Description

My son told me a very interesting story about his friend from work. He was obsessed with getting cut and lean and would try to eat low glycemic index carbs whenever he did eat carbs. One of his strategies was instead of eating your typical carbs like pasta or rice he would substitute that for spaghetti squash.

It seems to have really worked for him because he’s extremely fit. He likes to make a batch and mix it with his chicken every day for lunch and dinner at his work. It’s part of his meal prep. What I like about his routine is it’s so economical while at the same time very healthy.

I wondered about his process for making the spaghetti squash and whether I could improve on the time. It seems his process takes much longer than is worth it to make it for meal prep every week. The way I do it with the instant pot will save you much time which will also make it much better for meal prep.

Hopefully my recipe speeds up the process for you and you can enjoy even more delicious spaghetti squash. It really goes great with so much that it’s worth making a lot!

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Scale

1 1/2 cups water
1 small to medium spaghetti squash around 2 1/2 to 3 lbs

Instructions

Pour the water into the instant pot and place the trivet in the pot
Cut the squash in half crosswise (not lengthwise)
Scoop out the seeds and discard them
Place the squash halves, cut side up, in the pot
If the squash is too big to fit in the pot this way, lop off the tough stem end and cut the squash into quarters
Secure the lid and set the pressure release to sealing
Select the steam setting and set the cooking time for 7 minutes at high pressure
Perform a quick release by moving the pressure release to venting
Open the pot and test the squash for how done it is with a fork
You should be able to separate the flesh easily into spaghetti strands by dragging the fork over the flesh to separate the strands
If the squash has not cooked through, secure the lid, set the pressure release to sealing, select the steam setting again, and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, then perform a quick release
Using tongs or wearing heat mitts, carefully lift the cooked squash pieces out of the pot
When the squash is cool enough to handle, use a fork to scoop out the flesh, forming strands, and use as you like
Serve with marinara sauce and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top