Your New Favorite Weekend Breakfast: Warm Chia and Quinoa Pudding with Butternut Squash
A few flavorful fall things come together for a luxurious breakfast or simple dessert
This week’s recipe was inspired by a couple chance cooking conversations and some good old-fashioned seasonal cravings. A neighbor asked, “so what delicious things are you making with winter squash?” and I had to admit that, aside from the odd dessert (these pumpkin snickerdoodle bars saved the day when I needed a last-minute bake over the weekend) or sheet pan roast (one of the great joys of fall, in my opinion, is a giant mess of squash and root vegetables and cruciferous veg all thrown in the oven together), all those farm-stand pumpkins and butternuts and kabochas haven’t fully made it into my fall cooking yet. And then a client was kind enough to alert me that golden milk oats are apparently a thing. It hadn’t even occurred to me, but it got my wheels turning.
It turns out there are plenty of golden milk oats, warm chia pudding, and squash rice pudding recipes out there - this last one apparently being a traditional Ukrainian dish, Harbuzova Kasha, that sounds absolutely delicious if you’re in the mood for something with more sugar and butter than my recipe below. I wanted something that brought together a little of all of this and went to the kitchen to see what I could do.
This recipe is a little like rice or tapioca pudding with sweetness from the butternut squash and a little protein boost from the quinoa (and dairy or soy milk, if you use one of those.) I’ve added some classic warming and anti-inflammatory spices: turmeric, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon. I highly recommend topping this with some honey and pumpkin seeds, but serve it any way you like - maple syrup, apple, a different variety of nut, granola, or even more roasted squash would be nice here.
Final note - I’m not using an Instant Pot or any other shortcuts for this one - we’re going old-fashioned on the stovetop. We’re entering the season where a bubbling pot perfuming the kitchen just feels cozy. I recommend pulling a chair up to the stove and having a nice read as you stir. Despite the hands-on time, this recipe couldn’t be simpler - a lovely little kitchen meditation.
Warm Chia and Quinoa Pudding with Butternut Squash (Serves 6)
1 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (about 3 cups)*
5 cups milk of choice (nutrition information is for whole dairy milk, but you could use soy, oat, almond, etc. depending on your taste and preferences)
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup chia seeds
3/4 t ground ginger
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t cardamom
1/4 t turmeric
6 T honey and 6 T pumpkin seeds, for serving
*Peeling butternut squashes can be tedious. One (controversial) trick is to pop the whole thing in the microwave for about five minutes first. You are also allowed to use frozen butternut squash cubes, available in most major grocery stores.
Add milk and peeled, cubed butternut squash to a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low to medium heat.
Add the quinoa, chia seeds, and spices. Stir every few minutes - milk, in particular dairy milk, likes to stick to the bottom of the pot.
Continue cooking and stirring until the quinoa has cooked, the squash has softened, and you reach a pudding-like consistency, about 25-30 minutes.
Serve with your favorite toppings! I like a tablespoon each honey and pumpkin seeds per bowl, but let your taste and preferences be your guide.
Nutritional information per serving, with whole milk, honey, and pumpkin seeds: 379 calories, 14.1 g fat, 48.5 g carbohydrates, 8.3 g dietary fiber, 13.3 g protein.
That’s all for this week, friends. Until Monday - Fare Well.
Recipe PDF and audio version of this post below:
