Texan cuisine has been influenced by many cultures. Among all the Texan cuisines, Tex-Mex cuisine is quite common and popular in the El Paso region. A seasonal Tex-Mex delicacy is pumpkin or squash blossom. Pumpkin or squash blossom is one of the reasons why I look forward to the squash season and the pumpkin fest. You might be able to find the blossoms in a local farmers’ market. In case you are wondering — yes pumpkin and squash blossoms are edible. The article provides a pumpkin or squash blossom recipe.
Squash or pumpkin blossoms can be served on a dinner table in many forms — fried, baked, or even in the form of a quesadilla. I am providing a simple stir-fry recipe in this post. When stir-fried, squash/pumpkin blossom is savory. It has a hint of zucchini or green calabacita taste. Stir-fried squash/pumpkin blossoms can be served with steamed rice or tortilla.
Ingredients
Pumpkin/squash blossoms — 25 to 30 flowers
Jalapeño — 1 count, seeds removed, chopped
Onion — 1 tablespoon, chopped
Garlic — two medium garlic cloves, chopped
Tomatillo (or tomato) — 1 count
Paprika (smoked preferred but regular is fine too) — 1 teaspoon
Canola/olive oil — 1 to 2 tablespoon
Salt — 1/2 to 1 teaspoon based on how much saltiness you like
Directions
Squash blossom recipe is a simple one — it is like stir frying some vegetables. Thirty flowers shrink down so much that they may even fit in one cup. The list below outlines the steps.
Pumpkin blossoms before cooking.This step is the hardest one. Grow squash or pumpkin so that you have the flowers. Or, you may go to a farmers market and expect to be lucky enough to get the blossoms. Or, you may go to a local pumpkin patch to harvest those blossoms yourself with some pumpkins for carving. We used the local pumpkin patch option. Definitely, you will not get these blossoms in a regular grocery store.
I prefer to soak the blossoms in water for around five minutes. It makes the blossoms fresher. You might find some small bugs inside the pumpkin or squash blossoms. Gently rinse the blossoms with water to clean and remove the bugs.
Chop the blossoms. It is fine if there are a few green tiny green pumpkins with the stem. I cut the green pumpkins to pieces and put them with the blossoms.
Almost cooked blossoms.Heat a frying pan (preferably a non-stick one) and add canola/olive oil. Medium heat is good enough.
Add onion and let it become golden brown (but still juicy).
Add garlic. Garlic will become brown quickly, so be ready with the tomatillo.
Add the tomatillo when the garlic starts to become brownish
Stir-fry three/four minutes.
Add paprika, salt, and the chopped blossoms.
Stir-fry two-tree minutes and then cover. Cover cook for two-three minutes then stir again.
Repeat cover-cook and stir until the blossoms are sautéed well.
Pumpkin blossom stir-fry, a savory delicacy.
Concluding remarks
As said before, stir-fried pumpkin or squash blossoms go well with rice or tortilla. Who thought flowers would taste so good! I wonder, if dinosaurs were extinct due to a giant asteroid, or due to our voracious craving for savory delicacy. 😋 😉
Oooh! Deliciously looking dish 😀 Since I was a child my mom always cooked food with pumpkin veggie and I really love the taste. But I’ve never heard about this dish. I will cook this for my dear daughter hope she will like it! Thank you for sharing your recipe 😉
We make this dish and we call it pakoda. In order to make pakoda, we have to make a batter of cheakpea batter, spices and seasoning added, and the dip the pumpkin blossoms on the batter and fry in oil. We eat this dish with hot and spicy dips.
That is interesting. I think, I have eaten veggies with pakoda-like preparation but mostly with wheat batter (or some kind of batter mix). Thank you for sharing the information. Have a wonderful day.
THIS LOOKS DELICIOUS!!!!!! i can not wait to try this out but one question how many servings does this recipe usually serve because as thanksgiving is around the corner i want to make this for the whole family.
This is delicious indeed! These blossoms behave like spinach or some other leafy greens when cooked. The recipe I provided is for no more than two servings. It might be a good idea to put this as a side dish. Thank you for visiting and commenting.
Handy information on how to prepare the squash blossom. I would have loved to prepare such meal, but I’m afraid of what my siblings will say, so I will get their opinion on whether they like it before going ahead. The recipe is quite easy to prepare.
I always cook at home and garlic with onions are most important ingredients whenever I prepare recipe. Those spices made our food very tasty and delicious that’s why every time we visit supermarket I had to pick at least 5 bags of each. I’ll try this pumpkin blossom stir fry by tomorrow and serve this food for our lunch, hopefully they’ll love it.
I have to say that looks quite nice. I’m not a huge of vegetarian dishes because I like to have meat in my meals quite a lot but this just looks so tasty. I love the addition of the jalapenos as well
This article and recipe made me look back in the past years of my life and at the same time makes me more excited to go back home. Pumpkin or squash blossom is popular in Philippines, it’s one of the well known and commonly eat as vegetable. It can cook in various recipe and one of that is stir fry. Knowing that pumpkin is rich in vitamin A which is good for the eyesight. Farmers in Philippines usually plant pumpkins because of the tropical weather and some variety of pumpkin depending on the soil and location. It’s nice to know that some places and culture regardlessof nationality also appreciate pumpkin blossom as edible food.
Damn, I never knew that you can actually use the pumpkin blossoms in this way and I’ve had a few small pumpkins growing in my garden for a few years now. We always just harvested the full-grown pumpkins.
The recipe sounds extremely easy and straightforward. One question though, is it a big deal if I leave out the jalapeño? My husband doesn’t like it, haha.
I will definitely try to make this stir fry this weekend when I have some free time. I bet that it’s delicious, thank you for sharing!
Oooh! Deliciously looking dish 😀 Since I was a child my mom always cooked food with pumpkin veggie and I really love the taste. But I’ve never heard about this dish. I will cook this for my dear daughter hope she will like it! Thank you for sharing your recipe 😉
Wow, this looks so delicious <3 I'm sure, that I will love it. Thanks a lot for sharing it with us!! I never tried and I can't wait to finally do so 😛
I am glad to know that you liked this recipe and planning to try it. Thank you for visiting and commenting. Have a wonderful Saturday.
We make this dish and we call it pakoda. In order to make pakoda, we have to make a batter of cheakpea batter, spices and seasoning added, and the dip the pumpkin blossoms on the batter and fry in oil. We eat this dish with hot and spicy dips.
That is interesting. I think, I have eaten veggies with pakoda-like preparation but mostly with wheat batter (or some kind of batter mix). Thank you for sharing the information. Have a wonderful day.
THIS LOOKS DELICIOUS!!!!!! i can not wait to try this out but one question how many servings does this recipe usually serve because as thanksgiving is around the corner i want to make this for the whole family.
This is delicious indeed! These blossoms behave like spinach or some other leafy greens when cooked. The recipe I provided is for no more than two servings. It might be a good idea to put this as a side dish. Thank you for visiting and commenting.
Darn! I wish I thought of serving this dish for Thanksgiving sooner! Oh well, there’s always next year.
Handy information on how to prepare the squash blossom. I would have loved to prepare such meal, but I’m afraid of what my siblings will say, so I will get their opinion on whether they like it before going ahead. The recipe is quite easy to prepare.
This sounds really good! My boyfriend and I have been trying to incorporate more seasonal vegetables into our meals. We’ll have to give this a try!
I always cook at home and garlic with onions are most important ingredients whenever I prepare recipe. Those spices made our food very tasty and delicious that’s why every time we visit supermarket I had to pick at least 5 bags of each. I’ll try this pumpkin blossom stir fry by tomorrow and serve this food for our lunch, hopefully they’ll love it.
I have to say that looks quite nice. I’m not a huge of vegetarian dishes because I like to have meat in my meals quite a lot but this just looks so tasty. I love the addition of the jalapenos as well
Glad to hear that you liked the recipe. Have a wonderful weekend.
this can be added to my vegan diet. thanks for this!
This article and recipe made me look back in the past years of my life and at the same time makes me more excited to go back home. Pumpkin or squash blossom is popular in Philippines, it’s one of the well known and commonly eat as vegetable. It can cook in various recipe and one of that is stir fry. Knowing that pumpkin is rich in vitamin A which is good for the eyesight. Farmers in Philippines usually plant pumpkins because of the tropical weather and some variety of pumpkin depending on the soil and location. It’s nice to know that some places and culture regardlessof nationality also appreciate pumpkin blossom as edible food.
Damn, I never knew that you can actually use the pumpkin blossoms in this way and I’ve had a few small pumpkins growing in my garden for a few years now. We always just harvested the full-grown pumpkins.
The recipe sounds extremely easy and straightforward. One question though, is it a big deal if I leave out the jalapeño? My husband doesn’t like it, haha.
I will definitely try to make this stir fry this weekend when I have some free time. I bet that it’s delicious, thank you for sharing!
Wow!! This looks delicious and very interesting. 🙂 🙂 I’d never heard of pumpkin blossoms – do they taste like pumpkin or squash?
It’s lovely to connect with you. So glad that you came to visit my blog 🙂 🙂 🙂
Much love to you and this amazing blog,
Debbie
It tastes a little like squash but overall, it has its unique flavor.
I appreciate your visit too. Have a wonderful weekend.
Enjoy!
Kind regards,
Thank you. Have a wonderful weekend ahead.
Going to have to try this!
This sounds like a yummy comfort food to have for dinner 😀
? definitely. Thank you for visiting and commenting. Have a wonderful weekend ahead.
Looks delicious, a seasonal dish!!
Yes, delicious it is. Thank you very much for stopping by and commenting. Have a wonderful day.