This squash is nothing short of miraculous. Honestly, a vegetable that turns into spaghetti once it’s cooked? I reluctantly gave this a try a few years back, and now I’m hooked on the amazing spaghetti squash.
You guessed it, the Whole30 is what sent me searching for this “new to me” variety of squash. It was a bit of a hard sell for me and my pasta-loving family. But we were determined to give the Whole30 a really good try, so this squash became part of that process.
Spaghetti squash in the microwave
Honestly, it’s a little better roasted in the oven (see how here), but I’m all about faster so I seldom take the time for that (though it can cut down on the amount of natural liquid in the final dish).
I simply stab the squash several times on all sides and microwave it about 10-12 minutes on High (if you don’t stab it, it will explode…yes, really! Haha, my husband found that out the hard way). I like to turn mine every so often, but it’s not gonna hurt anything if you forget.
That baby’s gonna be really hot when you finish cooking it; grab your gloves before transferring it to your cutting board. You can take both ends off first like I do, or you can simply cut it right down the middle.
It will probably release a lot of liquid. I usually slip a doubled paper towel under it before I cut just to keep that liquid from going everywhere (trying to keep the amount of cleanup to a minimum always).
The miracle inside the squash
Once you clear out the seeds with your handy grapefruit spoon (check out that post here), it threads into strands of “spaghetti” with the simple scraping of a fork. Isn’t that crazy? It’s just does it! I wish you could have seen my surprise the first time I did it!
When you’re done, you have a mass of “spaghetti.” It’s pretty moist so if you wish, you can press out some of the liquid between paper towels or in cheesecloth. It will end up in a big clump, but you can easily pull it apart again with clean hands.
Add to your favorite pasta dish OR simply top with your favorite sauce. (If you don’t have time or patience to press it, add a 6-ounce can of tomato paste when heating your marinara sauce so it’s thicker to make up from the liquid in the squash.)
It’s Whole30 pasta!
Absolutely this will be on your table at some point if you do the Whole30. But even if you don’t you should give this a try with your kids just to see their amazement. But have that camera rolling…they simply won’t believe there’s spaghetti in that squash!
Have you been “amazed” or “surprised” by something new you’ve tried? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
