How To Prepare Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti Squash – It is such an interesting squash. When raw, the inside is firm like other squash, but once cooked, the flesh separates into strands. It is a winter squash that is native to North and Central America. It is very popular with the low-carb eaters along with the gluten-free eaters as a pasta substitute. Per 1 Cup Cooked, it has 42 calories and 7.8g Net Carbs. It is also rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, and Potassium.

I am not a fan of it served cold, like in a pasta salad. But served with some meat sauce and topped with some parmesan cheese? Now, that is where it is at! It is also really good fried in a pan with some oil – it makes a good fried squash tasting hash that you could add some sausage or corned beef to.

To prepare your spaghetti squash, I first poke holes in it with a fork, it doesn’t have penetrate very far, you just want an avenue for the steam to escape and therefore, not exploding your squash. After I poke the holes, I microwave the whole squash on high for seven minutes. I also pre-heat the oven to 400° F. When the seven minutes are up, carefully remove the squash from the microwave, the bowl/plate you have it on is going to be hot! Let it sit for a little while, cooling down so that you can handle it.

Using a large chef knife or cleaver, cut the stem off the squash and then cut it in half lengthwise. I wear some disposable gloves for this next part because the squash innards are slimy and still hot from the microwave. Using a fork (and knife if needed), remove the innards from center part of both sides of the squash. This includes all of the seeds and stringy bits. If you have more patience than I do, you could try to save the seeds for toasting later on, but I never take the time to do it.

After you remove the squash innards, rub/spray olive oil all over the inside of the squash and season with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic. Then, you place them facedown on a pan and put in the oven for 15-20 minutes. When it comes out, let it sit for a while until you can handle it without burning yourself. Taking a fork, you will scrape the meat of the squash and it will come apart as strands. Scrape all of the meat until you are left with just the husk. The spaghetti squash is now ready to be added to a meat sauce or have a meat sauce poured over it.