Learn how to make spaghetti squash so you have a sneaky way to eat more vegetables and less processed grain. It may look complicated, but I can promise you it’s no more difficult than frying an egg (and yes, I still break yolks sometimes too 🙂

Spaghetti squash is one of the easiest side or main dishes to prepare. You can roast it with seasoning and eat it on its own. Or roast it, no seasoning, and use it in place of pasta with tomato sauce and meat. Great alternative for the gluten-free eaters out there! Spaghetti squash is an easy staple to get in your diet, and it also happens to be delicious and super nutritious for you as well.

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Why would I make this when I can eat regular pasta?

Several years ago, back when gluten-intolerance was a huge thing I remember seeing people eat spaghetti squash as a gluten free version of pasta. I never made it myself because well, to be honest, I just love regular pasta way too much. Why replace one of my all time favorite foods? 

I also thought it was way complicated to make. It was so stringy, and I had no idea how that was done so I really didn’t look into it. 

Turns out, you can make spaghetti squash almost as fast as regular pasta and it becomes stringy on its own with hardly any work on your side. 

Also spaghetti squash has a different taste than grain pasta, obviously because it’s a vegetable. But if you’ve never tried it, the taste might surprise you. It’s surprisingly light tasting, not like a heavy pumpkin that you may be thinking. 

Health Benefits of Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash is in the winter pumpkin/squash family but has a much lighter, more nutty taste. Like all pumpkins, this squash is high in vitamins and minerals. More nutritious than your average grain pasta? You bet!

We love eating winter squash from about October through March or April, as long as they are still available. We stop craving the pumpkins after about December, but the spaghetti squash is light enough that we still like it even in summer. Now we don’t usually make it in summer but that’s mostly because we don’t want to turn the oven on. 

We try to eat as much squash as we can, because it is also high in fiber and vitamin C. Fiber promotes a healthy digestive system and vitamin C is a natural immune booster. We’ll take any free vitamins we can get!

What to serve with spaghetti squash?

Spaghetti squash has turned to my go-to when you’re looking for something to add to a meal that’s tasty and nutritious, that’ll just make it pop. It’s kind of like a wardrobe piece that you can “dress up or dress down”.

You can enjoy spaghetti swish year-round, if it’s available to you. Here are some of our favorite ways to pair it:

Fall Spaghetti Squash Meal Ideas

Served with ground beef and homemade tomato sauce. Topped with basil and Parmesan cheese.

Roasted and then put in a spaghetti squash chicken noodle soup, in replace of regular noodles.

Roasted with salt, pepper, and herbs and served with a sirloin or t-bone steak cut. Topped with Parmesan and herbs. Are you seeing a pattern here? Parmesan cheese and spaghetti squash is a “YES” in our household.  

If you still have some fall squashes on your counter, grab my FREE ebook, 10 From-Scratch Wholesome Fall Recipes to use up some of that food! 🙂

Winter Meal Pairing Ideas

Roasted and thrown in the Instant Pot for a bone-in beef stew with potatoes and topped with cheddar cheese.

Served cold and mixed in a winter salad with kale leaves, pumpkin seeds, simple vinegar dressing, and topped with Parmesan cheese.

Roasted and spread out on top of a homemade sourdough pizza. Cook the dough, then spread a thin layer of white sauce, add meat or veggies of choice including the squash. Drizzle with cheese and cook ten min in the oven. 

Spring Meal Pairing Ideas

Perfect for a spring white sauce pizza topping. Mix cream, butter, garlic and herbs to create a white sauce. Add chicken and spaghetti squash as topping and shred some mozzarella cheese on top. 

As a topping to your favorite soup to give some light crunchy-ness to a regularly heavy soup, like beef stew, chicken noodle, butternut squash, or chicken tortilla.

As a filling in tacos. Roast the squash, then cook ground beef with seasonings. Combine squash, beef, and cheese in a sourdough tortilla 

How to make Spaghetti Squash from scratch:

First, start by cutting the top off the squash and slicing it in half. Tip: use the tip of the knife to slice through the squash. Once you reach the middle, use the knife edge of the knife to pry open the squash. If you’ve loosened up the outside enough, it’ll just pop open.

Next, use a large spoon to scoop the seeds and guts out of the middle of the squash. Don’t scrape too hard though, or else you’ll start removing what will become your spaghetti. Just get the seeds out.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. On a large baking tray, place a sheet of parchment paper.

Drizzle the two halved spaghetti squashes with extra virgin olive oil. If you’re going to eat the squash plain (as opposed to using it in a pasta with sauce), then also drizzle with salt, pepper, and dried herbs. I like to add some garlic powder too.

Set the two squashes side by side on the baking tray. Place in oven and roast at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes for a small squash, or 45 minutes for a large one. Check out the video tutorial in this post for a size comparison. You know the squash is cooked when it pulls apart easily with a fork.

Watch: How to Make Spaghetti Squash

If you made this recipe, I would love if you gave it a 5 star review below! I also love when readers send me their meal pics on instagram at @theduvallhomestead 🙂

Thanks for stopping by the Homestead!