We turned our favorite million dollar spaghetti into a low carb meal! This spaghetti squash casserole is cheesy, hearty, and a major family favorite. Just 8 net carbs serving.
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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, but be sure to try out our spaghetti squash carbonara and spaghetti squash alfredo!
Ingredient Notes:
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Spaghetti Squash – A ripe spaghetti squash should be firm with a golden yellow or dark yellow color. Pick one that feels heavier than it looks for the best taste.
Ground Beef – I’m using lean ground beef in this meaty million dollar spaghetti squash casserole! If you want to mix things up feel free to use a different type of meat like ground sausage, chicken, or turkey.
Sugar-Free Marinara – You can use either a homemade marinara or a store bought. We love Rao’s Marinara! It’s perfect for Italian recipes like this spaghetti squash casserole, and we love it for low carb pizza! You’ll mix it with the ground beef to make a meat sauce.
Cream Cheese Mixture – When you make a million dollar casserole you know it’s going to be rich, creamy, and cheesy! You’ll mix together some cream cheese, sour cream, and parsley to make the center layer of the spaghetti squash casserole.
Mozzarella – You’ve got to top this casserole with something, so why not more cheese? Some grated mozzarella is perfect for topping. Parmesan would work too!
We use Thrive Market for a lot of our specialty ingredients and keto snacks or products. Their prices tend to be cheaper than the local stores and I love that you can so easily sort products by diet.
Like Costco, this is a membership site, but we find that it’s more than worth it based on the amount we save over the regular grocery store.
They have monthly or yearly plans. Check it out here.
- It’s not quite the same as real spaghetti, but it’s a very good dupe and it satisfies my pasta cravings!
- The creamy cheesy center is unreal. So rich and adds the perfect decadence to this keto spaghetti!
- I love when I can make a meal the whole family loves and this one is always a hit! It’s a surefire way to get kids to try spaghetti squash.
How To Make Spaghetti Squash:
- Prepare – 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. 😉 Finally, scoop out the seeds!
- Bake – Drizzle some olive oil on the inside of the squash, sprinkle with some salt, and place it flesh side down on a prepared rimmed baking sheet. Roast it for about an hour.
- Spaghetti Squash – 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.
How To Make Low Carb Meat Sauce:
- Ground Beef – To begin you’ll brown up your ground beef (or whatever type of ground meat you prefer) and then dump in your favorite low carb marina.
I prefer Rao’s and use it almost exclusively when making keto spaghetti sauce. 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!
- Cream Cheese Mixture: 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!
How To Assemble Spaghetti Squash Casserole:
- Assemble – 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??
- Top – Next, add the final layers of spaghetti squash and the keto meat sauce and top that all off with some grated mozzarella and a little parsley.
- Finish – 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. This cheesy casserole will go well with anything green, like these roasted green beans!
Quick & Easy Spaghetti Squash:
We like baking the spaghetti squash for this recipe since you’ll be using the oven anyways, but there are a couple other methods that are a bit faster! You can prepare the spaghetti squash any way you like for this recipe, and then continue with adding the meat sauce and cream cheese mixture.
- Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash – This is the fastest method! Perfectly tender spaghetti squash in just a few minutes.
- Air Fryer Spaghetti Squash – It tastes similar to roasting spaghetti squash in the oven, but it takes only half the time!
Now that you are a pro at making spaghetti squash, you’ll want to check out some of my other low carb recipes that use it!
- Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole
- Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Bacon
- Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs
- Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash
- Garlic Parmesan Spaghetti Squash
FAQs:
You can keep any leftovers stored in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can reheat the spaghetti squash casserole in the oven.
Carefully! If you’ve never cut one before you’ll be surprised at how hard the exterior of the squash can be. You will need a sharp knife. Cut all the way around the spaghetti squash length-wise until it splits in half.
When baked up into this rich, creamy million dollar spaghetti squash casserole each serving is only 8 net grams!
Spaghetti squash has an earthy, sweet flavor that pairs well with many different ingredients. It has more texture than a noodle, but it works well as a replacement in many pasta dishes.
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!
- Keto Cabbage Rolls Recipe: None of the work, all of the flavor in these unstuffed cabbage rolls!
- Cheesy Cauliflower Bake: This is a simple low carb side dish made extra easy with an air fryer!
- Keto Fried Zucchini: The perfect low carb appetizer or snack!
Million Dollar Spaghetti Squash Casserole
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 9×13 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.
Sheri Watson says
I cook this monthly, Love it, best packed lunches!
Rhonda says
making this right now..
can’t wait to eat!!
Karly Campbell says
Hope you enjoyed it!
Ann says
This is the best spaghetti squash casserole ever!! We all love it!!
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Rachel says
We really liked this recipe, but all 4 of us found that there was WAY too much cream cheese. Maybe next time I will use half the amount. It overpowered the entire dish. Otherwise, we enjoyed it.
Marianne C. says
Husband love’s this casserole. Only way I can get him to eat squash.
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad he enjoys it!
Mercedes says
I love this recipe so much(: Besides being delicious this recipe is easy to make and a great low carb dish!
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you like it! 🙂
Cathryn Shipley says
One of my favorite go-tos
Terese says
A friend of mine sent me this recipe, and OMG this was the best I’d had in a long time. Love spaghetti squash, and this was so close to the lasagna I make. the added sweetness of the cream cheese was a big hit. DH loved it too. This will be a staple in my household.
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you all enjoyed it! Thanks for the review!
Lynn M says
With the temps being below zero this weekend I was browsing this site for a comfort type meal that would give me a reason to turn on the oven. So grateful to have stumbled upon this one. Its cheesy, meaty, saucy & the squash gives it a nice little crunch. This delight has it all. So many variations can be created with it, like adding Italian seasoning, or changing it to chicken or turkey or even Italian sausage. Maybe add green peppers or other seasonings to your liking. Yumalicious!
TJ says
So awesome! We love this. My daughter isn’t a big meat eater so we also make batches without the meat and freeze portions. Then if we have something with meat for dinner she’s not a fan of, she just heats up one to eat. (She’s in her 20s) She loves this and we make a lot so she can eat for lunches too. The only change we made was add some shredded Parm to the layers for extra cohesion to make it easier to cut into squares for freezing when it’s cooled. Thanks for the great recipe!
Kaz says
Cooking this now. Recommend to cut the squash into rings and roast that way. Longer “noodles”
Sherry Cicchini says
Easy and excellent. Full of flavour. My husband is Italian and he doesn’t eat a lot of vegetables and he loved it. I will be making this recipe again.
Christine Degraw says
This is a great recipe. So easy and so tasty. Highly recommend
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Michelle says
Made this for supper last night. I’m eating it for breakfast this morning. So good! I didn’t have fresh parsley so used Italian seasoning. I also grated one large clove of garlic into the cheese sauce because I have a garlic addiction. My non low carb husband loved it.
It’s definitely going into the rotation.
Karly Campbell says
So glad it was such a hit for you guys! Thanks for the review! 🙂
Catherine B says
Made this recipe tonight, my husband was skeptical, but absolutely enjoyed it. Nice twist on spaghetti squash. ( I used my own homemade spaguetti sauce.)
Karly Campbell says
So glad you both enjoyed it!
RM says
I love this recipe and have made it many times. I made one change because I’m a lazy cook and am always looking to cut corners and time. I found trying to get the cheese mixture layer even ended up in big blobs, so when the spaghetti squash comes out of the oven and is nice and hot, I mix the cheese mixture into it. It gets nice and gooey and is easily spreadable. I put sauce on the bottom, then the cheesy squash, more sauce, and lastly cheese. I think it tastes just the same!
Karly Campbell says
Sounds delicious!!
Renee says
This was an amazing dish! We definitely will be having more often!
Karly Campbell says
Thanks for the review, Renee!
Janice says
This was the best spaghetti squash recipe I have tried. Wondering if you can freeze leftovers?
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed this! I haven’t tried freezing this one, but I imagine it would freeze well.
Nancy Tyrrell says
I made this recipe tonight and it was really a great new addition to my “make again” recipes. Great flavor and even allowed on my Nutrisystem diet! My husband loved it
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it! Thanks, Nancy!