Easy Cheesy Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Skillet

Easy Cheesy Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Skillet is a deliciously lower carb, gluten free alternative to pasta.

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Happy Fall! When spaghetti squash is on sale, it’s time to break out your skillet and make a big pan full of seasonal goodness: Today’s recipe has us cooking up an Easy Cheesy Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Skillet.

Easy Cheesy Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Skillet

Herein lies the tale of this lower carb, not-pasta skillet:

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far… well, OK. A few months ago, in my old house, I scratched up an easy cheesy beautiful pasta skillet recipe.

I loved this recipe so much, that a month later I decided to cook up a different variation on the theme — leading to this easy cheesy vegetarian pasta skillet recipe.

Then today, while staring at a spaghetti squash I’d picked up on seasonal sale at ALDI, I thought: Why not see how an easy cheesy beautiful spaghetti squash skillet turns out?

Spaghetti squash survey says?

The theme remains beautiful, in all of its many variations. In this latest spaghetti squash version, I added mushrooms for extra texture and a little more heat to balance out the sweetness of the squash. (I also used ALDI’s Reggano Simply Marina no-sugar-added pasta sauce, to help keep things lower carb and less sweet.)

The end result? Darn tasty, albeit somewhat… well… goopy, for lack of a more technical term. (Not being low carb myself, I scooped my serving up with garlic bread and called it a day.)

No, it’s not pasta. No, it’s not going to have the same taste and texture. Yes, it’s tasty on its own merits!

How to make a “pasta” skillet with spaghetti squash

Ingredients

– to make the spaghetti squash

1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium spaghetti squash (about 2.5 lbs)
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

– to make the rest of the skillet

1 Tbsp olive oil
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
1 lb ground beef
1/4 of a medium yellow onion, diced
2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
24 oz jar pasta sauce
8 oz ricotta
4 oz shredded mozzarella

Directions

Roast your squash

Get your squash going while you proceed with the rest of the recipe: Roast your spaghetti squash and scrape it into spaghetti-like strings, according to the instructions here.

While the squash is going

While roasting the squash, let’s get the rest of the recipe ready. First, clean and slice the mushrooms. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat for one minute, then add mushrooms and cook for three minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, mince your garlic (if not using pre-minced). After the first three minutes, stir the minced garlic into the mushrooms and continue to saute over medium heat for five more minutes or until the mushrooms are browned and softened, stirring occasionally.

While the mushrooms are cooking, dice up the onion.

Remove the browned mushrooms from the skillet to a separate bowl.

Add the ground beef and onion to the same skillet. Brown the beef over medium-high heat until cooked through, breaking it up as you go. Drain off the grease.

While the beef is cooking, shred your mozzarella (if not using pre-shredded).

Reduce heat to medium low under the skillet. Stir the seasonings and cooked mushrooms into the drained ground beef.

Stir in the pasta sauce and ricotta, then continue to simmer the beef mixture over medium-low heat until the spaghetti squash is done roasting, stirring occasionally.

When the spaghetti squash is done, shred the flesh into strings with a fork and stir these right into the ground beef mixture. Top everything evenly with shredded mozzarella.

Continue to cook over medium-low heat for another five minutes to melt the cheese, then serve. (It will melt better if you cover the skillet, which I forgot to do here.)

Note: I again used ALDI’s Reggano simply marinara sauce in today’s skillet, which I like because it’s flavorful, affordable, and contains no added sugars. Even with prepared sauce, though, I always like to punch things up a little with extra garlic and oregano.

Goopy and good

Isn’t that a pretty skillet? You can barely see the spaghetti squash strings in there, but you do get the texture and pop of al dente squash sweetness in the finished dish. Yes, it’s goopy, but the ground beef, mushrooms, and squash work together to make it satisfyingly filling.

This cheesy spaghetti squash skillet is lower in carbs than pasta, naturally gluten free, and a fun autumn twist on a cheesy pasta skillet recipe. Middle School Guy put away an inordinate amount. 🙂 Enjoy!

Easy Cheesy Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Skillet, printable recipe

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Easy Cheesy Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Skillet

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Easy Cheesy Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Skillet is a deliciously lower carb, gluten free alternative to pasta.

Course dinner

Keyword comfort food, gluten free, low carb, skillet, spaghetti squash

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Rachel Singer

Equipment

large skillet

rimmed baking sheet

chef’s knife

Ingredients

to make the spaghetti squash

• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium spaghetti squash about 2.5 lbs
• Sea salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste

to make the rest of the skillet

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 oz mushrooms sliced
• 2 tsp minced garlic about 4 cloves
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/4 of a medium yellow onion diced
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 24 oz jar pasta sauce
• 8 oz ricotta
• 4 oz shredded mozzarella

Instructions

• Roast your squash
• Get your squash going while you proceed with the rest of the recipe: Roast your spaghetti squash and scrape it into spaghetti-like strings, according to the instructions here: https://www.mashupmom.com/how-to-roast-spaghetti-squash/
• While the squash is going
• While roasting the squash, let’s get the rest of the recipe ready. First, clean and slice the mushrooms. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat for one minute, then add mushrooms and cook for three minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, mince your garlic (if not using pre-minced). After the first three minutes, stir the minced garlic into the mushrooms and continue to saute over medium heat for five more minutes or until the mushrooms are browned and softened, stirring occasionally.
• While the mushrooms are cooking, dice up the onion.
• Remove the browned mushrooms from the skillet to a separate bowl.
• Add the ground beef and onion to the same skillet. Brown the beef over medium-high heat until cooked through, breaking it up as you go. Drain off the grease.
• While the beef is cooking, shred your mozzarella (if not using pre-shredded).
• Reduce heat to medium low under the skillet. Stir the seasonings and cooked mushrooms into the drained ground beef.
• Stir in the pasta sauce and ricotta, then continue to simmer the beef mixture over medium-low heat until the spaghetti squash is done roasting, stirring occasionally.
• When the spaghetti squash is done, shred the flesh into strings with a fork and stir these right into the ground beef mixture. Top everything evenly with shredded mozzarella.
• Continue to cook over medium-low heat for another five minutes to melt the cheese, then serve. (It will melt better if you cover the skillet, which I forgot to do here.)

Notes

I again used ALDI’s Reggano simply marinara sauce in today’s skillet, which I like because it’s flavorful, affordable, and contains no added sugars. Even with prepared sauce, though, I always like to punch things up a little with extra garlic and oregano.

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Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!