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BBQ Chicken & Acorn Squash Enchiladas

I ate these for dinner 4 times last week.

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Like four days in a row.  I know there’s that little saying about variety being the spice of life and blah, blah, blah but when every bite is filled with creamy-avocado-BBQ chicken-acorn squash joy, you just don’t want anything else.

I also made sure that my wedding dress was an entire city away from me while I ate these because I could totally see me somehow managing to get enchiladas on my dress.  Don’t even know how it would happen, I just know it was definitely a possibility.  And we wouldn’t want yet another stain on the dress.

Until this weekend, I actually hadn’t seen my wedding dress in about a month because I’m keeping it at my home house and not at school with me.  Probably safe to keep it away from me so I don’t try it on everysingleday.  So when I went home this weekend I was kinda nervous to try it on again because I just started thinking what if I don’t actually love it as much as I thought I did?! So I tried it on and jeez I love that thing.  It’s close, but it’s definitely up there for my most prized material possession.  Second only to…Mr. Vitamix.

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Oh and also just like that we’re back to going to San Francisco for the honeymoon.  I’m ridiculous.  Andrew thinks I’m slightly crazy.  No, actually just all crazy.  For many reasons, one being me going back and forth on where I think we should honeymoon.  The other reason is because when I went to go pick him up this weekend to go rock climbing, I walked into his apartment and headed straight for the kitchen to get some peanut butter because I was starving and he was like, “I ate it all.”  And (he says) I gave him this look of pure hatred.  Kinda sorta like the look I would give someone if they tried to feed me asparagus.  Or fake cheese.

Have you ever tried rice-based ‘cheese.’  It’s nasty.  If you haven’t tried it…don’t. Ever.  Even if you’re at a trendy, hipster-y, vegan restaurant and you’re all like, “ohh, vegan, rice-based cheese sounds fun.”  Take a deep breath, take a sip of your Kombucha and allow yourself to come to your senses.  And then order something else.  Anything else.

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But the problem is…I love cheese.  And I know the whole ‘food is fuel’ mentality and you shouldn’t have a relationship with food, but whatev.  I will never fall into that category.  I just love it too much.  That’s why I’m here constantly blabbing about it.  Because food can do wonderful, creative things like if you replace the cheese in an enchilada with mashed acorn squash, it tastes like creamy deliciousness that is oh so very reminiscent of cheese.  If you didn’t know that there wasn’t cheese in these, you never would have guessed it.

And then you’ll want to eat this meal 4 days in a row.

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BBQ Chicken & Acorn Squash Enchiladas

serves 4-6 

[inspired by How sweet it is]

BBQ Enchilada Sauce

3 Tbsp canola oil

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 Tbsp + 2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp salt

6-oz can tomato paste

2 cup reduced-sodium vegetable broth

2/3 cup BBQ sauce (I used Trader Joe’s brand)

Enchilada Filling

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 small onion (carmalized over medium-low heat for 10 minutes w/pinch salt)

1 acorn squash

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp chili powder

12-14 corn tortillas

Toppings: Avocado slices & cilantro

Preheat oven to 375F.  Slice your acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place acorn squash cut side down onto the foil.  Bake for 40 minutes, or until soft and tender.

While acorn squash is baking, prepare you enchilada sauce.  In a saucepan, heat canola oil over medium heat.  Add in minced garlic and lower heat to medium-low while stirring constantly so your garlic doesn’t burn.  Immediately whisk in chili powder and salt.  Add in tomato paste and vegetable broth and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in 2/3 cup BBQ sauce.  Reduce heat to a simmer and partially cover saucepan with a lid.

Now, caramelize the onions for the enchilada filling by heating 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add in onions and cook until slightly brown and softened.

Once acorn squash is finished baking, scoop out flesh into a large bowl and mash it with a fork until smooth.  Add in (cooked) shredded chicken, salt, pepper, chili powder and caramelized onions.  Mix everything together.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Wrap corn tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave them for 30 seconds.  Just so they’re pliable and don’t crack.  Pour 2/3 cup BBQ Enchilada Sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 11-inch casserole dish.  Dip a tortilla in the remaining BBQ Enchilada Sauce and place a heaping 1/4 cup worth of the filling in the tortilla.  Wrap the tortilla up tightly and repeat 11 more times.  Pour remaining BBQ Enchilada Sauce on top of enchiladas.  Cover with foil and back for 30-35 minutes.   Remove the foil during the last 5 minutes of baking.  Serve garnished with avocado and cilantro.

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15 comments

  1. Yum! I love any kind of enchilladas-but I never thought to make them with BBQ sauce! These look and sound amazing!

    • no joke…one night I wanted mexican food (pretty much every night of my life) but we ended up going to a bbq restaurant. And ‘boom!!!’ the idea was born:) I thought I was creative until I googled BBQ enchiladas and 93578472309 recipes came up haha:) I hope you enjoy them:)

  2. Your blog, & you ? I adore.

    That’s baaasically all I wanted to say.

    Except,
    * HUGE congrats on the wedding! You’re going to have thee best freaking wedding ever ( and I wish I were invited).
    * I’m making your avocado choc chip cookies, & your macadamia, blueberry guac tomorrow. Me= very excited :).
    Xxx

    • oooohhh I need to make the guacamole again!! I initially made that for a dinner for my fiance and he was like, “why is their fruit in it?” Jeezz, can’t he have a little imagination! Sounds like you’ll be purchasing quite a few avocado…I wish you luck in choosing perfectly ripe avocado:)))

      And THANKS(!) for the congratulations:)) I’m so excited!! And if we weren’t 50 people over the limit on our guest list, I would totally invite you;)

      Have a great week, Sarah!!

  3. I have a bag of frozen butternut squash! I’m bookmarking this, I was just about to hunt for a recipe when I clicked on a comment you left on another blog.

    • Ahhyeah!! Hope you love them:):) I always click on random comments on other blogs haha:):) never know what you’ll find…I LOVE it:):))

  4. Pingback: » BBQ Chicken & Acorn Squash Enchiladas | Yeah…imma eat that.

  5. These look great! Acorn squash is extremely underrated.

  6. I absolutely love your recipes! Who are your favorite blogs for inspiration?

  7. So… Your blog is amazing.
    I just made these BBQ chicken acorn squash enchiladas and they were absolutely delicious. I’m pretty sure I’ve never comment on anything online before but I had to after making these. They were even a hit with my 21 mo. old daughter. Thanks for being so awesome!

  8. Pingback: 35 Enchilada Recipes - I Wash You Dry

  9. Pingback: 35 Enchilada Recipes | I Wash You Dry

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