Eat Your Vegetables
Somehow Italians are able to eat pasta all day without gaining an ounce yet still able to fit into their designer Gucci jeans. #jealous.
Just as Gucci jeans will probably never hang in my closet, eating pasta all day will also not be happening. After our recent trip to Italy, pasta has been on my mind. We had so many delicious pasta dishes. Since we have been home, I have wanted to recreate them but with less pasta. Sounds crazy, I know.
My mom would agree that this recipe is the best way to eat vegetables, mixed with creamy eggs and sprinkled with cheese and bacon. It’s definitely one of those ‘must have more’ type recipes. What it’s not is one of those try-to-hide-in-the-back-of the-fridge-till-it goes-bad-so-you-don’t-feel-guilty-about-throwing-it-away dishes. No way. You’ll be lucky if you even have leftovers!
Instant Pot To The Rescue
The thing that keeps me from making spaghetti squash more often is the amount of time it takes. Cooking squash in the oven seems to take for-ev-er! After a long day, the last thing I want to do is watch the oven timer for 45 minutes. After that, there always seems to be those few spots that are still hard as a, well, squash.
Enter the best invention ever, the Instant Pot. This entire recipe takes about 25 mins from start to finish. You heard right, 25 minutes my friend. With all that extra time, you can now mindlessly scroll Instagram! (not that your weren’t going to do that anyway)
We had this as a main dish with a small side salad but you could easily make it as a side for your favorite meat as the main attraction. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
Ingredients
- 1 Spaghetti Squash
- 3/4 Cup of Water
- 6-8 Slices of Bacon (Turkey bacon also works)
- 1 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
- 2 eggs- Scrambled
- 1 Tsp Dried Parsley or 1 Tbs. fresh chopped parsley
- 2 Green Onions (green parts only)
Instructions
- Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out and discard seeds.
- Add 3/4 cup water to instant pot. Place halves of spaghetti squash in the instant pot by stacking them on top of each other.
- Replace the lid, turn the steam valve to seal. Set it to cook for 10 minutes on the manual, high pressure setting.
- When the timer is done, carefully turn the steam valve to vent. Once all the pressures is released, remove the lid and place the squash halve on a plate to cool for about 5 minutes.
- While the squash is cooling, cook your bacon. Sandwich bacon between 2 paper towels on a microwaveable bacon tray or other microwave safe plate for 3-4 minutes or until crispy. (The bacon will sometimes still be a little soft right out of the microwave but will become crispy after cooling)
- Scoop out the squash into a large bowl. Add parmesan cheese, eggs and parsley while squash is still warm. Mix well.
- Crumble bacon on top. Sprinkle with green onions. Serve warm.
Okay, you had me at “spaghetti carbonara.” Adding in that you used an “instant pot,” that I’ve only even heard of recently, yet to purchase, up the score! I lived in Naples, Italy for a year and this was my go-to comfort food for many years to come. Sadly, I can no longer eat grains and so I’d given up on the idea of making it again. Now, I feel guilty about the spaghetti squash that I bought but never put the effort into baking…and literally JUST threw away this afternoon. I’ve pinned your recipe and will def try it out.
What an unusal way of making carbonara, but I love food so I will try anything once. Thanks for sharing.
What a great way of elevating Spaghetti squash! We love it in our family, but tend to just keep it simple. We will certainly try this!
Tried tonight. Not horrible. The squash is easy to cook in the IP. I mixed it all together in the dried pot to keep warm. The squash let’s out alot of water. There is not alot of flavor unless you get a bit of bacon. I will probably make it again but will saute it down to reduce the liquid before I add the egg, just to see if that helps.
Thanks so much Kay! The squash do add quite a bit of water. Let me know if boiling it off works better.