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Spaghetti Squash Bolognese
Spaghetti squash bolognese has a flavorful, meaty bolognese sauce served over roasted spaghetti squash noodles. This delicious dinner recipe is gluten free and dairy free.
Looking for more dairy free Italian recipes? Try my homemade mediterranean pizza, pasta al salmone, or marry me chicken pasta (dairy free).
What You’ll Love About This Recipe
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this bolognese spaghetti squash:
- Spaghetti squash
- Olive oil
- Yellow or white onion
- Celery
- Carrots
- Minced garlic
- Ground Italian sausage – mild or spicy depending on preference.
- Red wine – gives the sauce a more complex flavor.
- Milk of choice – adds a rich flavor and also cuts through the acidity of the tomatoes and wine. I used oat milk.
- Italian seasoning
- Tomato paste
- Crushed tomatoes – to make the tomato sauce.
- Bay leaf
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper – to taste.
How to Make Spaghetti Squash Bolognese: Step By Step
Here are some quick visual instructions. The full instructions and ingredient list will be in the printable recipe card below!
- Cook aromatics. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the diced onion, celery, and carrot. Saute for 4-5 minutes or until the onions are translucent, stirring occasionally. Stir in the minced garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Brown meat. Add the ground sausage and break it up with a spatula. Cook until browned and no pink remains.
- Reduce liquids. Add the wine and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, or until it has evaporated. Add in the milk of choice and simmer uncovered until evaporated.
- Simmer. Add Italian seasoning, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes with juice, bay leaf, and a teaspoon of kosher salt. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove the bay leaf and season to taste with more kosher salt as needed and freshly cracked black pepper.
- Bake squash. While the sauce simmers, place the spaghetti squash halves cut-side down on an oiled baking sheet or one lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25-30 minutes. The skin should give slightly when you press on it. Carefully flip the halves over to let the steam escape for a few minutes.
- Create the ‘spaghetti’. Use a fork to scrape each squash half to create the spaghetti-like strands.
- Combine. Add the spaghetti squash noodles to the bottom of each bowl followed by a few spoonfuls of the bolognese on top. Garnish with fresh basil if desired. Enjoy!
Helpful Tips
- If the milk is taking too long to evaporate, bump the heat up to medium-high heat.
- Don’t eat the spaghetti squash skin. Unlike other squash, the skin is too tough to eat and must be discarded once you scrape out the noodles.
- You can either use one large squash or two smaller squash. You want the amount to be right around 4 pounds.
Quick Tip: If using plain ground meat, you’ll need to add more seasoning since Italian ground sausage is already seasoned.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Make It Your Way: Substitutions & Variations
Please remember that recipes are just a starting point.
How can you make this spaghetti squash bolognese recipe using what you already have? Here are some ideas…
- No ground sausage? – you can use any type of ground meat such as ground beef or ground chicken, just make sure to season it more since Italian sausage is well-seasoned.
- No red wine? – you can also use dry white wine or beef broth.
- No crushed tomatoes? – you can also use whole peeled tomatoes and crush them with your hands into the pot. Otherwise, diced or chopped tomatoes will also work. Whatever you use, don’t drain them as it helps create the pasta sauce.
- Add-ins – diced mushrooms into the sauce for more veggies, red pepper flakes for bit of heat, or full fat coconut milk as a heavy cream replacement added at the end of the cooking time for more of a pink sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use another type of squash instead of spaghetti squash?
If you don’t care about the spaghetti aspect, you can serve the bolognese over another type of roasted and mashed squash.
Alternatively, you could spiralize butternut squash before cooking it for another option if you don’t like the flavor or texture of spaghetti squash. Although, you won’t need to cook it for nearly as long.
More Italian Recipes
- Homemade Mediterranean Pizza
- Pasta al Salmone
- Marry Me Chicken Pasta (dairy free)
- Spaghetti Squash Pizza Casserole
I hope you love this Spaghetti Squash Bolognese! If you make this recipe, please leave a comment & a star rating below. Thank you!
Spaghetti Squash Bolognese
Spaghetti squash bolognese has a flavorful, meaty bolognese sauce served over roasted spaghetti squash noodles. This delicious dinner recipe is gluten free and dairy free.
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small spaghetti squash total should be around 4 pounds, seeds removed and cut in half
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow or white onion diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 2 large carrots peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage mild or spicy depending on preference
- 1 cup red wine
- ¾ cup milk of choice I used oat milk
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt start with ½ teaspoon if using anything else and add more to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- fresh basil leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Cook aromatics. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the diced onion, celery, and carrot. Saute for 4-5 minutes or until the onions are translucent, stirring occasionally. Stir in the minced garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Brown meat. Add the ground sausage and break it up with a spatula. Cook until browned and no pink remains.
- Reduce liquids. Add the wine and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, or until it has evaporated. Add in the milk of choice and simmer uncovered until evaporated. If it’s taking too long, bump it up to medium-high heat.
- Simmer. Add Italian seasoning, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes with juice, bay leaf, and a teaspoon of kosher salt. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove the bay leaf and season to taste with more kosher salt as needed and freshly cracked black pepper.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF/200ºC.
- Bake squash. While the sauce simmers, place the spaghetti squash halves cut-side down on an oiled baking sheet or one lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25-30 minutes. The skin should give slightly when you press on it. Carefully flip the halves over to let the steam escape for a few minutes.
- Create the 'spaghetti'. Use a fork to scrape each squash half to create the spaghetti-like strands.
- Combine. Add the spaghetti squash noodles to the bottom of each bowl followed by a few spoonfuls of the bolognese on top. Garnish with fresh basil if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
See the blog post for helpful tips, storage, and recipe FAQs.