There are paleo and other ‘cleaner’ spaghetti squash recipes you could make instead, but if you want to indulge, this is your stop. This spaghetti squash carbonara is packed with cheesey, yolky, bacony goodness.
Prep & cook the spaghetti squash
This is what a 4 pound spaghetti squash looks like. It’s huge! You’ll only need 2 pounds for this recipe, so split it in half and save the other in the fridge. Spaghetti squash is a little difficult to cut because of its size and weight, but manageable if you have a large enough knife. It’s actually really easy to cut compared to cutting kabocha squash, but you still need to be careful! Cut off the stem before halving if you’re worried about damaging your knife. You can bake or microwave this squash to cook it. Seems like most recipes call for over 60-90 minutes of baking, and I did not have patience for that! I went the microwave route and it turned out great. Just start with ~7 minutes and add 90 second increments, checking the squash between each addition until it’s cooked. It’s up to you how much to cook it. I like it better slightly al dente and don’t want it to turn into mush. My 2 pound half took about 12 minutes to finish cooking, and since you rubbed it with butter beforehand, it’s going to smell amazing! Check out the strands of squash in the picture below. You can see the direction the strands follow. Pulling it apart with a fork in the direction the strands go helps you get longer strands of “pasta.” If you use a spoon it’ll cut the strands very short and you’ll lose the pasta-like effect.
The bacon
This is the part where your kitchen is taken over by smell of BACON. You can start to render this down while the squash is in the microwave. I like to render the bacon over medium heat to cook it through evenly without burning any pieces. Then you can use the rendered bacon fat to brown the shallot and garlic to add another layer of flavor.
