So I did a little poll on Facebook and it looks like the Savoury won! So, here it is, a delicious, healthy, seasonal, and easy savoury recipe for you!
It’s definitely the Season of Squash … well, winter squash that is – butternut squash, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, and pumpkins!!
I was craving something savoury, crispy, and nourishing, and I had an acorn squash sitting on the kitchen counter just calling my name! I typically would chop it up and throw it in a stew or chill, but I was really wanting that crunch and crispy texture so I decided to try making chips out of the squash!
I’ve done zucchini chips in the past, and they were a hit and I also love to make sweet potato chips and figured I could make it work with acorn squash too!
I was planning to use my mandolin slicer to make perfectly sized chips but it was giving me a hard time, and not doing the best job (it’s a cheap little thing, so not the best for sturdier squash like the acorn squash!) so I resorted to cutting sliced manually, which worked, but not as good as I would have liked as I had some thinner pieces and some thicker.
Oh well, “rustic” chips, right??
I love the mixture of sweet and spicy, so I decided to toss the squash chips with coconut oil, and then sprinkled them with chill powder and coconut palm sugar!
Coconut palm sugar is one of my go-to unrefined sugars as it’s a slow releasing sugar, so it doesn’t spike blood sugars like refined sugar does! It also gives a nice subtle sweetness which I enjoy!
Acorn squash is a fantastic food. Squash in general really is. It’s full of digestive system supporting fibre and carotenoids (natural pigments in foods that the body can turn into powerful antioxidants!). I also love that it has a naturally sweet taste with a little bit of richness!
As the chips were roasting the house was filled with a delicious smell of squash and a hint of sweet spice! Enough to make my mouth water – actually my mouth is watering right now thinking about it!
As I was preparing the squash chips I noticed the perfectly ripe avocado also sitting on my kitchen counter (so many wonderful things find their way onto that counter!) and I thought, what a perfect addition to my chips – I’ll make a dip! An avocado dip, rich and creamy, to balance out the sweet and spicy in the chips!
I whipped up the avocado in my little blender with some garlic and onion powder, apple cider vinegar – to cut the richness – salt, and a dollop of coconut cream to make it a little lighter in colour!
Simple ingredients, but a perfect flavour to balance out the chips!
Avocado, of course, is super duper healthy too – lots of healthy unsaturated fats, and full of Vitamin C, K, and E, and a great source of Folic Acid!
This combo of chips and dip really hit the spot! For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend, this would be a perfect little appetizer to serve your guests and use up that yummy squash! You can try it with any variety of squash too!
- 1 large acorn squash, seeded, and sliced thinly
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp coconut palm sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tablespoon melted coconut oil or olive oil
- For the Dip:
- 1 medium avocado, pitted
- 1 tablespoon coconut cream (optional, but makes the dip creamier!)
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp dried dill
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ¼ tsp salt
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Toss the sliced squash in a bowl with the oil, chill powder and coconut sugar, and salt to coat.
- Place on a baking pan lined with parchment paper, making sure no slices are overlapping.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly browned, flipping once halfway through cooking.
- Turn oven to broil, and cook for 2-3 more minutes to crisp up.
- Meanwhile, make the dip.
- Add all the dip ingredients to a small food processor or magic bullet and blend until smooth. Place in the fridge until ready to eat with the chips!
Have a great Thursday, and a fantastic weekend!
Christal
Nutritionist in the Kitch
This is such a great alternative to so many unhealthy snacks out there. I have made it a couple of times and it always hits the spot. Thank you for sharing your creative and healthy ideas with the world! I definitely appreciate it.
Aww thanks so much for the nice feedback Corrin!
Rustic is always the best kind of food in my humble opinion, it can be so fancy and yet so comforting at the same time, these chips look great Christal, thanks for the recipe 😀 x
Lol! Sometimes rustic is what you get, so that’s gotta be OK! 🙂 Thanks for the comment as always Jules! 🙂