Air Fryer Butternut Squash Nachos

Winter squash season is one of my absolute favorite times of year for cooking, and these butternut squash nachos are the perfect example why. If you’ve ever had sweet potato nachos, this rendition delivers the same flavor profile with about half the calories. It’s also super easy to make, combining rotisserie chicken with Monterey jack cheese, BBQ sauce, and a few optional fresh ingredients.

Making Nachos with Butternut Squash

You’ll obviously need butternut squash. While I know it’s not the most economical or environmentally friendly option, you can find peeled and diced butternut squash in many grocery stores today. In my roasted butternut squash soup recipe, for example, I used H-E-B diced squash. If it’s the difference between eating more veggies and not, maybe it’s the right move.

Of course, the better option is to peel and dice your own butternut squash. This recipe calls for one butternut squash, and it makes a small batch of two servings. So you’ll get some practice if you’re making a larger batch.

This recipe opts for air frying, but you can certainly bake your nachos. That will be the way to go if you want to make a bigger batch of nachos. (Unless you have a jumbo air fryer with multiple racks.)

The butternut squash for these nachos is just air fried with a little olive oil. If you want to play with the seasoning, check out my Air Fryer Butternut Squash 5 Ways post for ideas. And if you want to take your nachos in a different toppings direction like bacon cheddar, check out my butternut squash and brussels sprouts recipe to learn how to air fry bacon right on top of the veggies.

BBQ Chicken Butternut Squash Nachos

When making simple recipes, it’s hard to argue with rotisserie chicken’s effectiveness. If you can get your hands on a BBQ seasoned rotisserie chicken, all the better.

Although with this being a small batch of nachos, you won’t need all the chicken at once. Check out some of my other rotisserie chicken recipes like a hot honey sesame chicken stir fry, rotisserie chicken tinga, cowboy chicken dip, or buffalo chicken stuffed peppers for more game day friendly ways to use leftovers.

You can also make your own BBQ chicken or use leftovers. I have great Instant Pot BBQ chicken, Dutch oven shredded BBQ chicken, slow cooker BBQ chicken thighs recipes, if you’re interested in going this route. And since I mentioned mixing up flavors above, going with a Mexican seasoning and shredded Mexican chicken would be great.

Once you have the butternut squash and chicken settled, the rest is easy. Shred some cheese and pick a few things for garnish. I like red onion and parsley with anything BBQ chicken, but you can get creative.

However you end up making butternut squash nachos, I’d love to hear how it goes and what you come up with. Come back and let me know in a comment or recipe review. I hope you enjoy it!