Spaghetti Squash and Ground Chicken Bake
This is a traditional ground meat tomato sauce casserole with a twist! This is a great dish to make with lower carbs than using pasta or rice. Something a little different and delicious to add to your week’s menu!
Spaghetti squash is nutrient-dense, is low in calories, high in fiber and is a good source of VitC, manganese and VitB6.
Prep time: 45 Minutes / Cook Time: 40 Minutes / / Number of Servings: 4-6
Ingredients:
1 medium Spaghetti Squash - halved and the seeds removed
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil – divided
½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper – to taste
1 medium Cooking Onion – chopped
3 cloves Garlic - sliced
1 pound Ground Chicken
1 cup Spaghetti Sauce
1 cup Diced Tomatoes – fresh or canned
½ cup Ground Tomatoes (Passata)
1 teaspoon each dried Basil and Oregano and Parsley
2 cups fresh Baby Spinach
1 ½ cup Mozzarella Cheese – shredded
1 cup Parmesan Cheese - grated
How It’s Made:
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Prepare your baking dish – I use an oval corning ware dish slightly smaller than a 9x13 baking dish. For a thicker casserole, use a smaller baking dish. Spread olive oil to grease the pan and sprinkle pepper and garlic powder to season and help the food from sticking.
Prepare your spaghetti squash – wash, cut in half lengthwise and with a spoon (I use a melon baller) scrape out the seeds to have a clean ‘bowl’.
Drizzle the bowl and sides of both halves with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle the garlic powder, salt and pepper on both halves to season.
Place on the baking pan with the cut sides down.
Bake the squash in your preheated oven until a fork easily pokes through the skin, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the squash cool enough to handle – about 10 minutes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
When the squash is cool enough for you to pick up with your hands or with an oven mitt, take a fork and pull the meat from the squash. It will look like shreds (some say like spaghetti, hence the name of this veggie – mine never is that long.) If your strands are very wet, let them drain in a colander for a few minutes.
While the squash is in the oven baking, make the sauce. Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook it, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook, stirring, until you can smell its wonderful fragrance – about 1 minute.
Add the ground chicken and season with salt and pepper and a bit more garlic powder. Cook until the chicken is really browned, almost roasted – about 10 minutes.
Add in the spaghetti sauce, the diced tomatoes and the ground tomatoes, the basil, oregano and parsley. Stir to mix it all together. Allow the sauce to simmer gently for 15 minutes. Should the sauce start to dry out, add a ¼ cup water and a ¼ passata and stir to incorporate.
After the 15 minutes of gentle simmering, add the baby spinach and allow to wilt – cooking another 5 minutes or so. Remove the pan from the heat.
Now to the assembly of this dish! Spread the spaghetti squash on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle a half cup of the mozzarella cheese on top. Spread the sauce mixture on top. Top with the remaining mozzarella and the 1 cup parmesan. Season with additional salt and pepper to your taste.
Bake in the preheated oven until casserole is bubbling and the cheeses have melted - about 30 minutes.
Serve alone or with a side salad, with steamed or roasted veggies.
Enjoy!
Variations:
Add sliced mushrooms to the sauce – adding them when you cook the onions allowing them to release their liquid and brown.
Replace the spinach with thinly sliced zucchini – add the zucchini when you add the tomato sauce.
Use lean ground beef or ground turkey or finely chopped chicken breast instead of the ground chicken.
For a vegetarian dish, replace the meat with 1 can red kidney beans or 1 can pinto beans and 1 can lentils (2 cans total).