Young and tender chayote can be served finely sliced raw in salads, or it can be served puréed, or diced in soups or stews, or sautéed, steamed, boiled, stir-fried, deep-fried, and baked.
Chayote has a mild cucumber- to apple-like flavor and crunch and can be prepared just as you would a summer squash.
The mild flavor of chayote allows it to be served alone with just butter or cream or to be spiced up with assertive seasonings such as lime juice, cinnamon, or nutmeg. Add sugar or brown sugar and chayote can be served as a dessert.
Chayote skin is edible, though most cooks prefer to remove it with a peeler. Rinse peeled chayotes under cold running water to remove the sticky sap that is just below the skin before using. Halve chayote lengthwise, and pop out the seed.
How to choose chayote
- Select chayote that is small, firm—but not too hard–and unblemished. Very hard-skinned chayote can be fibrous. Smaller chayote will be tender.
- Avoid fruits that are sticky or discolored.
How to prep chayote for cooking
- The skin of chayote can be eaten if it is tender. Test it before you cook it. The furrowed skin of mature chayote can be covered with small hair-like spines and should be peeled before eating or cooking.
- The flesh of the chayote will remain firm if the skin is left on during cooking. You can peel chayote before or after cooking, but if you peel it before it may secrete a sticky substance that might irritate your skin. This substance disappears during cooking.
- To peel chayote before cooking, wear gloves or oil your hands or peel under running water.
- Chayote is not fully ripe until it starts to germinate, then a sprout will emerge from the stone and grow out through the stem end. Overripe chayote is used in Creole-style dishes.
- If chayote over-ripens, scoop out the flesh, remove the seed, mash the flesh with cheese or meat and re-stuff it for baking.
- Chayote can be served as you would summer squash raw or cooked. Chayote can replace summer squash in most recipes.
- Serve it young, tender, and raw added to salads. Peel, core, finely slice, and serve with a light vinaigrette.
- Cut raw into julienne strips and add to coleslaw-type salad.
- Add sugar or lime juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg to serve as a dessert.
- Cook chayote like you would cucumber or zucchini. Serve it puréed in cream, steamed and sliced in a light salad, or sautéed with butter and herbs to appreciate its delicacy.
- Serve simply cooked still slightly crisp. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for boiling or steaming.
- Add to soups, stews, stir-fries, marinades, pickles, and chutneys. Remove the outer skin to sauté or deep-fry.
- Blend with seafood or ham in soup, stir-fry, casserole, or fried.
- Cook topped with a sauce au gratin.
- Split, stuff, and bake like acorn squash. The empty skin can be partially cooked before re-stuffing. Stuff with fillings such as seafood, ham, pork, ginger, and scallions.
- Half and stuff with raisins, nuts, brown sugar, and eggs.
- Young chayote shoots can be eaten like asparagus.
- The chayote seed can be cooked and has a taste somewhere between lima bean and almond.
- Chayote can be partnered with chicken, chiles, cilantro, corn, ham, lime, onions, seafood, sweet peppers, and tomatoes.
- Chayote is a good source of potassium and contains vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B, copper, and magnesium.
- Chayote is low in calories, about 40 per cup.
Smartest Way to Cut, Peel, and Deseed Chayote
FAQ
Can you eat chayote with skin?
Why does chayote make my skin peel?
Can You peel chayote before cooking?
The flesh of the chayote will remain firm if the skin is left on during cooking. You can peel chayote before or after cooking, but if you peel it before it may secrete a sticky substance that might irritate your skin. This substance disappears during cooking. To peel chayote before cooking, wear gloves or oil your hands or peel under running water.
Why do I need to Peel chayote?
The reason is when we cook chayote with spines, chayote meat is softened and spines can go into the meat easily and stick to fruit when we pick it out of the pot or peel it. Another reason chayote with skin will be cooking longer and in the end, we need to peel it anyway the same way as raw.
Can chayote be refrigerated?
Because chayote is sold ripe, you’ll want to keep yours on the kitchen counter or in the refrigerator for a few days. If your kitchen is running warm, store it in the refrigerator right away. Mince 3 garlic cloves. Finely dice 1 medium yellow onion (about 1 cup). Peel 3 chayote squash, then halve each squash lengthwise.
Can you eat a chayote if it is tender?
The skin of chayote can be eaten if it is tender. Test it before you cook it. The furrowed skin of mature chayote can be covered with small hair-like spines and should be peeled before eating or cooking. The flesh of the chayote will remain firm if the skin is left on during cooking.