Vegan Cauliflower and Butternut Squash Quesadillas
You can feel the plant power with these butternut squash quesadillas, filled with an ooey-gooey butternut squash cheese sauce and a smoky, spiced, cauliflower crumble. A perfect recipe to play with, add different vegetables, your favorite salsas, or make just as written. With a crispy tortilla on the outside and a creamy butternut squash cheese in the middle, you can’t go wrong. This recipes really manages to do two types of vegan recipe approaches well- it’s a pretty good mimic of a non-vegan quesadilla, but it also really highlights and shows off different vegetables. Come on, plant-powered people, make a quesadilla with me!
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Can I Make a Quesadilla without Cheese?
Your average quesadilla is going to be made with a tortilla (traditionally corn, although flour works just as well) filled with cheese and cooked to crisp the tortilla and melt the cheese. It can have other fillings, such as meats, vegetables, herbs or spices, but the cheese and the tortilla are what defines the dish. It’s in the name- quesa-dilla. As well as being the defining factor in the dish, the cheese in quesadillas also provide a specific function by taking on the role of melting and sticking the two tortillas together.
So can you make a quesadilla without cheese? I would say yes. I’m far from a dairy purest- I haven’t touched the stuff in almost a decade- but personally I think a quesadilla needs to have a nod to cheese, and an ooey-gooey factor. Of course, these days you can buy vegan cheese and make a quesadilla that way. Another great option is homemade vegan cheeses (this one uses a squash-based cheesy sauce). If you’re not stuck on having the queso in your quesadilla, less cheesy choices that will still help stick your quesadilla together include smashed avocado, refried beans, or even hummus.
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Looking for Squash Recipes? Try one of these!
- Squash and Kale Vegan Lasagna Roll Ups
- Kabocha Squash Vegan Tempura Sushi Roll
- Smokey Butternut Squash Hummus
- Warming Vegan Stew with Squash and Cardamom
- Maple Butternut Squash Dessert Crepes
- Kabocha Squash and Cheese Vegan Pupusas
- Cold Weather Cabbage Soup with Butternut Squash and Turmeric
- Tomato Masala Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Corn and Spinach
- Kabocha Squash Soup with Sunflower Seed Cream
- Vegan Squash Mac and Cheeze with Curried Okra
- Creamy Squash Ravioli with Oyster Mushrooms
- Black Lentils with Orzo and Butternut Squash
Looking for Cauliflower Recipes? Try one of these!
Looking for Vegan Mexican Inspired Food? Check these out!
- Instant Pot Black Borracho Beans with Potatoes
- Vegan Baja Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa
- Pipián Verde with Mexican Jackfruit and Tofu
- Baked Chile Relleno Cornbread Casserole
- Hibiscus Flower and White Bean Vegan Tostadas
- Vegan Posole with Tempeh and Mushrooms
- Simple Vegan Fajitas with Seitan
- Easy Air Fried Crispy Potato Tacos
How to Make Cauliflower and Butternut Squash Quesadillas
I’ve always thought of quesadillas as a pretty casual food- when I was younger and bothering my mother for food between meals, one of her go-to suggestions was that I make myself a quesadilla. Since I think of quesadillas as being things you just throw together, I made this recipe fairly casual as well. I walk you through how to make a squash cheese sauce, and then we make some roasted cauliflower together. After that it’s up to you- big tortilla or small, corn or wheat, how many you make, if you add salsa, vegan sour cream, or something else. Think of this recipe as a jumping off point, that you can tweak and modify to fit what’s in your fridge or how you prefer it. Just remember-
“If cauliflower can be pizza [quesadilla], you can do anything” Anonymous.
Butternut Squash Cheese Sauce is the first component of these quesadillas. This is made by first boiling the squash to cook it, and then blending all the ingredients together to create a thick sauce. Because one of the ingredients in this cheese is tapioca starch, you need to transfer it to a saucepan and cook. Just a few minutes on the stove will get your cheesy sauce thickened, stretchy, and shiny. Make sure you are stirring as it cooks, so that the bits on the bottom don’t burn. After that, set it aside.
P.S. If you end up having extra of this sauce, something I love to do is thin it out a with a bit of plant-based milk and use it as a cheese sauce for a vegan mac and cheese.
The second thing you will need to make is the Smoky Roasted Cauliflower. You can really do these in either order, I just list the cauliflower second so your oven has time to get to temperature as you work on the squash cheese. Ch0p the cauliflower up into fairly small pieces, no bigger than a pea. Dice the onion so it’s about the same size. Toss them in the spices and oil and roast. It will take about 25 minutes to get the soft and crispy textures we’re after. After 15 minutes or so, take the cauliflower out, stir everything around, and stick it back in to finish.
Once your cheese sauce and cauliflower are ready, it’s butternut squash quesadilla time! Get a skillet hot, and start to prep your quesadillas. I like to put the squash cheese on both tortillas (or the whole tortilla if you’re folding one tortilla over) to help everything stick together. On one of the tortillas I’ll spread a generous layer of the cauliflower, before sandwiching the two tortilla together. Add a little vegan butter to the skillet if you like (which I do), and place the prepped quesadilla on the hot surface. Cook for a couple minutes per side, until both sides are golden. Remove from the heat and dig in. This recipe will give you enough cheesy sauce for several quesadillas, so eat, repeat, and enjoy.
Less Common Ingredients
Many of the ingredients in this recipe are very common, and can be found at most grocery stores, but there are a few that you might be less familiar with. Here is a brief description of some of those ingredients.
- Fermented tofu is a traditional Chinese dish made from tofu that has been preserved in a brine containing various fermentation agents and will give us a cheesy-flavor. It can often be found in Asian grocery stores, particularly in the refrigerated or preserved foods section, where it is commonly sold in jars or vacuum-sealed packages. You can buy fermented tofu online here. If you are unable to source fermented tofu, try adding a couple tablespoons of miso paste or sauerkraut instead.
- Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast commonly used as a cheese substitute in vegan and vegetarian dishes. With its nutty, cheesy flavor, nutritional yeast is rich in B vitamins and protein, and it is often found in health food stores, bulk sections, or specialty grocery stores. If you are looking to buy some online, you can order nutritional yeast here.
- We also use tapioca flour (which is the same as tapioca starch) in our cheese sauce. It makes the sauce thicker and supplies the ooey-gooey factor. It can be found in well-stocked supermarkets, Asian grocery stores, and health food stores, usually in the baking or gluten-free section. If you are looking for an online source, you can find tapioca starch here.
Vegan Cauliflower and Butternut Squash Quesadillas
Ingredients
- Tortillas, of the size you prefer
- 1 lb. butternut squash (about 1/2 a small squash, or 3 cups chopped squash)
- 1 cup soymilk, or other plant-based milk
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup fermented tofu
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/2 medium-sized cauliflower head
- 1 small onion
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp. cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C), and prepare a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Remove the skin and seeds from the butternut squash, and cut it into large cubes. Add to a saucepan with water, bring to a boil, and simmer until the squash is soft and easily pierced with a fork. Remove from the saucepan, strain, and transfer to a blender.
- Add the remaining squash cheese ingredients to the blender, and blend until perfectly smooth. Return the mixture to the saucepan, and bring to a simmer, stirring and scraping the bottom as it heats. Simmer for a few minutes to cook the tapioca. Once ready, your squash cheese should be thickened, shiny, and stretchy. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Finely chop the cauliflower, and dice the onion. Add to a large mixing bowl with the oil and spices. Toss well to combine. Spread evenly on the baking sheet, and bake for about 25 minutes, stirring once in the middle, until crispy.
- To make the quesadillas, spread an even and fairly thin layer of the squash cheese on each tortilla. Add a layer of the cauliflower to one tortilla, and top with a second. Heat a skillet to medium heat. Add a little vegan butter, if desired, and cook on one side until golden. Flip, and cook until the other tortilla is golden. Serve warm, with your favorite hot sauce.
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What is fermented tofu?
Hi Christine,
I wrote a little bit about it in the post (scroll up to read more), but essentially fermented tofu has a long history in China. It has a lot of the same funky flavors as cheese, and can be found at Asian grocery stores or online.