The Right Way to Cook Spaghetti Squash

So I love fall. Seriously. It's my favorite time of year for food. I should probably preface with the fact that I really dislike pumpkin though. The taste is pretty gross to me - and the texture of pumpkin pie just reminds me of bad pudding. Eww. But I digress. 

I love squash of all kinds. Summer squash is great, but by the time fall gets here, I'm ready for a change. 

Besides, just think of al the amazing things you can make with spaghetti squash. Above is quite possibly my new favorite, spaghetti squash Alfredo with tomatoes and turkey bacon (sometimes you just need some bacon in your life. Don't judge me, you know you love bacon....mmmm bacon). Although very close behind that is spaghetti squash pad Thai - which was lunch tonight (night shift fun!). But a good standby was last weeks spaghetti squash with homemade marinara and clean turkey meatballs (both recipes for another day). 

Have you ever wondered how all those food bloggers end up with lovely long spaghetti squash noodles and you only ever get the short stumpy ones? It all comes down to how you cook it. 

Most traditional recipes for how to cook it start with cutting the squash in half lengthwise. DON'T DO IT! RESIST THE TEMPTATIONTO FOLLOW THE CROWD!  This solitary step is why you end up with short, crummy looking noodles. 

I chose to cook my squash whole - the other option would be to cut into 1 inch rings (which I'll probably try next time). Make sure you poke some steam release holes in them first (otherwise it will be a case of the exploding squash. Messy.) But you can just pop the squash in the oven at 375F for about an hour (turn it at the half hour mark, or else you'll end up with one "soggy" side). Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes (or until it doesn't feel like you're going to burn your fingers when you handle it). 

Next, if you baked it whole, you'll cut it into 1 inch rings (if you baked it in the rings then you already did this step).

Cut around the center to remove the seeds. 

Then, take a fork and go around the squash in a circle - voilà! Long noodles! (I know, mind blown - right?)

So I like to do this over a colander lined with cheesecloth. I got really tired of having everything be super runny because of the excess moisture from the squash.

 

So squeeze that extra moisture out (some is ok, I'm just picky and don't like my food to look like it is drowning). And you have a fantastic low-carb, healthy, and clean alternative to pasta! Enjoy ☺️