We ate so many amazing meals on our vacation in Maui last week: ceviches, sashimis, poké bowls, and so much macadamia nut crusted-everything that I actually thought I might turn into a fish if I looked at one more Mahi Mahi fillet. But as soon as our plane touched down in Texas, you know what happened? I was struck with the immediate, all-consuming craving for Mexican food, and it reminded me just how frequently I eat tacos and tostadas and that I really can’t survive more than a week without them. Is it just an Austin thing, or do any of you guys in other parts of the country feel the same way? 
To prove that all roads lead back to Tex-Mex, one day recently I realized I was out of tortillas and decided to toast a round of pita bread and used it as a chewier base for tostada toppings. And the result was a total “why didn’t I think of this before?” moment. The golden-brown crust is a perfect canvas for all kinds of toppings: mozzarella and tomato, hummus and red peppers, or in this Mexican-themed version, butternut squash, black beans, and avocado. 
Did you know that roasted butternut squash makes a delicious and incredibly nutritious “sauce?” Now that I’ve discovered it, I’m dying to try on sandwiches and pizza, too. Just roast it until it’s falling-apart-tender, then mash with maple, cinnamon, cumin, salt, or whatever spices happen to be your jam. And in case you can’t tell by the photos, this tostada prescribes to the “more is more” philosophy when it comes to toppings. In addition to the star ingredients, I went ahead and added a drizzle of lime crema, lots of chopped cilantro, toasted pumpkin seeds, and more spices. It kind of became a knife-and-fork situation, which was totally okay with me.
Have you guys ever used toasted pita as the base for a tostada/flatbread/pizza? If so, I’d love to hear your favorite topping ideas so I can experiment! Keep reading for my healthy pita tostadas recipe with butternut squash, black beans, and avocado.
*photos by Kate LeSueur
Pita Tostadas with Butternut Squash, Black Beans, & Avocado
Description
These pita tostadas are utterly delicious, and look the part too!
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash, split vertically and seeds removed
- extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- kosher salt, to taste
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 4 pita breads (6-inch)
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- juice from 2 limes, divided
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 avocados, sliced
- garnish: chopped cilantro and toasted pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush butternut squash halves with olive oil, and place flesh side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast until very tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes. Set aside to let cool slightly, then mash in a bowl with cumin, chili powder, maple syrup, and salt.
- Place pita breads on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown and crispy on the edges but still chewy in the center. Remove and set aside.
- Toss black beans with half of lime juice and drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.
- Whisk together yogurt with other half of lime juice and a pinch of salt. Add a little water if needed, until it’s a consistency that can be drizzled.
- On each toasted pita, spread a scoop of mashed butternut squash, a scoop of black beans, and a few slices of avocado. Drizzle with the lime yogurt, then garnish with cilantro, pumpkin seeds, and a dusting of chili powder if desired. Eat!
Notes
*You’ll have lots of extra mashed butternut squash; reheat it and serve as a delicious veggie side dish the next day!
Sounds delish- I’m in NYC and i love me my tacos, with tuna steak, shrimp, pernil (roast pork) – would love to try these—- i want to experiment more with cooking squash & cleaner eating!
This looks delicious!! Squash, pita and avocado are 3 of my favourite things so I think I might be bookmarking this for the weekend. Thankyou for sharing! xx
thesundaychapter.com
Same here — I mean, how could that combo NOT be spectacular?
I recently made spaghetti squash for the first time, but never butternut squash. I’ll have to give this a try! It looks delicious!
http://alittleberdie.com/2015/11/05/holiday-prep/
This looks amazing! Giving these a try asap.
Another blog post that makes me wanna taste it. That’s something, congratulations!
obsessed! butternut squash with black beans and avocado is my definition of a dream team
This is delicious!!! I just made it. Instead of pitas I used Naan. Such amazing combo.
I just made this it is fantastic!!!
Yay! So excited to hear that you loved it. It’s definitely one of my faves, too. 🙂 Happy new year! xo
Just made this wonderful dish!! I used corn tortillas because it was all I had, and I didn’t have the pumpkin seeds, but it was still amazing! Husband loved it. Making it again soon!
Just made this. A big hit with the family!!
Yay! So glad y’all loved. I need to break out that recipe again.
Think these would be equally delicious with red beans or even white beans….it’s the cashew cream that makes it so special…thank you so much
Sat down with my first cup of coffee this morning – opened Pinterest, and this is the first thing I see. Oh my, yes!!!
I have lived in Tennessee most of my life, but I have never been much of a Southern foods eater. Love Butternut squash, and do a lot of either Native American or South American countries foods. I find I like East Indian and Middle Eastern foods as well, and end up with some pretty eclectic dishes sometimes, but so good – breakfast, lunch or supper; it simply does not matter to me.
I find that most cultures have their version of some type of flat bread, and are easily interchangeable between various recipes. I see evidence of this is the comments already. Got to love a recipe that is versatile where one can use the ingredients they have on hand, and still end up with a delicious dish.
Have you thought about Shrimp Ceviche’?
Hi Camille, just discovered your recipe for pita, butternut squash black beans and avocado. I’m of Cuban descen and grew up eating black beans and avocado. I eat butternut squash now too. I was ordering if a touch of onion & or a touch of garlic powder to the black beans would be too much. Canned beans can be pretty bland. Yes? No?
Hi Cecelia — by all means, add in a little onion and garlic! It can only make them better. 🙂 Hope you enjoy and let us know how it goes!
First I’d like to say beautiful site! And I can’t wait to try these. They are exactly what my taste testers will devour. Thanks for the inspiration and here’s to something besides pizza on Friday night!
I made these for the first time a few weeks ago and since then it’s become a once or twice weekly staple! Even my boyfriend loves them! Thanks so much for this
Recipe and I can’t wait to browse your other ones!!
I just made these tonight for my husband. They were a huge hit! We added a little extra cumin and chili pepper to the squash to satisfy our Indian palates 🙂
This was fantastic! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
I made this for dinner a few months ago and now it’s a regular! We add cotija cheese and hot sauce on ours. Also we use tortillas and fry them instead of pita. It’s amazing
There is no word to describe how much i liked it! Every one must try this at least once in their life!!! So good combination
I’m late to the party but this recipe was simply amazing!! A crowd please for my meat eaters and vegetarian family members I will be serving these at a dinner party. Simply use a cookie cutter on the pita bread. The scraps won’t go to waste make pita chips with guacamole. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe with the world!
I just made this for dinner with corn tostadas, it was fantastic! I highly recommend.
I am trying this tonight, but with sweet potatoe instead!
I made this this weekend with a few amendments and omg it was amazing! I roasted garlic and mashed it in with the butternut squash with some chili and onion powder. Definitely a winner, thank you!
This looks delicious do you use have of the squash or both halves?
This was delicious!!!
Could you provide the nutrition for this?
Just found this recipe, and punched all the ingredients into MyFitnessPal app. Let me list them before summarizing the nutrition info: 1 tbsp maple syrup, 100 grams lime juice (I estimated since not sure how much juice one lemon makes. It’s only 25 calories though), 300 grams avocado, 170 grams Chobani non-fat Greek yogurt (more than a quarter cup), 4 Kroger pita breads, 455 grams canned organic black beans (one entire can), 1000 grams butternut squash (that’s what the squash I have weighs). I used a small, digital scale to weigh things.
Nutrition: 2,205 calories. 79 grams of protein ( 14% of total calories), 46 grams of fat (19% of total calories), 369 grams of carbs (67% of total calories) including 64 grams of fiber and 41 grams of sugar.
If you split this evenly into four servings, each is around 550 calories. Any additional toppings, like the pumpkin seeds that I ignored, adds to that. Total caloric intake isn’t bad but the recipe is super heavy on carbs, and that’s with me including a lot more than a quarter cup of Chobani. If you want to lower carbs and boost fats/protein: cut down on the squash or eliminate the pita and eat with a fork; add nuts for fats; add more Chobani for protein.
Made this tonight and it was delicious!! I made it with plain coconut yogurt and I added some roasted garlic to the butternut mash. A plant based meal that left me happy and satisfied. Perfection!! Thank you!
I’ve made this recipe for years with different variations. Always delicious.
★★★★★
Delish!! We made this for dinner tonight and my four year old could not get enough of the yogurt sauce! We all loved it! Thank you bunches!!
So happy to hear that! <3
This is amazingly delicious!!!
I made this for our dinner tonight using both roasted butternut squash and pumpkin pieces, and tofutti sour cream instead of yogurt for the creama, and spiced up the homecooked black beans I used with cumin, chili, black pepper sea salt. I’m out of avacado but it was great anyway! Toasted Pita is a brilliant idea! My husband wants this as part of a regular rotation in our menus!
I’m so glad you loved! Thanks Maripat!
I think this would be yummy using a baked sweet potato also…I’m gonna try it instead of the squash I think!!!
Love this idea—let us know how it turns out!
Great recipe! Even my meat eating/vegetable hating husband likes this recipe and asks me to make it often.
★★★★★