Wondering what to do with chayotes? This guide covers how to pick them, cook them, store them, and swap them, plus 8 recipes to put them to work.

What are chayotes?

Chayote is a pale green, pear-shaped squash with a wrinkled, often furrowed skin and a single soft seed at its center. Native to Mexico and Central America, it belongs to the same gourd family as cucumber and zucchini.

It is grown and eaten all over Latin America and the Caribbean, across the southern United States, and through much of Asia.

Raw, it is crisp and watery like a firm apple crossed with a cucumber, with a flavor so mild it is nearly neutral. Cooked, it stays pleasantly firm and turns slightly sweet, soaking up whatever it is cooked with.

In Louisiana it is called mirliton, in much of Latin America chayote, and elsewhere choko or christophine. The whole thing is edible, including the skin and the tender almond-like seed.

Cooking With Chayote

Chayote's gift is that it holds its shape. Unlike soft summer squash, it stays firm through long simmering, which is why it turns up in so many soups and stews. Sopa De Albondigas and South American Vegetable Soup both use it for body that does not dissolve.

Because the flesh is so mild, it works best as a carrier for bolder flavors. Halved and hollowed, it becomes an edible cup for stuffing, as in Chayote Relleno and the Louisiana classic Mirlitons Farcis Aux Crevettes.

In that dish the scooped flesh is mixed with shrimp and breadcrumbs and baked back into the shell, the squash serving as both vessel and filler.

Diced and sauteed, it takes on chile and lime and garlic without going mushy. Chayotes with Corn & Chiles plays on that, the squash staying crisp-tender against sweet corn and heat.

Raw, peeled and sliced thin, it adds crunch to slaws and salads much like jicama or cucumber.

A few minutes of boiling or steaming softens it just enough to mash or puree if you want it tender.

Peeling raw chayote can leave a sticky, slightly chalky film on your hands that some people find irritating. Peel it under running water with oiled hands, or simply peel it after cooking, when the skin slips off easily.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Chayote's neutral flesh pairs with almost anything assertive: lime, cilantro, chile, garlic, tomato, cumin, and cheese all carry it. It also takes well to shrimp and pork and chicken, the reason it shows up stuffed and baked alongside ham or seafood.

The most common mistake is treating it like zucchini and overcooking it. It needs longer than soft squash to soften, but cooked too hard it eventually turns watery and bland, so aim for crisp-tender unless you are deliberately pureeing it.

The second mistake is underseasoning. On its own chayote tastes of almost nothing, so it needs salt and acid and aromatics to come alive. Think of it as a sponge, not a star.

One small thing: do not toss the seed. The flat central seed is tender and faintly nutty, edible either raw or cooked, and many cooks rate it the choicest bite of the whole fruit.

Substitutes

Nothing matches chayote's particular firm-yet-mild quality, but several vegetables stand in by role. For soups and stews where you want a squash that holds its shape, a firm summer squash or a chunk of green papaya works, though both go softer.

For raw crunch in salads and slaws, jicama, cucumber, or kohlrabi give a similar watery snap. Use cucumber where you want neutrality and jicama where you want a touch of sweetness.

For stuffing, a firm zucchini or a small summer squash can be hollowed and baked the same way, though it will cook faster and slump more, so reduce the oven time. None will be quite as sturdy as a chayote shell.

Buying and Storing

Choose chayotes that are firm and heavy with smooth, unblemished skin and a pale, even green. Avoid any that feel soft or have started to wrinkle and dry, both signs of age. Smaller fruit tends to be more tender.

Stored unwashed in the refrigerator crisper, a firm chayote keeps for several weeks, far longer than most squash. Keep it dry, since moisture invites mold around the stem end.

An aging chayote will often sprout from the seed, sending a shoot right through the fruit.

It is still edible at that stage if the flesh is firm, and gardeners simply plant the whole sprouting fruit to grow a vine. Once the flesh goes soft or the skin shrivels deeply, compost it.

Quick facts

In Chinese

chayotes

British (UK) term

Chayotes

en français

chayottes

en español

chayotes

Recipes using chayotes

There are 8 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 8 recipes