Squash blossoms are found in the cuisine of many cultures, such as Italian and Mediterranean dishes. Often referred to as delicacies, they are typically only found at farmers’ markets, so try to get your hands on them while you can!
Stuffed squash/zucchini blossoms may not be familiar to everyone, but they make for a unique appetizer or addition to many dishes. Our suggestion is to be creative and make them your own! That’s exactly how we approached developing the following recipes, grabbing whatever ingredients we had in the garden and trying a number of unique combinations.
Ingredients: Batter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water, room temperature
Tip: Prepare the batter with oat flour to make the recipe gluten-free/ Celiac-friendly.
Ingredients: Filling
1 block cream cheese
+ additional spices, herbs, fruits and vegetables (5 variations listed below)
Tip: To have softer cream cheese to work with, remove the block from the fridge about two hours prior.
1. Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake (4 blossoms)
4 large strawberries
1 teaspoon honey
Topping:
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
icing sugar
2. Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake (4 blossoms)
1 tablespoon pumpkin spice
1 teaspoon honey
3. Herb & Garlic (4 blossoms)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
scant ½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 onion slice, chopped
salt & pepper (to taste)
4. Spicy Dill (4 blossoms)
3 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
½ teaspoon red pepper chili flakes
5. Jalapeño (4 blossoms)
2 green onion tops, chopped
1 jalapeño, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper (to taste)
Instructions
Prepare all ingredients according to the suggestions above (e.g., mince, dice, etc.) and set aside.
Gently rinse blossoms with water and dry with a paper towel. It’s okay to open the petals (even if they tear a bit) to ensure there aren’t any bugs. The entire flower is edible, but most people remove the bud from the inside (called the stamen) and the stem from the base of the flower.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour and water to create the batter. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.
Preheat air fryer to 370°F.
For each flavour variation, combine all ingredients together in a small bowl and fill each blossom with about 1 ½ tablespoons of the mixture. To make the filling step easier, transfer your filling to a piping bag. If you don’t own one of these, don’t worry! You can make a quick & easy at-home version by filling a Ziploc bag and snipping off one corner.
After the blossoms are filled, carefully coat the outside with batter. Although a bit messy, we found it easiest to do this by hand. Try your best to close the flower so that the filling doesn’t run out when frying.
Evenly coat the air-fryer basket with olive oil and lay down 6 battered blossoms, ensuring they’re evenly spaced. You may be able to fit more depending on the size of your basket.
Fry for 12 min, carefully flipping halfway.
Tip: After frying, if the blossoms are stuck to the bottom of the basket, give them 10 min to cool and they will be easier to remove.
Recipe developed by Alissa Debruyne and Emma Van der Burg, 2023 Dietetic Interns