Spaghetti squash may be an intimidating vegetable at first glance, but it is so easy to prepare and fun to experiment with. Follow along and learn how to cook the spaghetti squash and you’ll have a great gluten free alternative to pasta.
Spaghetti squash are relatively bland to slightly sweet in taste and as the name indicates, they are a perfect alternative to the traditional spaghetti pasta. The big difference tough is the nutritional value; spaghetti squashes are very low in calories and the orange variety is high in beta carotene. Furthermore, these vegetables are as good source of fiber, vitamin A, folic acid and potassium.
How to Cook Spaghetti Squash
Step 1 – Cut the spaghetti squash. You can do this lengthwise or crosswise. Cutting the squash lengthwise will give you a larger surface to showcase your sauce/filling, but the cut is a little harder to do. If you’re going to use the squash strands, I would selected the easier way to cut (crosswise).
Step 2 – With a spoon, scoop the seeds and the strands that hold the seeds. You end up with a nice clean inside.
Step 3 – Drizzle the insides lightly with olive oil and use your fingers to spread it over the inside and the cut perimeter. You will not need a lot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Step 4 – Turn the squash halves over, cut side down on a baking dish, lined with parchment paper. No need to rub with olive oil or to poke holes in the skin.
Bake in a 375 degrees F oven for about 30-35 minutes. Don’t cook them too long, as they may become mussy. You will enjoy a little bit of bite to the spaghetti.
Step 5 – This is the fun part. Once the squash halves are done, turn them over and with a fork, scrape out the spaghetti.
Depending on your recipe, spaghetti squash can be a breakfast, lunch, a side dish or a main course. Depending on your recipe, you can serve inside the squash skins or outside.
Recipes with Spaghetti Squash
How to Cook Spaghetti Squash
Ingredients
- 1 spaghetti squash
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Cut the spaghetti squash. You can do this lengthwise or crosswise. (NOTE 1)
- With a spoon, scoop the seeds and the strands that hold the seeds. You'll end up with a clean inside.
- Drizzle the insides lightly with olive oil and use your fingers to spread it out all over the inside and over the cut perimeter. You will not need a lot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Turn the squash halves over, cut side down on a baking dish, lined with parchment paper. (NOTE 2)
- Bake in a 375 degrees F oven for about 30-35 minutes. Don’t cook them too long, as they may become mussy. (NOTE 3)
- Once the squash halves are done, turn them over and with a fork, scrape out the spaghetti. (NOTE 4)
Notes
- Cutting the squash lengthwise will give you a larger surface to showcase your sauce/filling, but the cut is a little harder to do. If you’re going to use the squash strands, I would selected the easier way to cut (crosswise).
- No need to rub with olive oil or to poke holes in the skin.
- When you cook spaghetti squash too long, the strands/spaghetti becomes mushy. It is far more enjoyable when you cook them ‘al dente’, so there is some bite left.
- You can scrape all the spaghetti strands out and serve outside the squash skins, mixed with sauce, herbs, other vegetables etc. You can also scrape loose part of the strands, add the sauce on filling. Each guest of family member will scrape out the rest of the spaghetti while eating.
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