorite for using Delicata Squash! Here are a few more of our favorite pumpkin recipes on A Couple Cooks using all types of pumpkin:
This recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten free.
The description
Wondering how to cook Delicata squash? This Delicata Squash recipe makes a delicious main course filled with black beans and topped with chipotle glaze.
- 1 cup believed (2 1/2 cups cooked) white or brown rice*
- 4 delicate pumpkin
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
- 1 tbsp Honey
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 Green Onions
- 15-oz can of black beans (or 1 ½ cups cooked black beans or Instant Pot)
- 1 ½ cups salsa
- 1 ½ cups frozen or canned corn kernels
- 1½ teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 at 1 1/2 cups grated Monterrey Jack and cheddar cheese (Mexican blend)
- ¼ cup chopped coriander
- Hot sauce for garnish (optional)
- Sour cream for garnish (optional)
- Cook brown rice according to package directions (or use our Instant Pot method).
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450°F. Wash the squash, then cut each squash in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
- Finely chop the garlic and 1 chipotle pepper. With 2 tablespoons of canned Adobo sauce, mix together the chiles, honey, and olive oil, then rub both sides of the squash. (You can also rub each squash half with ½ tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with Kosher salt.)
- Place the squash halves, cut-side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake, until tender when pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, when the rice is ready, thinly slice the spring onions. Chop the cilantro. Drain and rinse beans.
- In a large bowl, combine chopped green onions, salsa, black beans, corn, 2 Tbsp adobo sauce, and cumin, chili powder, garlic powder. Add ½ cup grated cheese and when rice is done, 2 ½ cups cooked rice. Taste, season to taste.
- When the squash is cooked, put the filling in each half. Garnish with a few squirts of hot sauce, if you like. Cover with the remaining grated cheese and place in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with sour cream, if you like.
- Category: main course
- Method: Cooked
- Kitchen: Mexican inspired
Keywords: Delicata Squash, Cooking Delicata Squash, Delicata Squash Recipe, Vegetarian Gluten Free Healthy Dinner Chipotle Black Beans Rice
