How to Roast Spaghetti Squash

Fall means sales on seasonal squash, so: Here’s How to Roast Spaghetti Squash. So easy; you just need four ingredients and a little bit of time!

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It’s fall, y’all! And that means… Sales. On. Squash. Everywhere! Welcome to the next installment in our cooking basics series: How to Roast Spaghetti Squash.

Spaghetti squash is not only a great gluten-free and lower carb alternative to pasta, it’s also a fine way to sneak some extra nutrition and vitamin C into your recipes. One cup of cooked spaghetti squash contains about 40 calories, 10g carbs, and 2g fiber, with only .5g of fat.

I recently picked up this lovely spaghetti squash over at ALDI for $.69/lb, although some years it goes as low as $.39/lb at the produce stores. My medium squash here (slightly blemished on the outside, but fine on the inside) weighed about 2.5 lbs uncooked.

More cooking basics? See earlier installments in the cooking basics series here.

How to Roast Spaghetti Squash

You need just four ingredients for roasted spaghetti squash…

Ingredients

1 medium spaghetti squash (2-3 lbs)
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Poke a couple of holes in the squash with a fork. Microwave it for three minutes to soften the skin slightly, which makes cutting the squash much easier (and safer!).

Remove the squash from the microwave. Use a large sharp knife to slice off the ends, then stand the squash on one flat end and cut it in half lengthwise. (See Note)

Scoop out the seeds and pulp and discard them.

Brush the flesh of each squash half with olive oil, then season with sea salt and pepper.

Place the squash halves cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet and roast them for 30 minutes, or until softened. This results in slightly al dente squash strings; you can roast for a bit longer if you have a larger squash or prefer yours softer.

Remove the roasted squash from the oven, and scrape the insides into long squash strings with a fork. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce, or use in a recipe.

Note: The squash will be a bit hot after microwaving; I held mine with a dish towel while slicing, which also helped me grip it more easily.

It’s just that easy to roast spaghetti squash

I used my roasted spaghetti squash strings in a skillet “pasta” recipe, which I’ll bring your way tomorrow morning. Note that the cooked squash is slightly on the sweeter side — it’s squash, after all — so I tend to prefer mine with an arrabiata sauce or otherwise spiced up to balance out that flavor. See what you prefer, though.

Roasted spaghetti squash is lower carb, gluten free, vegetarian, lower calorie, lower fat, and all those good things. Enjoy!

How to Roast Spaghetti Squash, printable recipe

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How to Roast Spaghetti Squash

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Fall means sales on seasonal squash, so: Here’s How to Roast Spaghetti Squash. So easy; you just need four ingredients and a little bit of time!

Course ingredient

Keyword gluten free, low carb, roasted spaghetti squash, spaghetti squash, vegetarian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 33 minutes minutes

Total Time 43 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Rachel Singer

Equipment

rimmed baking sheet

chef’s knife

Ingredients

• 1 medium spaghetti squash 2-3 lbs
• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• Sea salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
• Poke a couple of holes in the squash with a fork. Microwave it for three minutes to soften the skin slightly, which makes cutting the squash much easier (and safer!).
• Remove the squash from the microwave. Use a large sharp knife to slice off the ends, then stand the squash on one flat end and cut it in half lengthwise. (See Note)
• Scoop out the seeds and pulp and discard them.
• Brush the flesh of each squash half with olive oil, then season with sea salt and pepper.
• Place the squash halves cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet and roast them for 30 minutes, or until softened. This results in slightly al dente squash strings; you can roast for a bit longer if you have a larger squash or prefer yours softer.
• Remove the roasted squash from the oven, and scrape the insides into long squash strings with a fork. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce, or use in a recipe.

Notes

The squash will be a bit hot after microwaving; I held mine with a dish towel while slicing, which also helped me grip it more easily.