These chickpea butternut squash fajitas can be assembled ahead and stored in the fridge or freezer for the easiest dinner you can possibly find! An easy vegan meal prep dinner.
2017 is off to a seriously amazing start.
The Lunch Prep Challenge that I dreamed up last summer has nearly 14,000 participants. Pinch me!!
We booked our first vacation since before Kai was born. Maui, here we come!
And now I've discovered a seriously amazing fact: butternut squash is freezer friendly.
OK, so one of those things is not quite like the other, but still, discovering that you can assemble these butternut squash fajitas ahead of time and freeze them was pretty darn exciting.
Even though they are not pictured here, I also froze them with the chickpeas and everything tasted great. In fact you would never in a million years guess that anything had been frozen!
Friends, I'm on a mission. 2017 is going to be packed with make ahead meals. I've already got lots of breakfast, snack and lunch options on the site, but the dinners category is somewhat void.
Make ahead dinners are tricky. You want something nice for dinner...something freshly cooked. You want something that you can put in the oven with as little effort as possible, like these chickpea butternut squash fajitas!
These bad boys are actually suuuper healthy, which is not something you often see with freezer food. I think casseroles, lasagna, CHEESE.
Not these fajitas...they are packed full of veggies and flavor, thanks to my favorite Homemade Fajita Seasoning recipe.
And the best part is that they only take 20 minutes to prep, at which point you can stash them in the fridge or the freezer until you are ready to bake them up.
When you get home from work at 5:30 pm, you just toss them in the oven and roast them up. It's really that simple.
I hope you're excited for more prep ahead dinner recipes like this!
More make ahead dinners for us!
- stock your freezer with these 7 Easy Stir Fry Sauces You Can Make Ahead
- or with these Healthy Baked Turkey Meatballs 7 Ways
- and this Slow Cooker Sweet Chili Chicken freezes really well
Make Ahead Chickpea Butternut Squash Fajitas
Ingredients
- 4 cups butternut squash in ½ inch cubes
- 1 19 oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1 red onion sliced into ½ inch strips
- 2 bell peppers sliced
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1.5 teaspoon cumin
- 1.5 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- juice from 1 lime
To Serve
- 8-12 six inch tortillas
- Greek yogurt
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Salsa
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a heavy duty freezer bag.
- Shake until everything is evenly combined.
- Freeze for up to 1 month.
- To Bake: Thaw completely before baking.
- Heat oven to 425°F. Spread all fajita ingredients out evenly on a large baking pan.
- Bake for 25 minutes, flipping everything halfway through.
Meg
Love this! I added portabella mushrooms and omitted the oil. It was delicious! I saved half to freeze for later and will definitely be adding this to the rotation! The crunch of the chickpeas was perfect! Served with avocado and cilantro.
Denise Bustard
Hi Meg, I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed! The addition of portobello mushrooms sounds so good! Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to come back and leave a review, I really appreciate it 🙂
Hungry Hanna
Really easy and really good to eat.
Denise Bustard
Hi Hanna! Apologies for my late reply. I’m thrilled to hear you enjoyed the recipe, and appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a review!
Kelly
Where has this been all my life???
Denise
Ha ha!! I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe, Kelly!
Simone
This was just perfect!
And I think for all I've cooked in my live so far the best effort-taste ratio!
The only mildly annoying thing was, that the baking paper was soaked through. (I always use it to make cleaning easier for my husband ;)) I think it might have happened, because it wasn't 100% defrosted. I'm very sure it will be OK when made fresh, because that's how I always roast my potatoes and other veggies.
We only had yoghurt as additional topping and didn't miss anything.
I'll make it again as soon as I get another butternut 😀
Denise
Hi Simone! I'm so happy you enjoyed (and I love your comment on the effort-taste ratio because I have the same kind of judgment on recipes!) Thanks so much for reporting back 🙂
Christina Greening
We prepped this meal today, although we diced the bell peppers in larger pieces similar to the squash, for a more even cooking once roasted. We also opted for fresh garden grown garlic, minced! Thanks so much!
Vicky
I was surprised how much we enjoyed this! Even our 18 month old monkey ate a huge portion (- the butternut?!?). It’s the first of the 5 prepared meals for the week. I’m excited to try the rest! Thanks so much!!
Denise
I'm so happy you and your 18 month old enjoyed! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, Vicky 🙂
Shannon
Perfect seasoning! I had a largish butternut so decided to make one recipe for dinner and one to freeze. So easy!!! My family loved it and ate it all. I’m so happy I have another ready to go. Thank you!
Denise
So happy to hear you enjoyed! Thank you so much for your review, Shannon!
Ryan
I used 1 tbsp of sugar indicated in recipe, but in the video for the 5 vegan meals you use maple syrup. Was there a reason you switched to maple syrup? I threw sugar into my freezer bag before noticing. Wondering if there will be a taste or texture difference...
Denise
Whoops I was going to update the recipe! You can use either one and it will work fine. Sorry for the confusion!
Megan
Wow, what a fantastic meal! I made this to freeze ahead, and it has SAVED me both money and time. And the flavors are fantastic. I add some shredded cheddar cheese on top, and it's just to die for. It's so rare to find a freeze ahead meal that's so healthy. Highly recommend this recipe.
Denise
Yay! I'm so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Megan! I need to make it again soon 🙂
Jessie Stratton
Did some life changes and went vegetarian this summer, and while I definitely dont want to go back to meat, i was totally feeling grumpy about my meal choices (I've made a LOT of soups the past couple months) when I decided to try this. So glad I did! It's delicious and took all the grumpiness away! Can't wait to make it again!
Denise
Yay! I'm so happy to read your comment, Jessie! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review.
Stacy
Amazing! My meat loving husband thought these were quite tasty, so I had to share! 😀 I kept to the recipe, with one tweak: kidney beans, which were a yummy addition, but totally unnecessary. Great job!
Denise
Woo hoo! So happy to hear this, Stacy! Thank you for your review 🙂
Deanna
Anyone add black beans?
Denise
I haven't tried but I bet they'd be great!
Lauren
I gave this a try. I’d recommend dividing the batch into the portion sizes you want prior to freezing. I also recommend minimizing the amount of liquid added into the freezer bag. This could always be added later as a separate vinaigrette sauce.
I ended up putting everything into one bag with too much liquid. And it all froze together into one giant clump. When I want just a bit, I have to thaw the whole thing... and then re-freeze. Which is far from ideal and ends up being the opposite of a make-ahead meal! Good learning experience, wanted to share.
Denise
Hi Lauren, with pretty much any freezer meal, you are going to need to freeze it in the portions you are going to be eating. You could also try freezing this recipe on a sheet pan first, then portioning it into a bag or container.
So are you giving this recipe a 3 star rating based on flavor, or based on the fact that you were not able to thaw it in individual portions? Because my instructions are only for a serving of 6, not for individual portions, and these star ratings have an impact on how my recipes show up in google and pinterest. Thanks and looking forward to clarification 🙂
Lexi
Sorry I'm new at freezing and thawing things... Do you thaw the veggies on a counter or in the fridge? How long does it take? These look so good!
Denise
Hi Lexi! The best way to thaw is in the fridge overnight, but you can also thaw in some cold water for a couple of hours on the counter.
Eve Greenko
This sounds SO delicious! I was wondering, could you just cook these over a skillet if you're camping? Thank you in advanced!
Denise
Hi Eve, I've never tried that. You may need to steam the butternut squash separately first. If you try it, I'd love to know how it turns out!
Melanie
These are SO good! I made it once and then went to the store to get the items again to make 2 extra batches for the freezer. Yum!!
Denise
Yay! I'm so happy you liked them Melanie! They are so convenient to stash in the freezer 🙂
Karyn H
These didn't make it to the freezer. So delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Denise
Ha ha! Glad you liked them Karyn!
Karyn H
I love them!
I made two batches today. One for the freezer and one for the fridge.
Denise
Awesome! I'm glad you're enjoying them Karyn!
Sarah @Whole and Heavenly Oven
Oh my gosh, this is TOTALLY the easiest way to make fajitas! I could totally see myself filling up my freezer with these little fajita packets!
Denise
Aren't they handy? Thanks, Sarah!