Calabacitas Mexican Squash Saute

Calabacitas Mexican Squash Saute in a New Mexican favorite. The word “Calabacitas” is Spanish for Squash. This saute dish is a perfect combination of yellow squash, Mexican squash, zucchini, fresh or frozen sweet corn, spicy or mild fresh Hatch chile pepers, garlic, onions and spices. These fresh ingredients work well together to create a tasty side dish for any southwestern meal. One of my favorite southwestern dinners is calabacitas served with pork chops. I also enjoy the dish with grilled chicken. My daughter likes Calabacitas in a flour tortilla served as a veggie taco. The tacos make for a great vegetarian or vegan dinner option. I made black bean salsa to serve with the tacos for additional protein. You can find that link below for the Green Chile Black Bean Salsa Recipe.
CeceliasGoodStuff.com | Good Food for Good People

Calabacitas Mexican Squash Saute

2017-09-24 13:18:17

Serves 8

Calabacitas Mexican Squash Saute is a family favorite. My daughter is now vegan, so trying to cook something that everyone will eat is not an easy task. Both my husband and son enjoy more than a fair share of meat. I can go either way really. This is a New Mexican side dish. The word calabacitas - is Spanish for Squash. Pictured below is a small calabacita. They are very tender when they are small. I used two of them in this recipe. And for fun I added a red chile pepper for color. Traditionally it is usually just a green chile pepper in the recipe. This dish is a perfect combination of yellow squash, Mexican squash, zucchini, fresh sweet corn, spicy chile, onions, and a few simple herbs. The combination of these vegetables go well together. I like serving calabacitas with pork chops, grilled chicken, tacos, or burritos. Today we served them in flour tortillas and garnished them with cheese and salsa, well except the vegan no cheese for her. I hope you enjoy my new twist on this traditional New Mexican dish. Bon Appetit, Cecelia .

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

30 min

Prep Time

20 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

30 min

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 yellow squash, sliced
2 Mexican squash, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
1 red chile pepper, chopped (mild heat)
1 green chile, chopped (mild heat)
2 cups fresh or frozen sweet corn
Salt to taste
¼ teaspoon cumin powder
Shredded pepper jack cheese for garnish

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
Add the minced garlic, onions, squash, zucchini, chile peppers and frozen sweet corn to pan.
Sauté until tender, about 5 - 10 minutes.
Season with salt and dried cumin.
Mix well.
Transfer to serving dish.
Garnish with pepper jack cheese.
Serve immediately.

Notes

Fresh corn is best, but frozen sweet corn works well in this recipe.

By Cecelia Dardanes

Cecelia's Good Stuff https://ceceliasgoodstuff.com/

Veggie Tacos made with a batch of Calabacitas - Mexican Squash Saute CeceliasGoodStuff.com Good Food for Good People

You can use a batch of Calabacitas along with flour tortillas or corn tortillas to make a tasty veggie taco. These is seriously good stuff, no pun intended.
Calabacitas – Mexican Squash Saute
CeceliasGoodStuff.com | Good Food for Good People

Calabacitas Mexican Squash CeceliasGoodStuff.com Good Food for Good People

Calabacitas Mexican Squash with fresh sweet corn and fresh Hatch chile peppers. I used mild peppers, but if you like spicy by all means use a spicy chile pepper. My kids like mild and I prefer spicy, but once you add the spicy pepper you can’t really remove the spicy flavor. Sometimes I divide the saute into two dishes and add more chile peppers. Just a little trick I thought I would share.
CeceliasGoodStuff.com | Good Food for Good People

Calabacitas Mexican Squash Saute this is a New Mexican favorite. This is perfect for a gluten free diet, vegan or vegetarian. (For the vegans out there, simply omit the pepper jack cheese as a garnish.)
CeceliasGoodStuff.com | Good Food for Good People

Calabacitas Mexican Squash Saute. What an amazing mix of fresh flavors. I don’t over season this because all the fresh vegetables work well together to create a very tasty dish. And the fresh chile pappers add a nice spicy bite.
CeceliasGoodStuff.com | Good Food for Good People

Calabacitas Mexican Squash Saute with Cheese CeceliasGoodStuff.com Good Food for Good People

Calabacitas Mexican Squash Saute topped with pepper jack cheese. I love that I can feed my entire family with a large batch of healthy vegetables. For diary free or vegan, simply omit the cheese.
CeceliasGoodStuff.com | Good Food for Good People

Shown here is the Green Chile and Black Bean Salsa that I served with the calabacitas tacos. The paired nicely together. My vegan daughter skipped the cheese. If you are vegetarian or vegan this is a great combination. The salsa has black beans for added protein.
Click here for the Green Chile and Black Bean Salsa Recipe.

New Mexico Red Chiles CeceliasGoodStuff.com| Good Food for Good People

Our native grown chile peppers are harvested starting in August. We continue to harvest until our first major freeze. That varies greatly from southern New Mexico to the high southern Rocky Mountains in northern New Mexico. You can usually find fresh harvested chile until the end of November. Shown is is some fresh harvested New Mexico Red Chile Peppers grown in Hatch, New Mexico.
CeceliasGoodStuff.com| Good Food for Good People

“Flavor of the Southwest” by Cecelia Dardanes is now available . The book is filled with 320 pages of beautiful southwestern recipes. Easy to follow instructions and pictures for each and every recipe. There is a chile section that describes the different types of chile peppers and how to cook with them. The book continues to get rave reviews.
Purchase your copy now click here “FLAVOR OF THE SOUTHWEST”