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.
Linda says
Let me try again. I would like to make this today to take and share at work tomorrow. Will it keep?
Karly Campbell says
It should keep fine, though the squash may release a bit more water as it sets.
Ray says
Made this casserole today in sunny California. My family loved it. Thk you do much for the recipe.
Jennifer says
Can you substitute the ground beef for ground turkey?
Karly Campbell says
Sure!
Brandi says
This is delicious and was a hit with my family. My oven is broken so I had to improvise. I cooked the spaghetti squash in the microwave and let drain in a colander. Then I assembled the casserole in a greased slow cooker and cooked on high for 4 hrs. It was perfect!
Karly Campbell says
Great idea on the slow cooker!
MARILYN says
I microwave the whole squash for a few minutes and it softens the shell, making it much easier to slice in half
Michelle Isernia says
Hi! I love spaghetti squash! I’m vegan so please forgive me…I veganized your amazing recipe by simply swamping the ingredients for vegan ones. Delicious!!! Just wanted to add….if you cut the spaghetti squash into rings instead of in half lengthwise, you get LONGER strands. Strands actually run the diameter of the squash, not up and down. It creates more strands (or just doesn’t create choppy little ones). Made a huge difference in my dishes when I started preparing them this way!
Karly Campbell says
Hi Michelle!
So glad it turned out with vegan products! 🙂
I always forget which way the strands run and end up going the wrong way. Thanks for the reminder!
Julia says
Hi this sounds just like what I’m craving. Quick question, I have such a small cooking space is it possible to use the store bought already shredded squash? It so convenient.
Karly Campbell says
Sure – I’ve never seen spaghetti squash already cooked/shredded, but if you can find it that’d be great!
Jennifer says
Karly I love spagetti squash but lately it has been just too crunchy. How can I make it less aldente.
Karly Campbell says
Are you cooking it long enough? The longer it cooks, the softer it should get.
Joanne says
WOW I made this yesterday and could not stop eating eat. Even my husband tried it.
Kathy Little says
Amazingly good…will be a favorite!
jamie odegaard says
I could not believe how this recipe turned out! Its absolutely amazing!!!! I’ve never had anything like this!!! I Love This website there are so many recipes i love!!! I printed off so many recipes i have to buy a binder for them! Thank you for sharing Karly Campbell!!!!!! This is a huge help to my diet and its now a life style with these amazing recipes!!! I’m losing weight and i’m a lot healthier now to! I feel great!!!!
Karly Campbell says
So glad the recipe was a hit! 🙂
Peggy says
Can this recipe be frozen?
Karly Campbell says
I’ve never tried freezing it before – my only concern would be the squash releasing a lot of liquid…might be a bit more wet.
Kristen Mccool says
Made this weekend! Ridiculously yummy! If I could give more stars I would! Just me and my hubby, we have been eating as leftovers and shockingly enough, even I am ok with that. I usually can eat spaghetti once then I am good for months. Not this, I can’t wait to make it again! I think there is something about the squash and cream cheese/ sour cream mix that tones down the acidity to a very tolerable level for me. Thank you for this million dollar find!
Karly Campbell says
So glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Carrie B says
Just ate it…. very good, thank u for sharing it!
Carrie B says
Not sure if anyone else made same comment – you can poke holes in squash wit a fork, all over, & microwave whole. Put in for 7-8 min, turn over, same another 7-8 min. Cut in half lengthwise, remove seeds & what u dont want, then scrape out what u do want. Proceed. Really shortens up the process & works great. My casserole is in the oven right now!
Pheba Varghese says
This turned out so good!! I seasoned the meat with garlic, onion powder, crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper! The cream cheese and sour cream combo goes so well with meat and squash! We loved this recipe!
Peggy says
I used the spicy Rao’s sauce and it was delicious !!! We all loved it, thanks for sharing !!
Lynn Chrisman says
Love love this recipe.. I’ve made it twice in two weeks..I work 12 hours shifts and this is a great dish to prepare ahead of time and warm up for work.
Sue says
This is delicious. I changed it a luttle.
I cook the spaghetti squash whole 8nstead of struggling to half it. I take out the seeds & roast them in salt & olive oil for a snack.
I sauteed mushrooms, zucchini & winter squash & added mixture to meat & sauce.
Doug says
Made this recipe last night almost as written. The only changes were 1 1/2 pound of ground beef and 4 pounds of squash. I used Rao’s marinara sauce. There was a small inconsequential amount of water in the bottom of the 9X13 dish but I feel it just meant there was going to be adequate moisture in the casserole. It was a hit with the family! Even a picky eater loved it! Making it again today as last nights is gone and they are asking for more!! My wife rated it 10+ stars and said I could make it anytime!! Trying it with a less expensive sauce this time.
Thanks for posting the recipe.
Sharon says
Made this today. Not enough squash for the sauce. But delicious. I love spaghetti squash.