How Do You Cook Spaghetti Squash
You can cook spaghetti squash several different ways. The Instant Pot is the fastest and easiest way to cook your spaghetti squash.
Simple slice the spaghetti squash in half length-wise, scoop out the seeds, and place the halves on the rack in your Instant Pot.
Drizzle the halves with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook at high pressure for only 4 minutes.
Alternatively, you can roast your spaghetti squash in a 400 degree F oven for 45-55 minutes.
Slice the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast the squash cut side down on a baking sheet until tender.
Ive also cooked spaghetti squash in the microwave. I do find that it tends to cook a little unevenly in the microwave though so this isnt my preferred method.
To cook in the microwave, scoop the seeds out of one half of the squash, put a couple tablespoons of water in the cavity, and cover it tightly with plastic wrap.
Then microwave on high power for about 10 minutes, or until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork. The time will vary depending on your microwave.
How To Serve Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash
At its simplest, you can scoop the spaghetti squash strands out of the squash halves into a bowl, and simply season them with some salt and pepper, nutmeg, and olive oil or butter if desired. This combination is great as a side dish on a Thanksgiving table or just a regular meal alongside roasted chicken.
Another way of serving spaghetti squash would be on a plate and dolloped with pasta sauce, like Bolognese, pesto, marinara, or even peanut sauce for an Asian spin. You can also add the shredded squash to casseroles, replace traditional potatoes with the squash for latkes, or bake it with cheese for a gratin. The possibilities are endless when you have a food as good as this!
How To Make Spaghetti Squash In The Oven
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Cut the squash. Cut the squash lengthwise for the fastest cooking time.
- Pierce the skin. Using a sharp knife tip, poke the squash skin in a variety of places.
- Bake. Place the squash face down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 40 minutes
- Test for doneness. Your squash is ready when a fork scraped on the inside of the squash easily yields strands. Bigger squash will take longer so prepare accordingly.
- Remove seeds. I find it a lot easier to remove seeds once the squash is cooked. A good grapefruit spoon is the best way to do this.
- Make strands. Use the tines of a fork to make spaghetti-like strands.
- Season. I prefer to season my squash after it is baked, as I can then use it for either savory recipe like this Garlic Parmesan Spaghetti Squash or just have it with butter and cinnamon.
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How To Make The Spaghetti Squash In The Oven
Preheat oven to 400 F Cut the squash lengthwise in the middle. Using a fork, poke the outer skin few places.
Place the squash face down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or in a glass baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes. Squash is ready when you can easily separate the stands.
Cooking time will vary depending upon the size of the squash. Let it cool down before handling. Using a spoon, remove the seeds and middle membranes. Use the tines of the forks and move it around so the spaghetti like strands start to fall off.
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How To Cook Spaghetti Squash In The Instant Pot
Ive cooked both whole spaghetti squash and halved spaghetti squash in my Instant Pot. I prefer to cook spaghetti squash that has been cut in half before cooking. When you cut the squash in half, you can remove the seeds before cooking, which I find easier to do. With a whole spaghetti squash youll have to wait for it to cool some before you can cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. Spaghetti squash halves also cook much faster than a whole squash.
If you do want to cook your squash whole, youll still have to slit it through to the center of the squash to allow steam to escape, which in my experience is not much easier than just cutting the squash in half to begin with.
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Pressure Cook On High For 8 Minutes Then Quick Release
Press the Pressure Cook button, making sure the High Pressure setting is selected, and set the time. It takes about 5 minutes for the pot to preheat and come up to pressure before it starts cooking. So this process will take about 15 minutes total. When its done, do a quick release and carefully release all the steam from the pressure cooker .
How To Make It Recipe Video
Remember how easy I said this is to make? Im not joking at all.
Check out my ONE MINUTE video. Im telling you, its impossible to mess this recipe up! Even if you make it in the oven its easy.
INSTRUCTIONS
For spaghetti squash in the oven, youll need to remove the seeds before you bake the squash.
Making it in a pressure cooker is a bit easier, because you can cook it first, and then remove the seeds.
Either way, its pretty quick and super easy to make, right?
For the instant pot: Add broth or water into the pot, then place a trivet inside for the squash to rest on. Place the squash cut side up onto the trivet. If the spaghetti squash is too large to fit that way, just place on of them on its side .
For the oven: Place the squash cut side down into a baking dish and pour water or broth around it.
At this point, you can give them a simple drizzle of oil and some salt and pepper and youre ready to serve!
OR, get creative and serve it as a main dish paleo pasta, comin up!
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What People Are Saying About This Recipe
All Instant Pots are variable, so we sent this pressure cooker spaghetti squash method to a few recipe testers before sharing it with you. It received rave reviews! Heres what people are saying about this method of how to cook spaghetti squash:
- The Instant Pot cooking of the spaghetti squash was awesome! It was perfectly cooked, not over. I even had a large spaghetti squash and it was thoroughly cooked! Ill make spaghetti squash spaghetti like this always! Way better than roasting for an hour. -Kristi
- The spaghetti squash still had a bit of crunch or al dente taste in a good way. It was very easy for me to shred/scoop out after getting it out of the Instant Pot. I will put it in the Instant Pot rotation! -Claire
What Makes This Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash Recipe So Good
- The Instant Pot or pressure cooker makes spaghetti squash so tender, making it a perfect substitute if youre not eating pasta.
- This easy recipe is vegan, paleo, Whole30-compliant, gluten free, and dairy free, so its easy to fit into your dietary needs! 1 cup of spaghetti squash has 5g net carbs, so you can easily make this dish keto and low carb, too!
- Spaghetti squash is absolutely delicious with a ton of pasta sauces and toppings.
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How To Make Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash
Pressure cooking is a wonderful way to make squash. To cook spaghetti squash in this Instant Pot spaghetti squash recipe, you should start by poking it all over. When cooking a spaghetti squash whole, this helps it cook more evenly by allowing the steam to penetrate.
Next, you place 1 cup of water into the Instant Pot bowl and place the trivet inside. The spaghetti squash should fit perfectly on the trivet.
Once the lid is closed, you should ensure that you set the valve of the pressure cooker to the sealing position so that the pressure cooker comes under high pressure. You can use either a small, medium or large spaghetti squash for this pressure cooker spaghetti squash recipe, so you should adjust the timings accordingly. A medium to large squash should take a total time of 25 minutes in the pressure cooker under high pressure.
After pressure cooking the squash, you should release the steam via quick release. This is where you push the valve from the sealing to venting position to release the steam. If you are uncomfortable with this step, wearing oven gloves can help ensure you dont burn your hands. I also recommend that you operate your Instant Pot in an open space so that you dont get steam all over your cupboards.
How Many Net Carbs Are In Spaghetti Squash
Well, it depends on how much you eat. With the high fat and protein content, you should feel full with less than you would imagine.
One cup of spaghetti squash only has 5.5g of net carbs! Don’t let the overall carb count intimidate you.
It is packed with fiber, which brings the net carb count down to a totally acceptable low carb level.
As someone who has lived a keto lifestyle for quite some time now, I can tell you that one of the hardest things to give up is pasta–but not any longer!
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Does Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash Taste Like Pasta
Um, no. Lets not fool ourselves. As delicious and nourishing as veggie noodles are, they do not taste like real pasta.
Actually, spaghetti squash has a slight sweet and nutty taste. Although this isnt necessarily a bad thing. In fact, its a very good thing!
Why? Because the mellow flavor of the noodles takes on the flavor of whatever sauce you serve with them.
ALSO, making spaghetti squash in an Instant Pot cooks it to al dente. That is the preferred way to enjoy spaghetti/pasta, am I right? Just a little bit of a bite rather one big soggy pile of squash.
Getting Started With Electric Pressure Cooking
To help me spend less time in the kitchen, I recently purchased an Instant Pot. Do you have one? Its an electric pressure cooker thats much safer than the ones designed for the stove top. And its perfect for making Instant Pot spaghetti squash!
I do have a large pressure cooker that cooks on a stove. But, I have never used it because I never took the time to learn how to use it properly.
The thing I like about the Instant Pot is that its much more than a pressure cooker. It can also be used to saute, steam vegetables, and slow cook. The model I purchased can also be used to make yogurt.
To get a feel for pressure cooking, I started with something easy. I wanted to know how to cook spaghetti squash, so I took some advice from Nom Nom Paleo.
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How To Shred Spaghetti Squash
SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR DETAILED COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
How To Cook Spaghetti Squash In Instant Pot
You only need a spaghetti squash and some water!
- Prep: Cut the squash crosswise into two halves. If you cut lengthwise your spaghetti strands will be shorter. Cutting across will allow for the signature long strands we all love. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
- Cook: Add water into the Instant Pot, place the trivet inside, and the squash on top. This is where it is important to make sure you buy squash that will fit in your pot. Close the lid, set valve to sealing, and pressure cook on high. You can use the manual button as well.
- Release: Once done, release the pressure valve to vent immediately Quick Release. This will help the squash from overcooking and becoming mushy.
- Cool: Squash will be very hot. Remove carefully using oven mitts and set aside to cool until safe to handle.
- Shred: Once cooled, use a fork to shred the strands of squash into a bowl. Gently scraping the inside of the squash, the strands will fall apart easily.
Pro Tip: If you are cooking your squash whole, pierce exterior with a fork and cook for 15 minutes.
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Cook It On High Pressure For 6 Minutes Then Do A Quick Pressure Release
There is no exact science on how long to cook spaghetti squash in the Instant Pot. I find 6 minutes is good for a 3-pound squash to end up not too soft/mushy and not too “al dente”. However, if you prefer it to be slightly firmer, give it 5 minutes. Adjust by a minute or two either way depending on the size of your squash. Keep in mind that anything much bigger than a 3-pound spaghetti squash likely won’t fit in a 6-quart Instant Pot. Also, be sure to do a quick release or the squash will keep on cooking.
Prepare The Spaghetti Squash
The outer skin of the spaghetti squash is thick, and so are the walls of the flesh. I like to use a rocking motion with my sharp chef knife to cut the squash lengthwise. I always cut through the stem last because its very tough, or just pull the halves away from each other to separate. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. You can rinse, dry, and roast them for a healthy snack.
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How To Make Spaghetti Squash In The Instant Pot
- Pierce the squash. Using the tip of a sharp knife, pierce the squash in several places. You are doing this to allow the heat to penetrate, and to keep the squash from exploding in your pressure cooker.
- Add water to the pressure cooker. Place 1.5-2 cups of water in the Instant Pot. Place a steamer rack in the pressure cooker.
- Cook for 8 minutes at high pressure. Close the lid and allow the pressure cooker on HIGH PRESSURE for 8 minutes. Yes I know that doesn’t sound like enough time, given that you could be baking spaghetti squash for up to an hour. But this works unless your squash is super ginormous.
- NPR for 10 minutes. At the end of the cooking time, allow the pot to rest undisturbed for 10 minutes. These 10 minutes count toward the cooking time, so do not rush it.
- Cut and prepare the squash. When you remove the squash, you can either cut it lengthwise for easy-to-manage strands or crosswise for really long strands.
- Remove the seeds. You will need to remove the seeds from the squash now. This can be a messy job. I find that using a grapefruit spoon really helps with this process so that you can just scoop them out.
- Creating the spaghetti squash strands. Then, using the tines of a fork, pull along the squash to get long, thin strands.
- Season to taste. You can just eat it as it is, with butter, salt, and pepper.
Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Squash
Instant Pot spaghetti squash will transform the way you think about spaghetti.
Gone are the days when carbo-loading is necessary to have a satisfying meal. It is a nutrient-dense meal, packed with vitamin C and B6, it is low carb and perfect for a meatless Monday!
Although there are many different ways to cook spaghetti squash, the Instant Pot is definitely my favorite. Its fast and makes it simple enough to make a quick healthy dinner on busy weeknights.
Make ahead and meal prep for the rest of the week. Spaghetti squash is so versatile you could top it with something different every day.
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Is Spaghetti Squash Truly Low Carb
So the next time you get the craving for a spaghetti dish, save yourself the calories and carbs and make this delightful vegetarian Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash recipe!
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below! Just click on the stars in the recipe card to rate. Don’t forget to pin this recipe for later!
How To Make Perfect Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash + Video
PUBLISHED · MODIFIED November 12, 2020 · BY · 1912 words. · About 10 minutes to read this article.· This post may contain affiliate links · As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases·
Once you make Spaghetti squash in the Instant pot, you will never make it another way. Eight minutes under pressure, without even cutting the squash, and you have the perfect low carb or vegetarian side dish.
If you’ve never tried spaghetti squash before, prepare for a deliciously unique experience. It has a very neutral flavor to it. That makes it the perfect vessel for flavorful dishes like this Garlic Parmesan Spaghetti Squash recipe!
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