If you ask me what my favorite things about the fall are, I’ll never be one to name pumpkin spice anything. But give me an appetizer full of delicata squash and, well, you had me at Delicata Squash Bhajis. Are you pondering just what the hell a delicata squash is, yet as you skip through the yellow and orange autumn leaves in your favorite recycled-fashion fall romper?
If it’s early autumn here in Southern California, I’m doing all the Pumpkin Spice Latte It Girl shenanigans… I mean if that means roughing it by camping for two weeks with hardly a shower, covered in fairy dust I mean trail dust each night and having hair that definitely smells like campfire splendor by day two of this 2.5-week camp adventure.
The theme of our 2025 Eastern Sierra fall camping trip was, why the hell is it so cold and why did we decide to camp in snow for ten days? Now don’t get me wrong, the early autumn snowfall we received when we camped at Silver Lake for ten days last October was magical; however, by day three of camping in a foot of snow we were a little over being cold all the damn time. My one and only amazingly warm fleece overalls I brought with me smelled like a wildfire and I don’t know how many times we muttered “Why didn’t we pack the snowshoes?” into our 34-foot motorhome home away from home, as we consistently hiked uphill in a foot of snow for ten days straight in hiking boots that may have had a UGG label on them but they did not have the traction for snow hiking. But still, after all that, I love autumn in the serene beauty of the Eastern Sierra.
It was barely January by the time I started forgetting how cold camping in the snow in the autumn is, and I began planning our 2026 motorhome camping shenanigans to the Eastern Sierra.
So this fall, we exclaimed as we packed the motorhome: Pack everything! Two dog sweaters, all the jackets, two pairs of snow boots. If we ended up somehow camping or hiking in early-season snow again this season, we were planning to be ready! Bring it on, Mother Nature!
Of course, Mother Nature had other plans for us this October! Record highs! Swimming in icy cold lakes! Why, oh why didn’t I pack the paddleboard? I can’t believe I said that in October. The fall hiking theme in 2026 was definitely it’s getting hot, hot, hot in here!
After a full day of outdoor shenanigans in the rainbow forests of Bishop Creek, we needed a hearty appetizer by snack time. And if it’s deep-fried? Even better.
Delicata squash is basically the low-maintenance overachiever of the fall squash world. It has sweet, creamy golden flesh that tastes somewhere between butternut squash and sweet potato, but unlike its high-maintenance cousins, you can eat the skin—which means no standing at the kitchen counter wrestling a butternut squash with a vegetable peeler while questioning your life choices. Just wash it, slice it open, scoop out the seeds, enjoy all that extra fiber and get cooking. Save the seeds to dry out for next year’s community garden project, if you want, highly recommended.
Curry meets sweater weather in this simple autumn appetizer.
Delicata is usually smaller, oblong and striped in shades of cream, yellow and green, looking appropriately autumnal without even trying—basically the squash equivalent of me wandering into a thrift store in a recycled-fashion sweater and somehow emerging seasonally coordinated. Its naturally sweet, slightly nutty flavor is especially fantastic with warming Indian spices, which is why it works so beautifully in these Delicata Squash Fritters. Add garam masala, cumin and a little heat, fry those babies until crispy, and suddenly pumpkin spice seems embarrassingly underdressed. These are fall flavors with a Bollywood twist.
Call it a pakora, call it a bhaji or call it a fritter; just don’t call it anything Pumpkin Spice. These are the ultimate fall favorite appetizers
Delicata Squash Fritters: Autumn Got a Masala Makeover
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
A pinch of garam masala powder
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg, whipped
3 teaspoons of gram flour
2 delicata squash, grated
Canola oil for frying
These Delicata Squash Fritters are crispy, warmly spiced, ridiculously easy to throw together and exactly the kind of easy fall appetizer I love making in the motorhome while camping. Because apparently I cannot just sit outside beneath the golden aspens with a glass of wine like a normal person. No. I have to grate squash and turn autumn into Bollywood happy hour.
Start by grating your two delicata squash into a large mixing bowl. One of the beautiful things about delicata squash is that the skin is tender and completely edible, so there is no peeling required. Hallelujah. Camping kitchens are tiny enough without adding unnecessary vegetable surgery. Add the ground cumin, ground coriander, garam masala, grated ginger, grated garlic, Kashmiri chili powder and sea salt to the grated squash. Give everything a good stir until the squash is thoroughly coated in all those fragrant spices.
At this point your motorhome should smell approximately 900% better than whatever campground neighbor is microwaving hot dogs next door.
In a small bowl, whip the egg until well combined, then stir it into the squash mixture. Add the gram flour and mix everything together thoroughly. Gram flour, also known as chickpea flour or besan, is perfect for these delicata squash fritters because it helps bind the mixture while adding a subtle nutty flavor that works beautifully with the Indian spices.
Let the mixture sit for about five minutes. This gives the gram flour a chance to absorb some of the moisture from the squash and helps your fritters hold together rather than disintegrating dramatically in the frying pan. Heat a shallow layer of canola oil in a cast-iron skillet or heavy frying pan over medium heat.
You do not need to deep-fry these. We are making a crispy fall delicata squash appetizer, not opening a county fair concession stand inside the Fleetwood. Once the oil is hot, scoop about two tablespoons of the squash mixture into the skillet for each fritter. Use the back of your spoon or spatula to gently flatten each mound into a small patty.
Cook the fritters for approximately three to four minutes on the first side, or until the edges look crispy and the bottom is deeply golden brown. Flip them carefully and cook for another two to three minutes on the second side.
You are looking for crispy golden edges, a tender center and enough toasted Indian spices wafting through your campsite that somebody inevitably wanders over and asks what you are cooking. Transfer the cooked fritters to a paper-towel-lined plate or cooling rack while you fry the remaining batches.
Serve these Delicata Squash Fritters hot and crispy, preferably straight from the skillet while enjoying fall colors somewhere in the mountains. I especially love them with a Mint Chutney or my Garlic Lemon Whip.
For an easy camping appetizer, you can grate the delicata squash and mix your spices together before leaving home. Then all you have to do at camp is stir everything together, heat your skillet and pretend that cooking Indian-inspired appetizers in a 25-year-old motorhome is completely normal behavior. Which, at our campsite, it absolutely is.
These crispy Indian delicata squash fritters make the perfect autumn happy-hour snack, vegetarian camping appetizer or side dish for an Indian-inspired fall dinner. Because pumpkin spice does not get to monopolize autumn. Sometimes fall needs cumin, coriander and a little Kashmiri chili.
