My Favorite Way To Eat Spaghetti Squash
jump to recipeA couple of weeks ago while I was filming an Instagram story, I talked about and briefly showed my favorite way to eat spaghetti squash. A lot of the time across social media you see people filling and overflowing these beautiful boats with cheese, meats, and other things essentially making what was once healthy into something that’s well not so healthy. Don’t get me wrong, I love filling my spaghetti squashes up like the rest of them, granted with better ingredients and vegan at that but my true favorite way is very simple: garlic, vegan butter, extra virgin olive oil and some seasonings. That’s it. It’s light, it’s flavorful, and you feel like you’re eating pasta in garlic and butter sauce, no joke. And since I’m pregnant one of my cravings has been pasta in butter and oil with a ton of garlic. This has been my go to recipe.
Cutting open a raw spaghetti squash can be dangerous. Some people I know don’t cut it open before hand, they just pop the entire thing in the oven and when it’s cooked, that’s when they cut it open and remove the seeds and proceed with their meal. That’s a smart way to do it if you’re not comfortable cutting it raw. I have my husband do it because he’s good at handling that kind of thing and I just know with my clumsy ass I’ll probs hurt myself.
What I encourage you not to do is microwave it. Ugh, you don’t know how it really twists my pickle when I see “health” gurus microwave vegetables. You might as well throw that vegetable away because you just removed anything and everything that was healthy in it, even if it’s only 5 minutes. You ever wonder why people say “nuc it”? Nuc is short for nuclear meaning atomic, think radiation on extreme levels. It’s another reason why they tell pregnant woman not to stand in front of a microwave because of all the radiation it exudes. Why would anyone, let alone pregnant woman want to be exposed to that? And why would any one want to destroy their healthy food with it is beyond me. So please take my advice, if you don’t want to cut it while it’s raw just poke holes on the outside with a fork, cook it whole, then cut it open when it’s tender and remove the seeds. Nothing will happen if you cook it this way.
You can see my hubs in action in this easy video tutorial:
I eat an entire spaghetti squash by myself. I like to pair it with a side salad or another veggie like broccoli. When comparing regular spaghetti or any other type of pasta to spaghetti squash the difference is uncanny. A lot of pastas are refined and unhealthy providing your body with little to really no nutrients. Spaghetti squash on the other hand comes loaded with essentials vitamins and minerals, and if you’re gluten-free it’s a great alternative.
Think B vitamins riboflavin, niacin, and thiamin, which promote optimal cellular function and folate. (healthy baby)
Feel free so prepare this anyway you’d like, sometimes I even do a little marinara sauce if I’m in the mood and I top it with a little vegan mozzarella. You cannot go wrong with adding more vegetables, I feel the more the merrier. I like to cook it on 350°F for 45-50 minutes. You want the inside nice and tender not hard.
Don’t be afraid to go heavy on the seasonings too. I love it extra garlicky and extra buttery. The butter I use is from Earths Balance and it basically tastes just like butter. It’s my favorite.
And if by some weird and odd chance you have leftovers, just pack them up in an air tight container and put them in the fridge. You can either reheat them or just eat them cold, either way they’re still bomb delicious.
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My Favorite Way To Eat Spaghetti Squash
Ingredients:
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp onion powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp parsley
- salt/pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350° and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut squash length wise and remove the seeds. (See notes for alternative ways to open)
- Using a fork, poke holes on the outside rind or skin.
- Pour oil over both sides of squash and rub it in with your hands.
- Season with all the above ingredients (add more or less to your liking).
- Bake for 45-50 minutes. Once done remove from oven and when easy enough to touch, shred the insides with a fork.
- Add butter on top of cooked spaghetti squash and sprinkle with a little more parsley if desired, serve and enjoy!
- If you're not comfortable cutting the spaghetti squash open while raw, you can cook it fully on 350° for 45-50 minutes then once it's cooked you can cut it open, remove the seeds and season as desired.
- Please not the spaghetti squash will be hot so wait until you can touch it to start cutting it open.
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i like author of this article
it was amazing keep sharing
amazing experince!
Amazing!! please keep sharing 😍
Why do you use garlic powder instead of real garlic? Real garlic is tastier, and much healthier than powdered alternatives (packed will filler and preservatives – yikes!)
I use both.
I have not tried baking spaghetti squash without water in the bottom of the pan before. I cooked it for 1 hr. It was cooked enough to scrape it out and it be stringy but still quite crunchy. I will stick with cooking it my way from now on. That was the bummer part. The seasoning was really good. I will do this seasoning again. Thanks for the new seasoning idea!
Hi Vendy, yes cook it the way you prefer, but I’m glad you enjoyed the seasonings!
This looks awesome! Glad to hear it was good with beef too, as that is what I am more likely to have on hand.
WOW! This came out so delicious! I do the same thing, taking inspiration from a recipe and then changing it up. I had some left over roasted sweet potatoes so I just carmelized onions, browned the turkey in a pan, added some other vegetables, red thai chili paste, and a bit of lemongrass (along with everything you put in the recipe) and it came out amazingly delicious! My fiance was shocked because I put it together rather quickly and it was so yummy 🙂
I would like to know how exactly do microwaves reduce the nutrient level of veggies to the extent you say. Do you have any scientific basis? The type of radiation microwaves produce is similar to the radiation your phone produces but stronger and what it does is heat up the water molecules in your food cooking it. This article from health line really explains everything. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/microwave-ovens-and-health#appliance.
Thank being said, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but please don’t mistake an opinion for fact.
YUMMY!!!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe! I’ve heard about your blog a couple of times and will now spend my afternoon reading 🙂
Rose so excited to have you!
Thank you for bringing awareness to the negative side of microwaves. If standing beside a microwave is bad for a pregnant women why would you eat food that came out of it? As far as fact checking, why not fact check the dangers? Giving someone a blood transfusion with microwaved blood is fatal so once again if it affects blood that bad why stick your food in it. Also if anyone cares to fact check, they have done blood tests on people after eating microwaved food, their blood was altered for hours after….I dont think microwaves are even allowed in Russia (I’ll have to recheck that)Its refreshing to find good recipes along with good advice, thank you so much!
Please correct the seasonings to tsp instead of tbsp! I only did half of your recommended amount and it’s almost too spicy to eat!
Hi Nicole, it is correct at a tbsp. But it’s good for anyone to adjust seasonings to their liking as you did. I always go heavy on my seasonings. Hope you enjoyed it! Xo
Yum, yum, yum! Totally making this!
Does it matter if you place the cut side up or down on the baking sheet?
Hi Stephanie, not not really I just usually always keep the cut side up though.
Thank you!!!
According to your instructions you season both sides, do you mean the outside & the inside of the squash. Why would you have to season it on the outside and inside before baking. Can’t you just poke slashes with a paring knife on the whole squash, then season it when you pull out the strands?
Hi Gloria, Please see the video tutorial on exactly how I make this. I do not season the outside, I poke holes in the rind for cooking purposes and that’s it. My video will answer all your questions.
If you are baking it whole… do you still need to poke holes in it and use the oil? Should you turn it over at some point during baking? Thanks!
Hey Elisabeth, I would still poke holes in the rind all around and no need to flip it. No oil either when it’s closed you can add that after you cook it and remove the seeds. 🙂
do you bake it cut side down or rind side down?
Hi Rebecaa, I bake it with the rind side down. 🙂
Thank you!