Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

5 from 16 votes

This Spaghetti Squash Lasagna feeds your craving for lasagna without the pasta - it's a low carb, gluten-free and keto friendly recipe!

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Spaghetti Squash Lasagna is one of my favorite Italian meals ever! Think of the flavor of lasagna in a low-carb, gluten-free, diet-friendly disposable hot bowl of cheesy goodness! There’s not much more to think about. If you haven’t tried spaghetti squash in place of spaghetti yet, this is a great way to start!

Final spaghetti squash lasagna dish up close with bite being taken out

Ingredients

  • Spaghetti squash: Cut the spaghetti squash in half and roast it before adding the lasagna mix to the boats.
  • Ground meat: You can use ground beef, turkey or chicken to stuff the spaghetti squash.
  • Onion and garlic: To add flavor to the lasagna sauce.
  • Seasonings: Salt, pepper, oregano and basil.
  • Crushed tomatoes: canned tomatoes are a great short cut to make a flavorful pasta sauce quickly. Crushed gives you a smooth suace, though you coud use diced if you prefer a chunkier texture.
  • Tomato paste: For a rich and flavor sauce.
  • Shredded cheese: This is optional, but I love to finish of these spaghetti squash boats with a little mozzarella.

How to make spaghetti squash lasagna

Prepare the spaghetti squash

  • I start with one or two spaghetti squash. There’s enough sauce to make 4 servings, but you can make half the sauce or freeze the rest if you only want to cook one squash. I remove the seeds using a spoon.
Collage of two images showing spaghetti squash halved before and after removing seeds
  • Transfer the spaghetti squash to a rimmed baking dish and fill the dish with enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Season the spaghetti squash with salt and pepper.
  • Flip the squash over and bake.
Collage of two images showing spaghetti squash halved face up with salt and pepper and then face down on a rimmed baking sheet with water

This is what it looks like after baking in the oven for 45 minutes. This was a medium sized spaghetti squash. The larger ones will take up to an hour in the oven. You’ll know it’s done because it will feel tender when poked.

Collage of two images showing spaghetti squash halved face down after done baking and then face up ready to be teased.
  • Tease apart the strands of the spaghetti squash with a fork. When you pull it apart, it totally looks like spaghetti pasta.
Two spaghetti squash halves face up on a baking sheet. Fork teasing one of them to pull apart the strands

Prepare the lasagna sauce

The lasagna part of these spaghetti squash lasagna boats comes in the sauce. It’s basically my classic lasagna sauce from my Homemade Lasagna recipe. We’ll layer it between tender strands of squash and shredded mozzarella cheese.

  • Brown the ground beef and soften the onions and garlic.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer.
Collage of large saucepan showing the lasagna sauce getting made for the spaghetti squash lasagna

Assemble the spaghetti squash lasagna

  • Maker 2-3 layers of the sauce, spaghetti squash and mozzarella cheese. If in a hurry, you can just throw all the sauce on top.
  • Top it off with mozzarella cheese, that when broiled becomes melted, bubbly, golden mozzarella cheese.
Collage of two images showing the lasagna sauce stuffed inside spaghetti squash and then the cheese being added

Tips for making this recipe

  1. Cook it in the microwave instead of the oven. The timing is between 8 and 10 minutes. Once it’s fork tender, transfer to a cooling rack to cool off for a few minutes.
  2. Make sure to flip the spaghetti squash cut side down when you bake it. This traps the steam and cooks the spaghetti squash perfectly so that it’s nice and tender.
  3. Prick the skin of the spaghetti squash with a fork. This will allow the steam to gently escape so that the pressure doesn’t build up.
  4. Make it your own. It’s so easy to adapt this recipe to suit your tastes. Use different ground meat, or add extra veggies for a meat-free dish. You can use any store bought pasta sauce too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you make it ahead of time?

You can make the lasagna sauce up to 3 days ahead of time and it’s freezer friendly too if you want to make a big batch.

Once made, any leftovers of this recipe will keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days and can be reheated in the oven at 360F.

What can you use instead of spaghetti squash?

Spaghetti squash is pretty unique! It’s stringy texture is not like other members of the squash family, so you would have a hard time making this recipe with another variety. You could use zucchini noodles to replace the spaghetti like strands if you like.

What do you serve it with?

This is great to serve with a side salad or side of simple veggies. Try it with:
Tomato Caprese Salad
Roasted Cabbage
Classic Greek Salad
Green Beans with Almonds

Final spaghetti squash lasagna dish up close from overview

If you’ve never tried spaghetti squash before, I urge you my foodie friends, to buy one this weekend at your grocery store, and try this Spaghetti Squash Lasagna recipe. This is a great way to experiment with spaghetti squash. And before you know it, you’ll be experimenting with so many more pasta alternative recipes that use squash!

For more low-carb recipes:

More Lasagna Recipes

If you’ve tried this healthy-ish feel good Spaghetti Squash Lasagna recipe or any other recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories!

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

This Spaghetti Squash Lasagna feeds your craving for lasagna without the pasta – it's a low carb, gluten-free and keto friendly recipe!
5 from 16 votes
Servings 4 servings
Calories 400
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Video

Ingredients
  

  • 2 spaghetti squash
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic clove chopped
  • 2 teaspoon oregano
  • 2 teaspoon basil
  • 2 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 ounce tomato paste
  • ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • Parsley for serving if desired

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
  • Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Season with salt and pepper, place cut side down in a baking dish with about 1 inch of water. Bake until fork tender, about 45 minutes.
  • In a large deep saute pan, heat the olive oil. Add the beef and season with salt and pepper. Brown the meat and break it into smaller pieces with your spoon until cooked through.
  • Add onions and garlic; and season with oregano and basil. Saute the vegetables for about 5 minutes until they soften. Then, add crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Mix to combine, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.
  • When spaghetti squash is cool to the touch, use a fork to shred the inside of the squash, which will come out in strands that look like spaghetti.
  • To assemble, remove half of the strands from each squash and set aside. Season the squash with salt and pepper, layer some of the lasagna sauce on top of the squash strands.
  • Then add another layer of the strands previously removed, top with more lasagna sauce and finish with about 2 tablespoons of shredded mozzarella cheese.
  • Place the stuffed squash back in the baking dish and broil in the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 2-3 minutes.
  • Serve as is in the squash, topped with parsley if desired.

Notes

Storage: Store any leftovers in an airtight container. They will last about 3-4 days in the fridge.
Make Ahead: You can make the 3 days ahead of time and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to cook the spaghetti squash, just thaw the sauce and use normally in the recipe.
Substitutes: For best results, follow the recipe as is. However, you can use ground turkey or ground chicken if you’d like. You can also make your own marinara sauce or use store-bought sauce.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g, Calories: 400kcal, Carbohydrates: 40g, Protein: 32g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Cholesterol: 79mg, Sodium: 366mg, Potassium: 1122mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 16g, Vitamin A: 880IU, Vitamin C: 16mg, Calcium: 262mg, Iron: 5mg

Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.

Cuisine Italian
Course: Main Course

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Comments

  1. This was amazing! I made my own pasta sauce, but in combination with the squash and parsley, it was really tasty. And easy to make! Thanks for the inspiration 🤩

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