One of the things I love about eating spaghetti squash is that my mental veggie consumption checklist for my family goes … check, check, and check! Plus it tastes great too – especially in this Spaghetti Squash Carbonara recipe. My 9-year-old honestly isn’t a huge fan when I pair spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, but she’ll scarf down just about anything that’s covered in bacon and cream (won’t we all? LOL). So I hope your family enjoys this one as much as mine does! :)
Sponsor Shoutout: Applegate
For this recipe, I used our favorite bacon – Applegate Organic! I love having Applegate as a sponsor because I would be using and talking about their products anyway (just as I did before I started working with them). The other thing I love about their company is that they understand that bacon and other meats shouldn’t be an everyday thing. One of the changes we made when we cut out highly processed food was to reduce our consumption of meat. This recipe is a perfect example of how you can use meat just to flavor a dish – instead of it always being the centerpiece.
And to top things off, Applegate recently announced their commitment to removing GMOs from their entire supply chain, which means a third-party will verify that their meat comes from animals on a non-GMO diet. Woo hoo! Enjoy this new recipe. :)
Spaghetti Squash Carbonara
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. Cut the squash in half longways and scoop out (and discard) the seeds. Place it flesh side down on an oiled baking sheet and bake until tender when pierced with a fork, about 40 - 50 minutes. When ready, use a fork to shred the squash into noodle-sized pieces.
- Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until brown on both sides and crispy. Move the bacon to a paper towel lined plate and reserve 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease in the pan.
- In a bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, eggs, and grated cheese and set aside.
- Cook the onion and garlic in the bacon grease over medium heat for about 2 - 3 minutes. Add the cream mixture to the hot pan while whisking continuously (so it doesn't curdle). Bring to a light boil while still whisking and cook for another minute or two until the sauce slightly thickens - it doesn't take long!
- Crumble the bacon and transfer it and the squash noodles to the skillet with the sauce, stir to combine, and serve warm.
Recipe Notes
We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.
The Case for Family Rituals + Quinoa Salad Recipe
This was seriously delicious! After a few spaghetti squash recipes with tomato sauce, I honestly wasn’t such a fan either. The sweetness of the squash just didn’t blend well with the tomatoes in my opinion. But in this recipe the sweetness of the cream paired with the saltiness of the bacon (I actually used prosciutto) complemented the squash perfectly. My husband really loved it too!
A quick question though. I didn’t realize until I started cooking that the heavy cream I bought (Organic from Trader Joe’s) had “gellan gum” in it. I was disappointed to find an ingredient I didn’t recognize in something as simple as heavy cream. I didn’t even think to look at the ingredients when I was at the store. Are there heavy creams that don’t use gellan gum? And would it be better to buy a non-organic one without it than an organic one with it?
No. It is important for a high fat milk to be organic. Fat stores the toxins found in non-organic milks, pesticides, antibiotics and other chemicals. This link might help you find a cream without additives: https://www.toxinless.com/heavy-cream. Lisa usually buys Organic Valley.
Delicious! We’ve enjoyed it twice now. The second time we added mushrooms, and will continue making it that way. So good!
We absolutely LOVED it. Hubby wants it again.