Sausage Stuffed Spaghetti Squash is one of those recipes you make when you have time for absolutely nothing but still want to indulge in a savory ooey-gooey delight that’ll make every person at your table say “Wow.” Plus, it’s a sheet pan meal that takes minutes to put together. What’s not to love?
What Is Spaghetti Squash?
Spaghetti Squash is the coolest cousin in the gourd family. It has a canary yellow exterior and is shaped like a smoother version of one of those giant dragon eggs someone’s always cradling on House Of The Dragon. (Or a football. Take your pick.) When cooked, its flesh separates into strands the thickness of angel hair.
DOES IT REALLY TASTE LIKE SPaghetti?
No. It does not. It has a neutral flavor and a mildly crunchy texture that smooths out the longer you cook it. But it does look like spaghetti, with strands that vary in length depending on how you slice it. If you go with rounds, you’ll get beautiful long pieces that you can twirl around a fork. I always cut it lengthwise because it’s faster. Even though it gives me shorter strands, I get more ways to work with it because you can stuff it with almost anything.
How To Cut SPaghetti Squash
Spaghetti Squash can be a beast to work with unless you soften it a little first with a spin on your microwave turntable. Pierce its skin a few times with a fork and nuke it for five minutes before you try to slice it. It will make it so much easier. It’s always a good idea to stabilize it by resting it on a dish towel before you make that first cut. Leave the steak knife in the drawer and bust out your sharpest chef’s knife. Check out our full tutorial on How To Roast Spaghetti Squash.
Do I Have To Use Italian Sausage?
The beauty of spaghetti squash is its mild flavor, which makes it a blank canvas that pairs perfectly with almost anything. Beth and I are kind of obsessed with Italian sausage and melted mozzarella, but feel free to try your favorite combinations.
For example, you can make this a vegan meal with vegan cheese and sausage. Or lean Latin with it, and try chorizo with manchego or a smoky cheddar. The magic is that you don’t need to use any spices. Not even salt. The sausage is already chock full of spices and will flavor the squash as its fat renders in the cavity. The cheeses provide all the salt you need. Beth and I couldn’t score our favorite spicy Italian sausage, so we opted for sweet and added a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to the mix. That’s, of course, completely optional.
Sausage Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Servings 4 quartersIngredients
- 1 spaghetti squash (1.5 lbs.) ($1.19)
- 1/2 lb. Italian ground sausage (sweet or spicy) ($3.00)
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella ($0.63)
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese ($0.50)
- 1/2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.06)
Instructions
- Set a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 400°F. Slice the spaghetti squash in half, from tip to end. Scoop out the seeds in its central cavity. Brush each half with the cooking oil.
- Divide the sausage equally between the two spaghetti squash halves.
- Roast for 30 minutes or until the sausage reaches an internal temperature of 160°. Remove from the oven, but keep your oven on.*
- Use two forks to separate the sausage into small chunks and to separate the squash into strands. Mix it all together.
- Combine the cheeses.
- Divide the cheese mixture equally between the halves and roast for another 10 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and begins to caramelize. Enjoy!
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Equipment
Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Sausage Stuffed Spaghetti Squash – Step by Step Photos
Set a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 400°F. Slice the spaghetti squash in half, from tip to end. Scoop out the seeds in its central cavity. Reserve the seeds if you wish, and roast them later. Brush each squash half with the half tablespoon of olive oil.
Divide the sausage equally between the two spaghetti squash halves.
Roast for 35 to 40 minutes or until the sausage reaches an internal temperature of 160°. Remove from the oven, but keep your oven on.
Use two forks to separate the sausage into small chunks and to separate the squash into strands. Mix it all together.
Combine 1/2 cup of mozzarella with the 1/4 cup of Parmesan. We added 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes because all we could find was sweet Italian sausage, and we love a little kick. This is completely optional and has not been calculated into the recipe cost.
Top the squash with the cheese. Divide the cheese mixture equally between both squash halves.
Roast for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and has started to caramelize. Buen provecho! (That’s Spanish for: have the best time eating. And trust me, you will!)
What To Serve With Sausage Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Pair your spaghetti squash with these delicious sides:
YUM. I adored this. I’d never cooked with spaghetti squash before so I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect, but I loved this! I mixed the Italian sausage with some extra sage and basil – I also added garlic powder before putting the sausage in at the suggestion of one of the other commenters. Delicious!! My husband liked it too, and we each only had the thin skin of the squash left on our plates at the end; we ate every other bit right up. Thanks for sharing this!! Will be making again. 👏👏
I’m thinking of making this in a few days; I already have the ingredients. The problem is, it’s just me so can I cook both halves and then wrap the other half up and put it in the fridge for a day or two and then just warm it up when i want it?
Absolutely. You can warm it in the microwave in 20-second increments until it is steaming. Don’t let it sit in your fridge for more than two days. XOXO -Monti
Well that was delicious. My squash took longer to cook so keep that in mind if you try this.
Thanks, Sarah! XOXO -Monti
It was fine. Maybe it was the sausage we used, but it was just meh.
This was delicious! The squash had plenty of bite to it, while still being tender. We used veggie sausage (Beyond Sausage), and it came out perfect. I can also confirm that it makes a great potluck dish – it comes with its own serving dish!
Can’t help but wonder if those who had problems with the sausage being undercooked used whole sausages to begin with, or sized the squash differently, instead of using ground sausage or a 1.5 lb squash as the recipe calls for.
Probably. But they’ll blame it on the recipe. What are you going to do? XOXO -Monti
It was sooo greasy
I don’t know how anyone could eat it. I tried to salvage it but couldn’t
This was pretty easy. I baked it in my toaster oven and had no issues with the time it states in the recipe that it would take to cook. After the sausage cooked, I patted the sausage to soak up a bit of the grease, then added a bit of jarred pasta sauce for a bit of extra flavor. I would make it again, maybe add a bit of oregano and basil to it for a bit more flavor. Overall, a nice addition to my spaghetti squash recipe file.
I’ve had sausage stuffed spaghetti squash floating around my head for the last week, even bought spaghetti squash… couldn’t figure out where the idea came from, but then I clicked on BB and realized I’d seen it here! I love the tip of baking sausage directly onto the squash rather than cooking separately + combining later so the squash gets infused with the flavor of the meat. Came out amazing, thank you.
Thank you for making it! XOXO -Monti
This recipe did not work out very well. It took about 15 extra mins to cook the meat through and the spaghetti squash was still undercooked. Next time I will cook them the way I usually do and cook the meat separately and combine it all at the end.
I just fixed this stuffed squash this week. My husband and I liked this much better than any other spaghetti squash recipe we’ve tried. This will now be on our regular meal rotation. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for checking it out, Angie! XOXO -Monti
It’s not that the recipe was bad per-se, it’s more of it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I cooked the sausage separately with an onion, then drained the fat and added it once the squash was finished cooking. I can’t help but wonder if the grease from the sausage would have added more flavor to the squash.
Also I am curious about the cook time for the squash, I left mine in for about 45 minutes cut side down (until it was soft to the touch). Since mine was about 2.5 pounds I figured it needed a little extra cook time.
The edges got a nice bit of roasting which was yummy, but I would use a bit more oil in the cavity than I did, and more liberally salt it. I ended up using some nice honey garlic sausage from a local market.
This recipe was a disaster for me in terms of preparation (it ended up tasting fine, but I was so disappointed with the process I couldn’t enjoy it).
After 30 minutes, I took the squash out, ready to break up the sausage like the recipe said, only to find that the sausage was in fact not cooked all the way through. Like, not even a little. So then I had to take the sausage out of the scorching hot squash, which was NOT easy, put it in a pan, break it up, and brown the meat.
Meanwhile, the undercooked sausage left raw meat juice in the squash body. So I had to dump that before I could start shredding the squash. Except.. have you ever tried to do that? The squash was hundreds of degrees warm and slippery on the outside from the meat juice that spilled over the sides. So I put on an oven mitt but that was super bulky. Also, what was I supposed to do with the squash I shredded that still needed to be mixed with sausage? That required another bowl.
For me, this was a rare Budget Bytes fail.
I would separate the sausage a bit before you put it in the squash so it’s not stuck together like a block. Also sausage looks a bit raw even when it’s cooked to safe temp. I would rely on thermometer to be sure
There are two cooking times listed. 30 minutes in the recipe directions wasn’t enough for the squash to cook. I see the step by step directions do say 35 to 40 minutes which is better but I needed 45 prior to I adding the cheese. This ended up being really good after more bake time. Suggested update to recipe: in regular recipe, change cook time to 34-40 min and in step-by-step add the amount of sausage….½ lb to divide between squash halves.
I think the real beauty of this recipe is the technique–which saves pots, cleanup, and time. I had to try it just to see. After brushing the squash with oil, I gave it a generous sprinkle of garlic powder, and after filling the squash with sausage, a handful of diced onion, which softened right up before the final cheese addition. My husband wanted some jarred spagetti sauce heated up to go with, but I thought it was lovely just as it came out of the oven
Thanks for checking it out, Janet! Beth and I were just talking about you yesterday! We love your comments. XOXO -Monti
Aw shucks–thanks for those kind words. Just another comment–because the meat doesn’t break up as much as pre-browning it, there are lovely little meat ball like chunks. This was a hit at our house.
Looks delish!
Is it one pound or half pound of bulk sausage?
A half pound. XOXO -Monti