Salted Jalapeno Honey on Whole Roasted Acorn Squash

We received a beautiful little acorn squash from my father-in-law, and when I saw that stunner of a squash, the first thing that I thought was, “this bad boy wants some heat to go along with the sweet.”

So, I grabbed a jalapeno, some honey, and a good pinch of coarse sea salt.

Hello, mama!

That salted jalapeno honey might be my favorite thing that’s come out of the kitchen in a while.

I mean, it was spicy.

It was salty.

And it was sweet.

So, the flavors kept reverberating all over the place once we spooned that over the acorn squash.

But, it doesn’t just love squash.

The salted jalapeno honey loves lots of other things too. I mean, it really, really, really, loves other things too.

Like, our Crispy and Cheesy Parmesan Panko Chicken.

It also likes to play with our Air Fried Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings. (I mean, to quote Gus from Psych, “Come on, Son.” Jalapeno, honey, salt, and crispy lemon pepper chicken? It’s like they were made for each other!)

And – of course – it totally wants to be drizzled all over our Sumac Pomegranate and Cumin Chicken.

But, back to that gorgeous squash!

Being faint of heart, and quite possibly a titch lazy, I roast winter squash whole.

I mean, sure. You can futz with a knife, and the seeds, and feel that bit of sweat drip down your neck as you wrest the tough flesh with a spoon to get those seeds and membranes out – or – you can just poke it a few times with a knife and just pop that bad boy in the oven.

You know where I land on that.

And then once it’s almost cooked through, I halve it, seed it, and season it really well with salt, pepper, and maybe a kiss of cayenne and bake it for a few minutes more.

Easy peasy, light and breezy.

And while the squash is baking in all of its glory, there’s plenty of time to make this easy sweet, spicy, and saucy honey drizzle.

Print

Salted Jalapeno Honey on Roasted Acorn Squash

This salted jalapeno honey is sweet, spicy, and - you guessed it - salty! It's the perfect accompaniment to sweet and savory acorn squash!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Launie Kettler

Ingredients

• 1 small acorn squash
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 small jalapeno seeded, deveined, and roughly chopped

Instructions

• Squash Instructions:

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Wash squash well, and poke several times on all sides with asharp utility knife.
• Fit a small, rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
• Bake the squash until knife tender, approximately 35-40minutes.
• Allow squash to cool before handling it.
• Slice the squash in half, and remove seeds and membranes.
• Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
• Remove from oven, and reserve.
• Salted Jalapeno Honey Instructions:

  Place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
• When mixture starts to simmer, reduce heat to low.
• Simmer for 5 minutes.
• Discard chopped jalapenos, and let mixture cool slightly.
• Drizzle honey over squash.
• Refrigerate any extra cooled honey in a container for up to 3 days.