I always get requests to make spaghetti squash recipes, but never get the chance because spaghetti squash is always so expensive around here. But the other day I happened upon a spaghetti squash sale for $0.99/lb. (organic, too!), so I jumped on it. Spaghetti squash can be quite large and awkward to cut and cook, and in such cases a slow cooker can be extremely helpful. So, for all of you who have struggled with spaghetti squash, let me introduce you to Slow Cooker Spaghetti Squash. Set it and forget it!
What is a Spaghetti Squash??
Never heard of spaghetti squash? Well you’re in for a surprise. This amazing vegetable has flesh that separates into spaghetti-like strands once cooked. It looks like a yellow blimp, or a rounded football, and contains seeds in the center very much like a pumpkin. Word on the street is that you can clean and roast the seeds just like pumpkin seeds, but I didn’t get many out of mine so it didn’t see worth the effort.
Once cooked many people use the noodle-like strands just as you would regular spaghetti. It’s a great low-carb alternative, a good way to increase your vegetable intake, and will give you plenty of fiber. ;) Check out the full nutritional profile of Spaghetti Squash here.
Spaghetti squash come in all sizes, so each will take a different amount of time to cook and yield a different number of servings. I’ve seen them small and round, at about 2 lbs., all the way up to the monster I was working with today at over 5 lbs. This big squash took about 5 hours in my slow cooker and yielded about 6 cups of mock-spaghetti (about $0.89 per one cup serving).
Buying Spaghetti Squash on a Budget
The tricky thing about spaghetti squash is that even though the per-pound price is low, those suckers can be huge and the price adds up quickly, so watch out! Play close attention to whether they are priced per-pound or per-item. When priced per pound, always look for the smallest spaghetti squash possible, or when you’re lucky enough to find them priced per-item, look for the largest squash available.
Why Slow Cooker Spaghetti Squash?
There are several ways to cook spaghetti squash and they all have their pros and cons. Since my squash was monster-sized and I didn’t want to even attempt cutting it open when raw, I opted for my slow cooker. Making slow cooker spaghetti squash is nice because
A) it doesn’t heat up your whole house.
B) you don’t have to cut it first. Cutting a large raw squash can be scary and dangerous because of their tough skin.
C) You don’t have to babysit it. Well, maybe a little, but the slow cooking process is a bit more forgiving than hotter methods, like the oven, so you can wander around and do other things as the spaghetti squash cooks.
What did I make with my giant spaghetti squash? Southwest Spaghetti Squash Bowls!
How to Make Slow Cooker Spaghetti Squash – Step by Step Photos
The first step is to clean the outside of the spaghetti squash well. Next, use a paring knife to poke several holes in the skin of the squash so that steam can escape as it cooks. My poor squash must have gotten damaged in the ride home because when I took it out today I found a hairline crack all around the outside. But that’s okay, the crack just acted as another steam vent.
Next just place the squash in your slow cooker. My slow cooker is either a 5 or 6 quart (not sure, I’ve had it forever) and this 5 lb. squash barely fit end to end. It also came within millimeters of hitting the lid. Close call.
Place the lid on the cooker and turn it on to high. And then walk away. The total cooking time will depend on how large the squash is. I’d recommend a minimum 3 hours on high (5-6 hours on low), and then add an extra hour for every pound over 3 pounds. The thick ceramic walls of the slow cooker act as a mini-oven and slowly bake the squash.
Since the cook time is NOT an exact science, here is how you can tell it’s done. Press into the skin firmly with your finger (it will be hot, so do this quickly or cover your finger with a towel). If the skin dents in, it’s done. If the exterior is still hard and does not give at all to your pressure, it needs more time. It will not be “soft” per se, but it will dent like the bumper of a car.
You should also be able to smell that characteristic slightly sweet cooked squash smell. Of course if you’re not familiar with that smell that won’t help, but for those of you who are, that’s another clue. Once it’s done, carefully lift it from the slow cooker onto a cutting board to cool. It probably won’t cool if left in the slow cooker because the ceramic holds a lot of residual heat.
Once it’s cool enough to handle, cut it in half along the equator, not end to end. The reason you want to cut it along the midline is that the strands run around the squash horizontally. If you cut it end to end you’ll be cutting the strands in half and will have very short segments. Cutting around the equator keeps the long strands intact and gives you more of a spaghetti-like feel. Use a spoon to scrape the seeds out of the center. You may get a few of the strands with the seeds, but that’s okay.
Once the seeds are removed, use a fork to pull the strands away from the tough skin. This is the fun part.
And now the spaghetti squash is ready to eat! It doesn’t taste like much on its own, but you can do so much with it. Just like real pasta, I like it with a bit of butter, herbs, and Parmesan. Marinara is a classic choice as well.
Feel free to share your favorite way to eat spaghetti squash in the comments below to help newbies out. And what did I make with my spaghetti squash? Southwest Spaghetti Squash Bowls!
Can you cook other hard to cut squashes like this too? My husband and I are Sr cititzens and find it hard to cut some of the other squashes that we love so much and are so good for us. Plus one slip with the knife and since we take blood thinnners watch out! Barbara
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I haven’t tried it with other types of squash, but I suspect it would work.
I never have to buy squash of any kind, they come up volunteer in my compost pile every year due to my ‘recycling’ the seeds from the uncooked squash. Wish you all lived close enough to take advantage of them all, I always have so many we can’t use them or even give them all away. They’ll even grow in large containers anywhere there’s sun and moisture, and as far as I am concerned, they make a beautiful lawn decoration flowing down over the sides of a wall, container, fence, etc. Must be easy to grow as I’m 71 yrs-old and the hardest part for me is picking up & carrying more than 2 at a time.
This worked great. Very happy that I don’t have to attempt cutting the squash in half before baking it. I used a sharp knife and poked it in several places. I have an old 3 qt crockpot and I was nervous about cooking it dry, so I added 1 cup of water so the whole squash( about a pound or two) steamed. I cooked on low for about 5-6 hours and it was perfect. It is more watery than squash cooked in the oven, but that doesn’t bother me. I warmed up a good quality bottled spaghetti sauce and added fresh grated Parmesan cheese. A very good quick dinner for me, I’m gluten-free. For kids, add some protein and greens too.
I grew my own spaghetti squash for the 1st this past summer & still have at least 10 left. They do take over the garden & are deer proof. Anyway I prepare mine several ways: 1. With homemade tomato sauce & zucchini poppers (mini chicken meatballs made with shredded zucchini & stuffed with mozzarella), 2. with alfredo sauce, sautéed mushrooms & sautéed crab meat, 3. Shrimp Lo Mein-I use the squash in place of the noodles.
You should be able to find one (seasonally) at the farmers market. I was able to find some smaller, very reasonably priced ones at the Gretna farmers market. Much cheaper than any I’ve found in stores. The same vendor frequents the bi-weekly farmers market at UNO.
So glad to find an easy cooking method as I eat a lot of this stuff. Thanks!
My favorite way to eat spaghetti squash is with maple syrup and butter for breakfast or dessert. I also like it with butter, garlic and Parmesan as a side dish.
Although, for pasta dishes I prefer spiralized zucchini.
Maybe the time has passed for comments! However, here is mine!!!
I and my family have used Spaghetti Squash often and extensively. Including growing it! Here is my favorite:
Microwave the squash after sticking it a few times with that knife someone in this post mentioned. Microwaves are so finicky. Check after two 4-minute rotations by pushing in the skin. If it moves in, it’s done. If not, add a few more minutes per rotation. Slice lengthwise, scoop out seeds. Using a fork, dislodge the ‘spaghetti’ form the squash shell and dump into an oven baking dish (casserole???).
Create a shrimp and andouille sausage sauce mix with pasta sauce, garlic, and what ever. Ladle onto the squash, shrimp/sausage/sauce. Sprinkle on some grated ‘hard’ cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for about 30-minutes and serve with a crispy bread and red wine ( or white wine or good beer).
I’ve been making a spaghetti squash lasagna for a couple years now, unfortunately the website has since disappeared but it’s goes a little something like this.
Squash layer: Roast spaghetti squash (although now I’ll definitely be using my slow cooker)
Sausage layer: Saute italian sausage and onions, add garlic and spinach when it’s almost done.
Sauce layer: The recipe includes a simple tomato sauce with onion, canned tomatoes, mushrooms, pepper, garlic and rosemary but you can use any tomato sauce.
Assemble by layering from bottom to top: Squash, sausage, sauce, grated mozz, squash, sausage, sauce, more mozz and Parmesan.
Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Thank you so much. I’ve wanted to try one of these, but didn’t quite know where to start, nor did I want to spend a lot of time researching it.
You inspired me to try them again. Butter and parm… sooo good! And my store had softball sized ones. I ate the whole thing for dinner tonight!
Beth, I live in mid city New Orleans too. where did you get the spaghetti squash at this price for? Rouse’s? Winn Dixie?
It was actually at Whole Foods on Broad! :D They have some excellent prices on produce sometimes, often better than Rouses! I like to hit both stores in one trip. Swing by WF, then up Bienville to Rouse’s to get what I couldn’t at WF and then I’m done. :)
Another New Orleanian here… I saw these at Rouse’s today for $1.19. I grabbed a 3 pounder to try out your recipe.
Thanks for all the recipes!!
Just bought my first one two weeks ago and after baking it I made a mock alfredo sauce using chopped onions and garlic, heavy cream and fake crab meat. It was very good. Cheryl
I love your recipes, but this one does not have a “print it” link.
Yes, unfortunately this one does not have an actual recipe, it’s just a step by step photo tutorial, so there’s no print option. :( I can only do that on pages that have a recipe card. You can just highlight all the text, copy it, paste it into a word document and print from there, though.
Use this browser extension for printing virtually any web content. You can print to paper or to email or to PDF. There is an option to remove all images or to selectively remove images.
http://www.printfriendly.com/
I love spaghetti squash! It was my gateway into buying an inspiralizer and making noodles out of all kinds of veggies.
I used to cut the squash in half lengthwise and roast it in the oven with each half filled with alfredo sauce. It was fun to eat the noodles using the skin as the bowl.
Lately, I’ve preferred roasting the halves with salt, pepper, and olive oil and then heating the pulled noodles in a skillet with barbecue sauce. I treat it almost like a “pulled pork” in sandwiches, bowls, and tacos with your cumin-lime coleslaw. I originally got the idea from Hot For Food.
OMG, I love the BBQ idea!
Genius! This must make it so much easier to cut the squash in half. I will have to try this.
I baked one today. I tried it like hash browns. Soooo good! A little fresh ground chipotle sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Love it!!