Spaghetti Squash with Stuffed Meatballs

Pasta is one of those carboholic dishes that people tend to crave when first switching to a ketogenic or low carb diet. I’ve tried a bunch of crazy faux pastas like tofu based shirataki noodles, shredded vegetables like cabbage but none have come as close as spaghetti squash.  There is just something about its texture and look that make it the perfect faux pasta!

Here’s the finished dish with the stuffed meatballs, spaghetti squash and pasta sauce topped with some shredded parmesan cheese!

This recipe starts with the humble spaghetti squash.  Note that this is a specific type of squash and not any squash will do.  You might need to go to a market with a decent amount of produce to find it. Also, for an added bonus for the environment, I use these reusable produce bags so I’m not constantly throwing away the plastic ones.

Start by splitting the spaghetti squash in two.  Make sure to be careful as the skin is pretty thick and you could easily cut a finger off …

Then remove the seeds from the spaghetti squash with a large spoon.

After all of the seeds are removed, place the spaghetti squash face down in a pan with some water in the bottom of it.  Then cook at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Once the spaghetti squash is in the oven, we can start on the meatballs.  You can use practically anything but I’ve used ground pork as a base with some spices and an egg.

Carbs permitting, I also like to throw in some chopped onion.

Once all the ingredients are in place, mix it up with your hands.

To make the meatballs, I like to cover my kitchen scale with saran wrap and measure out each meatball. This way they are all the same size and will cook consistently.  For these meatballs I went with 2 oz portions.

This batch yielded 20 or so meatballs, well, really 19 and one awkward one.  I would suggest you just pretend it makes 18 and eat the remainders before you serve them to your family.  It will be our secret …

Next, take some mozzarella and cut it into the correct number of pieces. For this, I wouldn’t use shredded, you really want whole mozzarella so it sticks together throughout the cooking process.

Make the meatballs in three steps.  First, make a hole in the center with your finger.  Then insert a piece of mozzarella.  Finally, place the meatball in your hand and form the meat over the mozzarella.  Repeat this for all of the meatballs.

Now you should have a full array of stuffed meatballs.  Make sure to grease the sheet so they don’t stick.  Then place them in the oven at 375 for 25 minutes.

The spaghetti squash are done when a fork easily inserts into the skin as shown.

Once the spaghetti squash are cooked, shred them with a fork to create the “spaghetti” as shown.

The easiest way to do this is to put on a pair of ove gloves and grab the squash in your hand.  Then take a fork and shred the squash into a bowl.  Its a little bit of a time crunch because you want to shred the squash before it gets cold but they are really hot from cooking.

Two spaghetti squashes totally 1.437 kg raw yielded 0.810 kg of shredded, cooked squash in case you were wondering 🙂

After 25 minutes the meatballs should be done!

Don’t they look amazing!

And of course I had to include the money shot of the finished meatballs and spaghetti squash!