What To Do With Squash Blossoms + An Easy Quesadilla

Squash blossoms are the edible flower of the squash plant. Let’s dive into how to cook with these delicate blooms and get the most of their subtle, grassy flavor with an easy squash blossom quesadilla recipe.

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Welcome to a new series I’m so excited about: Challenge Ingredient! Every month I will share a new ingredient that is commonly used in authentic Mexican cooking but may be new or unfamiliar to us here in the US.

Using this underutilized Mexican ingredient, I will demonstrate its versatility and encourage you to seek it out in your local Latin market or Farmer’s market, step outside your usual choices, and feel comfortable enough using it with a simple recipe.

To give you an even bigger nudge, I am offering a fun incentive and starting a Challenge Ingredient Cooking Contest! Every month I’ll introduce the Challenge Ingredient, give the recipe, and then give you an opportunity to make the recipe, shoot an image of it, and enter to win a $150 Amazon gift card!

Find all the details about the Challenge Ingredient Cooking Contest here and enter! You will really love cooking with these new ingredients and I can’t wait to see your spin on the recipes.

What Are Squash Blossoms

Squash blossoms are the edible flowers of the squash plant, particularly those of zucchini and other summer squashes. They have a slightly sweet, grassy, very mild flavor and a delicate texture.

Appearance: Squash blossoms typically look like a bright yellow or bright orange flower, with a trumpet-like shape.

Availability: They are a seasonal ingredient, usually available during the summer squash growing season in late spring and summer when squash plants are flowering.

Culinary uses: Squash blossoms are popular in Mexican cuisine as well as Italian and Spanish cuisines. They can be eaten raw in salads, used as a garnish, or cooked in various ways. They are often stuffed with cheese, herbs, seafood, or meat, and then fried or baked. They can also be added to pasta dishes, risotto, pizzas, quesadillas, soups, or frittatas.

Nutritional value: Squash blossoms are low in calories and fat and a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C.

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Where To Buy Squash Blossoms

In the spring and early summer months squash blossoms can be found at your local Latin grocery store, Farmers markets, and in your own backyard if you have a garden growing any type of summer squash. Look for large bright yellow or orange flowers with smooth petals.

The flowers have a short shelf life and get wilted and wrinkled quickly so try to use them within a day or two of buying.

Male vs Female Flowers

If you are growing your own zucchini and harvesting the blossoms for eating, make sure you are only picking the male blossoms. The female blossoms of the zucchini plant are the ones that will eventually turn into squash so you want to leave those alone.

Take a look at your plants you will notice separate male and female blossoms. You can tell the difference by looking at the base of the flower, there will be a miniature squash starting to grow on the female flowers.

The zucchini flowers with long stalks coming from the plant are the male flowers and can be harvested. Don’t remove all of them however, leave a few on the plant to pollinate the female flowers.

How To Prep Squash Blossoms for Cooking

If this is the first time you’ve ever cooked with squash blossoms, take a look at these cleaning tips. Whether you plan on making this quesadilla recipe or stuffed squash blossoms, there are a couple of steps to do first.

1. Use a paper towel or pastry brush to brush off any dirt or debris.
2. Remove the stem. It is not edible.
3. Remove the stamen covered in pollen. It is also not edible.

What To Do With Them

There are so many ways to enjoy fresh squash blossoms. The delicate flowers can be stuffed with goat cheese or ricotta filling, dipped in egg wash and panko bread crumbs the fried in hot oil.

One of my favorite ways to eat them is in a quick and easy quesadilla filled with gooey Queso Oaxaca and lots and lots of zucchini squash blossoms. This was a recipe I worked on back in 2020 when I was developing recipes for my cookbook, Plant Powered Mexican. It is so simple and delicious, I just had to share it here too.

The flavors of the zucchini blossoms are mild. They taste slightly sweet, grassy, and well, like zucchini, with a delicate flavor and slightly floral taste. They pair beautifully with the milky cheese and crisp tortilla for an excellent quick lunch, appetizer, or snack.

Ingredients For The Quesadilla

• Squash blossoms. I like to really pack them in to the quesadilla and use 4 fresh flowers but you can start with 2 and go from there.
• Queso Oaxaca. This is a milky cheese that melts beautifully. Substitute mozzarella if you can’t find it.
• Flour tortillas. Use your favorite brand or make homemade flour tortillas if you are really ambitious.
• Your favorite salsa. My favorite with these quesadillas is a simple salsa verde. Pico de Gallo or avocado salsa would also be good.

Quesadilla Instructions

step one

Prep the squash blossoms and the cheese. To make this squash blossoms recipe is really simple. Clean the squash blossoms liked we talked about above then shred the Oaxaca cheese by pulling it into long strings like you would with string cheese.

step two

Cook. Lay a flour tortilla on a hot, dry pan (I like my trust Le Creuset skillet). Place about 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese on one side of the tortilla and 2-4 squash blossoms on top. Fold in half and toast on both sides over medium heat until the tortilla has a beautiful golden-brown crust and the cheese is melted.

step three

Enjoy! Serve with a small bowl of your favorite salsa for dipping (I like simple salsa verde the best) and dig in.

What To Serve With It

This makes a great dinner-for-one or lunch all by itself but this quesadilla is great with some good beans. Serve with one of these recipes:

• Crock Pot Borracho Beans
• Vegan Refried Beans
• Sofrito Black Beans
• Quick and Easy Canned Black Beans

This cheesy quesadilla recipe also goes great with a bowl of soup. Try it dipped in red chicken pozole, or pork pozole, a bowl of fideo, or caldo de pollo… oh and let’s not forget drinks to go with including creamy horchata, champurrado, or agua de jamaica!

You could also just top it with ripe avocado, a dollop of sour cream, and some spicy salsa macha and call it good.

Ready To Try This Delicious Recipe?

If you see squash blossoms at the market this summer, snatch them up and make this comforting easy quesadilla recipe! Then don’t forget to enter the Challenge Ingredient Contest! I’m so excited to see your version of this quesadilla recipe.