Spaghetti Squash for Spaghetti substitution?

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Replies

  • Liz4J
    Liz4J Posts: 23 Member
    I bought a Veggetti from Walmart. Turns zucchini into noodles. You cant even tell you're not eating pasta. Zucchini especially soaks up the flavours of sauce and such. Its amazing. And you can eat it hot or cold. Well worth the $15.



    OMG! I was just at Wal-Mart tonight but I MUST go back and get this!!!!

  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Spaghetti squash is delicious.

    But a substitute for pasta it is not.
  • lippygidg
    lippygidg Posts: 68 Member
    Kudos for getting the family involved with healthier eating :) As for "replacing pasta" lets face it there no replacement. But to use "instead of" could work I think it's all about the right recipe for your liking. I do like spaghetti squash ! But their are only 3 ways so far I have enjoyed it. ( So far) I can't find the exact recipe but crock pot chicken Parmesan is good over spaghetti squash ( I use chicken breast .. lightly bread and brown in olive oil ) then put in the crock pot pour over your sauce of choice. And cook for about 4 hrs) serve over cooked spaghetti squash.
    I have replaced my pasta brand with Smart Taste pasta. It has more fiber in it.No taste difference. I cant stand whole wheat pasta Blaaah!! LOL
    Then with that my fav is zucchini and other veggies steam cooked and mixed with your choice of pasta sauce over spaghetti noodles.
  • mrsKOrtiz
    mrsKOrtiz Posts: 949 Member
    SnicciFit wrote: »
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Make french fries, boom more veggies

    How is that relevant or helpful?

    THIS!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    mrsKOrtiz wrote: »
    SnicciFit wrote: »
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Make french fries, boom more veggies

    How is that relevant or helpful?

    THIS!

    Why isn't it? French fries are potatoes.. Potatoes are vegetables. So, please explain how it isn't relevant.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,268 Member
    tigersword wrote: »
    mrsKOrtiz wrote: »
    SnicciFit wrote: »
    Acg67 wrote: »
    Make french fries, boom more veggies

    How is that relevant or helpful?

    THIS!

    Why isn't it? French fries are potatoes.. Potatoes are vegetables. So, please explain how it isn't relevant.
    Well simply because when you add the word french to anything it becomes foreign and confusing, everyone knows that.

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  • goddessofawesome
    goddessofawesome Posts: 563 Member
    I use it all the time in place of spaghetti with sauce. It's delicious.
    Why not just call it squash? Why spaghetti? Is it to trick your mind into thinking you're eating spaghetti?

    Because it's called "Spaghetti Squash". OP isn't trying to trick her mind or call it something new. That's its name.
  • As a kid, I never wanted to eat squash. It was probably in my top 5 of 'I'm never eating that'. But one night at dinner (as an adult) someone offered up spaghetti squash instead of pasta. I tried it and loved it, and I couldn't taste that much of a difference though I'm sure there is one. I see it pretty cheap around, so there's no harm in trying it out. :) Hope your kids like it.
  • Terrytriesharder
    Terrytriesharder Posts: 50 Member
    It is no substitute but if used in new and interesting ways it is freaking delicious! I make the tex-mex baked spaghetti squash from this site all the time and everybody loves it :)
  • MrM27 wrote: »
    Why not just call it squash? Why spaghetti? Is it to trick your mind into thinking you're eating spaghetti?

    Because that is its name, and after you cook it, it strings like SPAGHETTI. :-)
  • It is no substitute but if used in new and interesting ways it is freaking delicious! I make the tex-mex baked spaghetti squash from this site all the time and everybody loves it :)

    Terry, could you share that Tex_Mex Recipe?
  • Liz4J wrote: »
    I bought a Veggetti from Walmart. Turns zucchini into noodles. You cant even tell you're not eating pasta. Zucchini especially soaks up the flavours of sauce and such. Its amazing. And you can eat it hot or cold. Well worth the $15.



    OMG! I was just at Wal-Mart tonight but I MUST go back and get this!!!!

    YES DEFINATLY< I got one for $15 at the dollarstore, I am so excited to try it.. Going to have hubbie pick up some veggies today.
  • jerber160
    jerber160 Posts: 2,607 Member
    I don't usually like to substitute squash for noodles. I use the spaghetti squash to stretch out lean cuisine meals at work. one of the pot roast things poured over a cup of squash blends the taste well and stretches the meal out. for a while I was eating 2 lean cuisines per sitting. this saved me from that.
  • Try pureeing vegetables, adding it to a tomato sauce and using real pasta where we know for sure kids will eat.

    I have a 3, 5, and 6 year old and my 5 y/o is soooo picky about food especially veggies, he just cannot stand, BUT when I make spaghetti, I put all kinds of veggies, onions, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, and one time I even put in corn, peas and green beans, and he loved it.. I also serve my sause over spaghetti squash and all my boys love it.. I have found that if I can make the right sause, taste yummy, I can put any veggies in it and they will eat it. :-)
  • chaines7169
    chaines7169 Posts: 25 Member
    my comment might get lost, because of so many posts, but I got that spaghetti gadget from bed and bath. I have made zucchini spaghetti, like it much better than spaghetti squash, less sweet and eggplant great with tomato sauce, spicy chicken. I love this gadget. about 14.00 http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=520145&catid=184266&aid=338666&aparam=520145&kpid=520145&CAWELAID=120142990000019324&CAGPSPN=pla&kpid=520145
  • jgoldich
    jgoldich Posts: 1 Member
    I like it, and make it occasionally (my husband won't touch it, sigh). I generally even serve it with spaghetti sauce, usually made with ground turkey, occasionally. (Full disclosure, I'm an insulin dependent diabetic who really LOVES pasta, and resents being denied the real thing.) It really isn't spaghetti, so if you're looking for an honest substitute, you're going to be disappointed. But when you think of it as a "decorated" vegetable, it's pretty good.
  • tabarilla wrote: »
    Hello,

    I'm trying to come up with different ways the kids and I can get more veggies into our diet (other than blending them up in smoothies). Have any of you had success using spaghetti squash in the place of spaghetti? And what do you think about the taste?

    Thanks!

    Have you actually tried spaghetti squash yet? It is sooo good. :-) I was saying in another post that I have a 3, 5, and6 y/o. I can get my oldest and youngest to eat veggies all day long, BUT my middle kid, he hates veggies, anytime I meantion it, he gets real upset and says ahhh, I hate veggies.... BUT I have found that if you make the right sause or soup with the right flavor to there liking, you can put ANY veg. in it and they will eat it. I make a killer spaghetti sause that my boys think is fantastic. they will eat more than one serving of it.. I put in peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, garlic(all fresh veggies), herbs, etc.. I even made it once with all that as well as some green beans, corn and peas and they ate it.. :-) But anyhow, I put it over the spaghetti squash and all 3 of them loved it, in fact it is on my make again list of foods, im heading out to get stuff to make it today. Good luck.
  • Francl27 wrote: »
    I like spaghetti squash, but if you expect it to replace spaghetti, you're going to be disappointed... It's not the same at all. My son won't eat it either. But I suggest trying everything with the kids anyway, you never know what they're going to like (my two LOVE roasted Brussel sprouts!).

    Definatly.. they say try something with a kid 10 times before you say your kid doesn't like it. I have used this method all along and I have found there are so many things my kids said at first ewww, and even before #10 try, they are loving it.. (not with everything, but most) My kids do love the spaghetti squash, but only with some yummy skettti sause. :-)
  • ksolksol
    ksolksol Posts: 194 Member
    My parents tried the spaghetti sauce from our garden experiment as spaghetti once... just once ... when we were kids. Not only did we all think it was horrible, but it put me off spaghetti squash for years and years. It doesn't have a neutral enough taste for tomato sauce. I'm not sure what Dad did with the rest of the crop.

    Maybe if we'd been expecting it to taste like squash and not like spaghetti it might have gone over better.

    I'd advise treating spaghetti squash as squash -- a little butter, sprinkling of sugar, all in moderation. You might try the zucchini as noodles trick -- zucchini seems to go pretty well with tomatoes. I've also found that you can grate zucchini into marinara without altering the taste too much.
  • njitaliana
    njitaliana Posts: 809 Member
    Spaghetti squash tastes like squash. If you can imagine pouring spaghetti sauce over acorn squash, zucchini, butternut squash, etc., that is what it is like to have spaghetti sauce over spaghetti squash. The only similarity is that when you scrape it out with a fork, the strands look somewhat like angel hair pasta. But, it tastes nothing like spaghetti. I found it's better to prepare it the way one would prepare any other vegetable, and not use it in place of spaghetti. So, I just eat wheat-free rice-based pasta when I want pasta (I'm allergic to wheat).
  • I don't find spaghetti squash a replacement for spaghetti at all but I do love to eat it. I find my favorite way is to mix with mexican style spices and black beans, ground turkey and shredded cheese.
    It's also very good with diced veggies and a little grated parm.

    You may want to try the veggie pasta options with the kids, they don't need to know the different colors are veggies. I used to add frozen cauliflower to my mashed potatoes, took my husband 2+ years to catch on and he only did because he saw me add the cauliflower. Another good sneak is ground zucchini into a pasta sauce, easily disguised as spices if you grind it fine also in meatloaf grind down carrots and cauliflower really fine and mix right into your meatloaf they'll never know.

    loving your ideas of hiding veggies, how exactly did you make those potatoes, Recipe?
    any hidden veggie recipe would be awesome. :-) feel free to inbox me. thanks
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  • It's delicious, and I enjoy it with spag sauce, but i agree, it tastes nothing like real pasta. I don't find it tastes like squash either, it's quite a unique taste.

    I actually dried some seeds last year and I was thinking about trying to grow it.
  • canadiangirl014
    canadiangirl014 Posts: 58 Member
    I found it really didn't have much of a taste at all and would absorb the flavor of the sauce. I make it and serve it with my own homemade spaghetti sauce and I like it. I also use it as a noodle when making stir fry to toss it with or serve the stir fry on. So long as there's a sauce, it's pretty good. I don't care for it plain.

    And another way to get those veggies in is Chocolate Zuchini bread/cake/muffins. Always a treat and the kids don't even notice the zuchini.
  • itzjulz
    itzjulz Posts: 57 Member
    I recommend spending a little more than the $15 you’d spend on a Veggetti and pick up a Paderno spiralizer from Amazon. The 3-blade is about $35 and the 4-blade is about $50 (the 4-blade is worth it in my opinion, because it creates less waste and includes an angel-hair blade). You can use it for zucchini, and tons of other veggies – my favorites are sweet potato and butternut squash!

    There’s a great blogger who creates AWESOME recipes using the spiralizer: www.inspiralized.com.inspiralized.com
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    tabarilla wrote: »
    Hello,

    I'm trying to come up with different ways the kids and I can get more veggies into our diet (other than blending them up in smoothies). Have any of you had success using spaghetti squash in the place of spaghetti? And what do you think about the taste?

    Thanks!

    IMO it's a great way to get kids to eat another vegetable, because in my experience most kids like it. It has a very mild taste more similar to summer squashes than most winter squashes.

    It is considerably less calories than pasta though, which is great when trying to lose weight, but be sure that you are still providing adequate calories for growing children.
  • ryanhorn
    ryanhorn Posts: 355 Member
    tabarilla wrote: »
    Hello,

    I'm trying to come up with different ways the kids and I can get more veggies into our diet (other than blending them up in smoothies). Have any of you had success using spaghetti squash in the place of spaghetti? And what do you think about the taste?

    Thanks!

    I'm a big fan of spaghetti squash. It's pretty good; however, like other users have noted here, don't look at it as a replacement for spaghetti. As far as I'm concerned, it's its own separate food item.
  • liftingandlipstick
    liftingandlipstick Posts: 1,857 Member
    One more chiming in that, while I adore spaghetti squash, it is NOT an acceptable substitute for pasta.

    However, I make Pizza Stuffed Spaghetti Squash that is just awesome! Cut the squash in half and roast at 350 for about an hour. Spread lightly with pizza sauce of choice (I use the kind in a squeeze bottle). Top with pizza toppings of choice (turkey pepperoni, black olives, mushrooms, bell peppers, sometimes pineapple for me). Top with cheese of choice (whatever pizza-ish cheese I have on hand). Stick back in the over for 10 minutes until the cheese is gooey and melty. They way I usually make it, a half of a 3-4 pound squash comes in around 400 cals, and is quite filling.
  • I for one love spaghetti squash, but does it taste like wheat pasta? Not really. This week I'm using it in Spaghetti squash burrito bowls -

    http://www.makingthymeforhealth.com/2014/09/24/spaghetti-squash-burrito-bowls/

    Additionally when I'm trying to do more veggies, I up whats in sauces and things so If I make spaghetti sauce instead of just meat and onions in it I'll throw in some diced up red peppers, zucchini, carrots, whatever and that helps.

    Another thing I really like is my spiralizer, I've got the paderno from amazon -
    http://www.amazon.com/Paderno-World-Cuisine-A4982799-Tri-Blade/dp/B0007Y9WHQ

    I use it to make zoodles (noodles made out of zucchini) which also don't taste like real pasta, but are good in a different way. Sometimes I'll do half and half zoodles and pasta.

    For more spiralizer recipes I love this blog -
    http://www.inspiralized.com/

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