Stupid Easy Paleo Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs
I had been playing with the idea of doing a spaghetti squash and meatballs dish in the slow cooker (at the same time) for a while now. I decided to take a stab at it making it as easy as humanly possible. The verdict is that it worked out perfectly and will now be a lazy go-to meal for me. The squash cooked perfectly and scooped out easily as well. Exciting stuff.
I only used a few non-pantry items. Easy right?
What you need:
- One medium spaghetti squash.
- One pound of ground Italian sausage.
- One can of tomato sauce, I used a 14 ounce can.
- 2 tbsp of hot pepper relish (optional).
- 4 to 6 cloves of garlic, whole.
- 2 tbsp of olive oil.
- Italian seasoning (Oregano, Basil, Thyme) to taste, I used about 2 tsp
What it looks like going in…
How you make it:
- Make sure you use a large 6 quart slow cooker for this recipe.
- Dump your tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic, hot pepper relish and Italian seasoning into your slow cooker and stir well.
- Cut your squash in half and scoop out the seeds.
- Place your 2 squash halves face down into your slow cooker.
- Roll your ground sausage into meatballs, then fit as many as you can in the sauce around the squash. I was able to work in about a half pound worth.
- Cook on High for 3 hours or cook on low for 5 hours.
- Use a large fork to pull the “spaghetti” out of your squash, then top with your meatballs and sauce.
- Garnish with parsley if you feel fancy, and enjoy!
The finished product.
You should cook these too:
Category: Pork
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Thanks so much for posting this. YUMMY. I can’t wait to make it.
Was it hard to cut through the uncooked squash? How did you go about it?
I just used a large serrated knife, wasn’t very hard at all. Large knife is ideal.
How many servings does this receipe make?
I’d estimate about 2 to 3.
I just bought a spaghetti squash for the very first time ever and yours is the first recipe I intend to try for it!
Can you do half of this recipe in a smaller crockpot? I only have a 3-quart crockpot (I live alone and mostly cook for myself, so I don’t need a huge one!), so do you think it would work to just half the whole recipe?
Sounds good!
What a great meal! I’ve roasted spaghetti squash and made meatballs in tomato sauce on the stovetop, but never in the crock pot. This came out great! I can never get spaghetti squash cooked just right in the oven, it’s either too hard or too squishy. I was worried that it might be mushy in the crock pot, but it came out perfectly! My only complaint was that the sauce was runny…but that was my fault since I added an extra can of tomato sauce to be able to cover the full pound of meatballs. Next time I might throw a splash of red wine to the sauce!
Thanks Christine, glad to hear it worked out for you!
This rocked! Two of my three boys loved it, and the other one loved the sauce and meatballs. I added some ground beef (85% lean) to the sausage to make it go farther. We will keep this one around! Oh, I forgot, its a good idea to scoop out the squash and let it drain a little more before serving it. EXCELLENT!
Nice, but you should scoop out the squash before cooking.
OMG! This is so good! I didn’t have the pepper relish so I put in chili pepper seeds and from the way my mouth is burning… I put in too much! LMAO… I was able to shove the whole pound of sausage in my pot and because we stepped out of the house I think I may have slow cooked this on low for at least 8 hours. Still fantastic and the squash wasn’t yucky cruncy! Thanks so much for a fab reipe!
Where can I get the red pepper relish?
You don’t need the red pepper relish, yet most any large supermarket will have it, usually in the international asile with other Italian goods.
Hi. I’ve only just found this site through my g/fs pinterest…. am I missing something here? How is spaghetti allowed on the Paleo diet? Or (from loads of recipes) rice?
It’s not literally spaghetti, just spaghetti squash. Also I do not include rice in my recipes, yet I do use cauliflower as a substitute. Hope this helps…
Has this been tried with a ground turkey? Sausage has so much fat
Turkey would work just fine…
OMG! This was amazing. Even my 5 year old devoured it and asked for seconds. This has defintiely earned a permanent spot in our dinner rotation. Thanks!
That’s the best compliment I can get, thank you!
What are the nutritional facts for this? I’m doing weight watchers but I really want to try this.
I adore my Crockpots i own three.
I will have to try this.. i may even try taking the ‘rind’ off the Spaghetti Squash, like you would with a butternut…
No need to, just cut in half and scoop the seeds out and go!
This is in cooking right now! Must.make.more.Crockpot recipes! Thanks for sharing!
Just finished loading the crock pot, can’t wait to eat this. I cheated and used a premade all natural spaghetti sauce because I didn’t have tomato sauce on hand.
This is my first spaghetti squash and my first crock pot meal. My wife usually does the slow cooking
Good Stuff!
First experience with spaghetti squash and I must say this tastes better to me than regular pasta ever has.
Great recipie
I crammed TWO spaghetti squashes in my 6qt crockpot… hoping this is a hit with my 4 kids tonight!
Love your site and am excited about trying a few more things.
Awesome! Glad to hear it!
This looks delicious! Will it come out ok if I leave on love for 8-9 hours instead of 5? I work all day and usually cook
In the pot all day until I get home (don’t have a programmable crock pot)
I wouldn’t cook it for that long. Just get an electrical timer for your crock pot as detailed in this post of mine:
http://paleopot.com/2013/04/how-to-hack-your-old-slow-cooker-programmable-sous-vide-cooking/
This was excellent. Super easy and delicious!