This Paleo spaghetti squash casserole is veggie packed, high protein, and completely allergy friendly! AIP friendly, gluten free, and dairy free. A delicious and nightshade free nomato sauce brings this dish together. It is the perfect meal prep or family dinner option.
With what’s happening in the world right now, I have, like others, stocked up on food and am prepared to self isolate for a few weeks. During this time, I’m focusing on making large meals/bulk cooking, so I can freeze portions and have food for awhile. A casserole was first on my list! This recipe was inspired by A Squirrel in the Kitchen, but with some tweaks.
If you are not following me on Instagram, hop on over there! I’m sharing all about what I’m meal prepping, food ideas, and more during this time. This recipe is completely AIP compliant, lower FODMAP, and utilizes a nomato sauce to keep it nightshade free. I was hesitant the sauce wasn’t going to be very good or too beet-y tasting, but honestly it was delicious and went so well with the entire dish!
I love that this casserole is completely grain free and packed with all the veggies! You can use vegetables you have on hand or what you can access at this time. The sauce is made of beets, butternut squash, coconut milk, and herbs. You can use fresh cooked, pre-packaged, or frozen beets. Grab some canned butternut squash puree and coconut milk, you don’t need to make this from scratch!
This paleo casserole is a great meal prep option as it does freeze well. It is a complete meal on its own, so just serve up a big slice and you’re good to go! I like to include a side salad for extra greens and micronutrients, though.
Paleo Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 large spaghetti squash
- 1 lbs ground beef
- 1 bunch of kale washed, de-stemmed and finely chopped
- 1 package of button mushrooms chopped
- 1 large fennel bulb diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp olive oil or garlic infused oil (great low FODMAP option to still get garlic flavor)
Nomato Sauce
- 1/2 cup cooked red beets about 1 medium beet
- 1 cup butternut squash puree you can use canned
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
- First, cook your spaghetti squash by placing the squash on a baking sheet in the oven while it preheats to 425 F. Then remove the squash and cut it in half (this makes it so much easier to cut!) and place it face down on a baking tray, baking for about 30-45 minutes until done (easily shreds).
- You can cook the squash ahead of time or turn down oven to 400F when it is done.
- While squash is cooking, blend all sauce ingredients together in a blender for a smooth nomato sauce.
- Sauté the fennel in olive oil over medium heat until softened and beginning to brown, then add in the mushrooms and cook for a minute or two until beginning to soften. Finally, add in the kale and sauté until wilted.
- You can either brown your ground beef in a different pan while cooking the veggies or set veggies aside in a bowl and then cook your ground beef.
- Combine the ground beef and veggies together when cooked and season with salt.
- When spaghetti squash is done, shred into "noodles" and place in a large bowl.
- Now mix the ground beef and veggies with the spaghetti squash and the nomato sauce and combine everything thoroughly so sauce and beef is evenly distributed with squash. Spread everything into a glass baking dish (I used a 8×12 dish) and bake at 400F for 30 minutes. Broil for 5 more minutes then remove and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting and serving. This freezes well!
