Buffalo Blue Cheese Spaghetti Squash
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
With the regular season behind us and the playoffs ahead, we are deep in football season. With football season comes chicken wings with blue cheese. I love wings, but I'm not always interested in the mess associated with eating (or cooking) wings or the sluggish feeling I get after eating wings. I do sometimes crave the combination of buffalo wing sauce and blue cheese though, and that craving inspired this dish.
If you have a New Year's Resolution to eat better, follow a special diet for health reasons, or even just enjoy different twists on popular dishes, this post is for you! Since it's a dish made mostly of spaghetti squash (a low-carb vegetable), it is packed full of veggies. It is also gluten-free, grain-free, low-carb, keto diet-friendly and Primal. I usually roast chicken thighs and drench them in wing sauce for more protein, but you can also just eat this as shown, with a drizzle of wing sauce over the spaghetti squash. It's also flavorful without the wing sauce, if buffalo wing sauce isn't your thing. However you have it, this dish is packed full of flavor!
But first things first. We need to talk about the right way to cook spaghetti squash.
I really like spaghetti squash, so I've tried what I feel like is every possible way to cook it. I've tried the most common method to bake it at 375 degrees cut side down in a little water before finishing it cut side up. I've cooked it in the crock pot and I've cooked it in the microwave, both of which are heralded as the easiest ways to cook spaghetti squash. Every one of those methods produces spaghetti squash that is so soggy that it comes out looking like an unrecognizable mess. It certainly doesn't look like the spaghetti that this squash was named after!
One day, I was in a Pinterest hole when I found a pin for the right way to cook spaghetti squash: by roasting it at a high temperature, cut side up. The result is spaghetti squash that, well, looks like spaghetti! It isn't the least bit soggy. It has texture and shape, and roasting it imparts great flavor. I will never go back to steaming spaghetti squash again!
This method of cooking spaghetti squash has been so monumental for me that I'd like to give credit where credit is due. A big thank you to Katie over at Chocolate Covered Katie, the brilliant blogger who shared this! Click here for her full article.
Besides spaghetti squash that turns out soggy, the second biggest complaint I've heard about cooking spaghetti squash is that it is difficult to cut. I used to dread cutting spaghetti squash, so I understand! But I have a couple of solutions to offer. The first is to cut the spaghetti squash cross-wise instead of length-wise (cut off the stem to help it balance cut-side up, if needed). When you cut it cross-wise, your knife should extend past the squash on both sides, so you can just wiggle your knife down until it's through. Of course, this requires a big enough knife, which brings me to my second solution: it is imperative that you use a good knife to cut spaghetti squash!
A dull, small or unstable knife could literally put you in danger, so make a good knife a priority! My favorite knives are J.A. Henckels, and the reviews support this recommendation. The J.A. Henckels Classic 8" Chef Knife was ranked amongst Good Housekeeping's top 10 best kitchen knives, and epicurious ranked it #1! J.A. Henckels are the knives I bought after scouring the reviews for the best quality knife at a reasonable price. At $55, the J.A. Henckels Classic 8" knife is an investment, but it is far more affordable than most quality knives, and since it's made so well, it will last years!
Henckels knives can easily be found on Amazon, both standalone and in sets:
Now that we have completed Spaghetti Squash 101, here is a pretty picture of what your dinner table could look like, followed by the recipe. Isn't that spaghetti squash beautiful?!
Buffalo Blue Cheese Spaghetti Squash
Grain-free | Gluten-free | Primal | Low-Carb | Keto Diet-friendlyPrep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Makes about 4 servings
Ingredients:
-
1 spaghetti squash, about 3 lbs
-
8-10 thick slices of bacon
-
4 oz blue cheese crumbles
-
1 bunch scallions, sliced thinly
-
Buffalo wing sauce of your choice, such as Frank’s
Red Hot
-
Chicken thighs (boneless and skinless), optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450degrees.
Cut spaghetti squash in half cross-wise. Cut the stem off,
if needed for the spaghetti squash to balance. Place the spaghetti squash on a
pan, cut side up. Roast for about 40 minutes. Remove and set aside. While the spaghetti squash is roasting, chop the bacon and cook on medium-low heat until browned. Remove from heat and set aside. The bacon should have produced at least 2 tablespoons of bacon fat. Keep it!
If boneless, skinless chicken thighs are going to be included, they can be cooked while the spaghetti squash is in the oven. Either roast them in a separate oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or cook them in a skillet (in a little bit of bacon fat).
Use a fork to remove the spaghetti squash from the skin and
place in a large bowl. Pour the bacon and bacon fat over the spaghetti squash,
followed by the blue cheese. Toss well and add salt to taste, if needed.
Use tongs or forks to serve the spaghetti squash. Sprinkle scallions over the top. If serving with chicken
thighs, toss the chicken thighs in wing sauce and serve with spaghetti squash.
If not serving with chicken thighs, drizzle wing sauce over the finished
spaghetti squash dish and serve.
I hope you enjoy this dish! Please leave any comments or questions below.
4 comments
This recipe sounds delicious. Thank you for the tip on how to cook spaghetti squash. I usually end up with the soggy stuff when I cook mine. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dawn! Enjoy :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if one could use turkey bacon for the bacon flavor and olive oil instead of the bacon fat??
ReplyDeleteHi Dana, thanks for your question!
DeleteRegular bacon and bacon fat would provide the best flavor for this spaghetti squash. However, I think turkey bacon would still taste great, especially since it will be combined with blue cheese and buffalo wing sauce. Those flavors are just so good together!
Olive oil can be pretty flavorful, so I would recommend using a less flavorful oil for the substitution, like avocado oil or almond oil. Either of those oils would provide healthy monounsaturated fats while allowing the other flavors (blue cheese, bacon and buffalo wing sauce) to shine. Just remember to salt to taste if you make this substitution since avocado or almond oil won't have seasoning in it like bacon fat does.
I hope this answers your questions, and I hope you enjoy this dish!
Cheers!
Laura