Gluten-Free Butternut Squash Jalapeño Poppers
This past weekend, during a six-hour drive from Brooklyn to Burlington to tour colleges with Chiara, I finally caught up with my best friend and nutritionist Allyson. We’re both food lovers and talked about the cost—mentally, emotionally and financially—of cooking from scratch, especially with the relentless pressure of time.
At the end of our conversation, we realized that cooking even the most basic of foods from scratch has become a struggle and even more common, an impossibility for many of us. I also realized that I take for granted how effortless it is for me to make food from scratch. Cooking and baking have always been a meditative state of flow that brings me joy—and pleasure. The simple pleasures of chopping vegetables, inhaling the intoxicating aromas as I cook and sitting down with my family at the table make me happy. Cooking comes naturally to me—I don’t think about how to make a recipe, I just do it. I know this isn’t true for everyone.
That changes now. I can help make cooking something you look forward to by shifting your cooking mindset from dread to delight. Let’s start together with my Butternut Squash Jalapeño Poppers recipe.
If you’ve read any of my cookbooks, you know I’m addicted to savory (and sweet) poppers, especially jalapeño. This recipe was inspired by the abundance of comforting butternut squash during the winter months and my love for the fresh, vibrant flavors of Mexican food. The best part? These poppers takes less than 10 minutes to make.
With this recipe, my mission was to make a popper that would not only taste good, but make me feel good—and satisfied.
The creamy secret? I swap in roasted, pureed butternut squash in a way usually reserved for cheese—and you’ll never even miss it. The sweet butternut squash lends a slight sweetness while delivering a rich, full-bodied texture.
Instead of frying the poppers, I bake them in a hot oven to seal in the flavors. To give the baked jalapeño poppers their crave-worthy crunchy exterior you’d get from frying, I use the classic 3-step breading method—flour, egg and breadcrumbs. The flour absorbs any surface moisture and the egg binds with the flour, which helps the breadcrumbs stick.
I hope to motivate and empower you to cook fast and easy foods that will nourish and satisfy your whole family. It might just put a smile on your face, too.
Until we eat again,
gluten-free Butternut Squash Jalapeño Poppers
gluten-free ≈ dairy-free ≈ sugar-free
Makes 8
Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1½ cups homemade or store-bought butternut squash puree, thawed and drained if frozen
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon dried oregano
10 large jalapeños, halved and seeded, 2 chopped
Salt and pepper
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
My Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour or store-bought, for dredging
Crushed rice cereal, for dredging
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 425º. In a medium bowl, combine the squash, paprika, oregano and chopped jalapeño; season with salt and pepper. Stuff the jalapeño halves with the squash mixture.
2. Place the flour, egg and cereal in three separate small bowls for dredging. Coat each jalapeño first with the egg, then the flour, then the egg, then the cereal crumbs. Grease lightly with cooking spray. Bake until golden and crunchy, about 20 minutes.
QUICK RECIPE SWAPS
My All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour → Your favorite store-bought brand
Crushed rice cereal → gluten-free homemade or store-bought bread crumbs, such as Aleia’s
