This chayote recipe is a straightforward, classy, and simple side dish created from a cheap squash. It completes a midweek dinner when paired with chicken or fish.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 20 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
| Yield: | 2 cups |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 chayote squash, cut into 1/2-inch strips
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon salt, or as needed
- ½ teaspoon white sugar, or as needed
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (Optional)
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir squash, garlic, salt, sugar, red pepper flakes, and black pepper in hot oil for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour in vinegar; cook and stir until squash is slightly wilted but still firm and crunchy, 2 to 3 minutes.
Reviews
Actually I tasted it before I put the lime juice in and I liked it much better. Maybe 1 tbsp lime juice was too much? I usually love lime in everything. Maybe I wll try the red wine vinegar next time. Or just leave out the acid all together.
First time ever eating this type of squash. This recipe is fantastic! The sugar, pepper flakes and vinegar (I used apple cider – all I had), makes this a tangy slightly sweet and crunchy vegetable. Will definitely make this one again! Thanks!!!
yuk. combo of : salty, sweet, hot, garlicy, sour. too much and not in a good way. try something else for this squash
This was my first time eating this squash. The recipe was simple and great tasting. It is spicy. I like it hot. If you don’t, you can easily reduce the heat by cutting back on the pepper flakes.
Based on others’ recommendations, I used lime juice and onions, and the dish turned out tasty and refreshing. Next time I will cut my squash in smaller cubes for a more even taste throughout.
Have to make again when I have some of the vinegar, although after reading review from MNJACK8, I think I’d rather try lime juice. I can just walk out the door and pick a lime off the tree! Nice to find a way to cook chayote, or christophine, as they call it here in Grenada. I added some leftover steamed pumpkin and hemp hearts.
This is excellent and flavorful and makes a great side dish for many entrees. I have added a variety of different herbs from the garden to vary the taste a bit. A good change from traditional fare at a holiday dinner, too.
I substituted brown sugar for white sugar and garlic salt for table salt for our taste. Delicious!
Didn’t have red pepper so added a little paprika .was delicious,simple and healthy a winner.Will make again
Never cooked this but loved the nice crunch and recipe. Like another reviewer I think next time I’ll use lime.
This recipe was delicious! Just the right amount of heat and crunch. I replaced the apple cider vinegar with lemon juice and it was delicious!
About as easy and basic as you can get, so it shows off the chayote flavor. Mine were big and the skin was too tough to eat. I’ll peel the skin like in the photo next time. This wasn’t clear to me
About as easy and basic as you can get, so it shows off the chayote flavor. Mine were big and the skin was too tough to eat. I’ll peel the skin like in the photo next time. This wasn’t clear to me
Loved this! I will make it again!
I did not add sugar. Very delicious, mild flavor. I boiled the squash whole before I peeled it.
I may try it again with some adjustments. First of all, this recipe calls for having the heat too high to add the garlic right away, so it burns. I may try again slicing the garlic instead of mincing and adding with the vinegar instead of at the beginning. All in all, it’s a bland food and a bland recipe. It didn’t even add much color to the plate.
I followed other reviewers’ advice and added thinly sliced onion and subbed lime juice for the vinegar, and probably cooked it for more like 15 mins. I also subbed a little pure maple syrup for the sugar. The hot/sweet was very balanced. So nice to have a new vegetable to add to the rotation!
It was fun to try something different. Since I had a batch of preserved limes, I finely diced them and offered them as an optional garnish. We all liked the dish both ways.
I thought this was rather bland. I followed the recipe, and was just unimpressed.
I tried this using lime juice instead of vinegar like most of the comments suggested, and I did also use the pepper flakes (unfortunately a little too much, little too much of a bite). It said cook just till limp, I think it needed a little more cook time. I don’t like my cooked veggies so crisp, don’t like them mushy either, but to me it is crunchier than I like. The people suggesting lime juice instead of vinegar didn’t say if it was a one to one substitution or not, thus I just poured some in the pan. This is making it hard to know if I got the flavor right. I may try again at some point, but it isn’t a new favorite.
I made this with some chicken and apple sausages. Browned sausages first in the pan, set them aside, covered. Added squash following recipe. Put sausages back into pan with squash. It was delicious together.