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Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole without all the carbs!! This spaghetti squash casserole is a riff on one of my favorite pasta recipes and it is totally family friendly, packed with cheesy goodness, loaded with flavor, and keto friendly! 8 net carbs serving.
One of the things I love most about this time of year is the whole comfort food situation.
People don’t seem to like casseroles in the dead of summer, but they are 100% totally acceptable the minute it starts to cool off.
Sure, I miss the sunshine and my pool, but did you take a close look at this cheesy spaghetti squash casserole? Doesn’t it look dreamy?
One of my favorite pasta recipes is million dollar spaghetti so I took the idea and swapped out spaghetti squash for traditional pasta.
Total win!
This is probably one of the best spaghetti squash recipes I’ve made yet!
How to make million dollar spaghetti casserole without all the carbs:
To start, you’re going to cut a spaghetti squash in half. This probably sounds like an easy task, but if you’ve ever worked with spaghetti squash before you’ll know that you need to bring your muscles and a sharp knife to this game.
Spaghetti squash are HARD on the outside. Dig that knife in (carefully!) and cut all the way around. You can do it, I believe in you. 😉
Now, scoop out the seeds, drizzle some olive oil on the inside of the squash and place it flesh side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast it for about an hour.
When the squash is cool enough to handle, use a fork to scrape long strands of squash out.
If you go lengthwise down the squash you’ll get short strands of spaghetti. If you go across the width of the squash, you’ll get long strands. It’s kind of counter-intuitive, but just play with it. It all tastes the same either way.
Low carb meat sauce:
Brown up your ground beef and then dump in your favorite low carb marina.
I prefer Rao’s and use it almost exclusively. There are only 4g net carbs per 1/2 cup serving. You can find it at most any grocery store, usually up on the top shelf. It’s a little pricey, but it’s seriously the best!
Let your meat sauce simmer away while you get to work on the million dollar aspect of this recipe: dairy goodness!
Add some cream cheese, sour cream, and fresh parsley to a small bowl and stir until well combined. This mixture is so creamy and amazing.
The traditional million dollar spaghetti calls for cottage cheese as well, but it adds a fair amount of carbs so I skipped it. If you have room in your carb allowance, go ahead and add a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese to this mixture. You won’t regret it!
Assemble the spaghetti squash casserole:
Add half of the spaghetti squash noodles to the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
Top that off with half of the meat sauce and then spread on all of the cream cheese mixture.
Doesn’t that look amazing??
Next, add the final layers of spaghetti squash and meat sauce and top that all off with some grated mozzarella and a little parsley.
Pop this in a hot oven for 20 minutes to allow the cheese to get all warm and melty.
I like to serve this with a big side salad topped with my homemade ranch dressing.
More low carb favorites:
Low Carb Chicken Casserole: Made with cauliflower rice, broccoli, and chicken!
Zucchini Pizza Boats: Pepperoni on mine please, but you can add any of your favorite toppings!
Buffalo Chicken Meatballs: We eat these for dinner, but they’re fun for game day too!
Cabbage Rolls Recipe: None of the work, all of the flavor!
Million Dollar Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Spaghetti squash casserole with a creamy cheesy filling!
Per serving: 413 calories, 35g fat, 21g protein, 10g carbs, 2g fiber = 8 net carbs
Ingredients
- 1 spaghetti squash 2-3 pounds
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound ground beef
- 24 ounces marinara store bought or homemade
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
Instructions
For the squash:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a rimmed baking sheet with non-stick spray.
Cut the spaghetti squash in half length-wise. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Drizzle the inside of the squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
- Place spaghetti squash flesh side down on the prepared baking sheet at bake for 1 hour or until fork tender.
- Use a fork to scrape out long strands of squash, scraping across the width of the squash.
For the meat sauce:
- Brown the ground beef over medium heat in a large skillet.
- Drain the grease and add the marinara to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes over low heat to heat through.
For the cream cheese mixture:
- Add the cream cheese, sour cream, and parsley to a small mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
To assemble:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Place half of the spaghetti squash in the prepared baking dish.
- Top the squash with half of the meat sauce and all of the cream cheese mixture.
- Add the remaining spaghetti squash followed by the remaining meat sauce.
- Sprinkle on the grated mozzarella.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole is hot.
- Serve immediately.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Scrape the spaghetti squash length-wise for short strands of squash or width-wise for long strands of squash.
126 comments
Really good! I used 2 spaghetti squash because mine were kinda small. Added around 1/4 cup of ricotta because I had it. And strained my spaghetti squash the whole time my sauce was simmering so I had no liquid in the bottom of the pan. I added some more seasonings to my sauce just like if I was making regular spaghetti. Definitely making again.
Am just learning about what is carbs, I thought only rice pasta, and potatoes were crabs, some vegetables are carbs too, and which are the good carbs
Hi Barbara! Pretty much everything that is not meat has some amount of carbs in them. Vegetables are definitely better carbs than a brownie, but at the end of the day, a carb is a carb. I personally track all carbs minus the amount of fiber to get net carbs. I eat a certain number of net carbs per day and try to get the majority of them from green vegetables with a few coming in from dairy, nuts, and treats.
I don’t have sour cream and I don’t want to have to run to the store! I do, however, have two blocks of cream cheese! Could I use extra cream cheese in place of the sour cream?
I’ve not tried it with extra cream cheese, but I’d worry it’d turn out a bit too thick. Greek yogurt, if you have it, would be a better sub.
I’ve made this for years. It is also known as Grandma’s Standby Casserole first published by Dana Carpenter an author of cook books on low carb recipes. I can tell you there isn’t a soul out there who hasn’t raved about this recipe! Its a standby for me as well!
By the way, for those that are asking, I did not thaw the dish before heating.
Made this tonight and it was yummy! Almost tasted like we were eating lasagne! I cut my squash into rings (a bit more labor intensive but worth it), laid them on a cookie sheet, seasoned them with olive oil, s&p and baked according to these directions. I feel like baking them this way, in addition to patting the squash dry, helped make the dish less watery. Thank you! Going in to our rotation for sure 🙂
So super yummy and was a big hit with my picky bf and his daughter! I microwaved my squash for 10 minutes beforehand, then roasted for a hour. I did not have any issues at all with it being too watery. One thing I think helped was I let the casserole rest for about five minutes after taking it out of the oven. I imagine if you just dug right in there would be more liquid.
It was extremely delicious, the only change I added was about 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil. Wonderful
I made this tonight for my husband and he loves it! He said he could eat this all the time. I used the Rao’s sauce as suggested, It smelled so good,even though I am a very picky eater and never try anything new, I did try it! And I liked it, I will be making this again.
I made this a couple of weeks ago, I ate it for dinner, lunch and even breakfast. Could not leave it alone, soooooo delicious. Craving it tonight – can I use cooked chicken instsead of ground round, have it in the refrig and would like to use it in this recipe – what do you think?
Hi Linda! Chicken will definitely work fine in here, if you think you’ll like the flavors paired together. 🙂
I made this recipe recently with a few adaptations. I added some spicy Italian sausage to the meat sauce. I also added sautéed mushrooms and about a half of diced onion sautéed in a bit of olive oil. I wasn’t too concerned with added carbs just wanted a bit heartier dish. I only recently discovered cooking with spaghetti squash and my husband and I are enjoying trying new recipes. Both my husband and I really liked the dish and would make it again. We really liked how it held up just like a layered lasagne and was really filling. I gave some to my daughter who is pregnant and has gestational diabetes. She loved it and it was carb friendly enough for her diet. Thanks for the great recipe.
I made this a couple of weeks ago, sent a review 5, made this again tonight,added the cottage cheese, didn’t like it as much as without it – just my opinion, this casserole is scrumptious, on my list for at least once a month and more.
I made this for a bible study, everyone loved it and wanted the recipe.
My changes; squeezed the squash in a towel to remove moisture, added about 1/3 c. Ricotta I had, was very liberal with Italian Seasoning and onion powder over the cheese filling, as well as a light sprinkling of red pepper flakes.
Used 1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce, mixed with 28 oz. of diced tomatoes.
For the mozzerella topping, substituted 1/4 of it with cheddar.
Im getting hungry thinking about it!!
I made this yesterday and my family loved it! The only thing bad was that it was a little watery at the bottom of the pan. I believe patting my zucchini dry would have fixed the problem.
Remove side’s is a typo, remove Seeds 😉
Good catch! Thank you!