Chili Crisp Hot Honey Squash, Two Ways.

If you make one new thing this fall, make this. Squash with Chili Crisp and Hot Honey is the side dish that quietly becomes the main event.

It is sweet, savory, crunchy, and a little spicy, all at once. It looks like you fussed. You did not.

Chili Crisp Hot Honey Squash

You will need:

• Squash: zucchini or yellow squash sliced into coins for the skillet version, or butternut, delicata, or acorn cut into wedges if you want to roast
• Spice Witch Chili Oil
• Salt
• Spice Witch Hot Honey
• Spice Witch Chili Crisp

Skillet version, about 10 minutes:

Slice the squash into thick coins, about half an inch. Thin slices turn to mush.

Heat Spice Witch Chili Oil in a wide skillet over medium-high. Lay the coins in a single layer and salt them.

Cook 3 to 4 minutes a side, until both faces are deeply golden. Work in batches if you need to. Crowding steams it.

Pull the pan off the heat. Drizzle Hot Honey over the hot squash so it loosens and coats.

Spoon Chili Crisp over the top and give the pan a gentle shake.

Finish with flaky salt and eat it straight out of the skillet.

Roasted version:

Heat the oven to 425. Toss wedges of winter squash with Spice Witch Chili Oil and a good amount of salt. Spread them on a sheet pan in a single layer, giving each piece room. Roast 25 to 30 minutes, flipping once, until the edges are deeply caramelized and the flesh is soft. Then Hot Honey, then Chili Crisp, then flaky salt.

Why It Works

Squash is naturally sweet, so the Hot Honey leans into that, and the Chili Crisp pulls the other direction with savory crunch and a slow heat. The caramelized edges hold all of it. Sweet, salty, spicy, soft, crunchy. The whole range in one bite.

Serve it next to anything roasted, pile it on a grain bowl, or eat it straight off the pan. I will not tell.

The roasted version is going on the Thanksgiving table. Practice now.