Spaghetti Squash Boat with Vegetarian Meatballs
Our first Vegetarian Venture!
I distinctly remember saying at one point in my life that I could never be vegetarian. Well joke’s on me, because my husband and I are 75-80% there!
It started in the beginning of 2022 when we decided to try no meat for two weeks after watching the documentary, What the Health. Two weeks turned into a four, which turned into months, and here we are! We do still eat meat sometimes but during the week, none of our dinners have meat in them. When we go out for dinner on the weekends or out to breakfast, we will still partake, especially when our favorite places have a good dinner special. Even so, sometimes those options are just not as appealing as they were before, and more often than not I end up ordering a vegetarian or seafood option. Through this shift in our diet, we’ve found SO many great recipes that I can’t wait to share here. It really has opened up a whole other world of food options and I’m grateful we get to keep exploring.
This first Vegetarian Ventures recipe is one of the first “meat” substitute recipes we tried. I don’t think either of us was super keen on Impossible meat or any of that, and the one time I bought vegan sausage, it was the saltiest thing I’ve ever eaten. After that we started looking at alternatives that we could make ourselves, and this is by far one of the best ones!
Spaghetti Squash Boats with Vegetarian Meatballs
The meatball recipe is based on the one I found on Modern Proper . I’ve adjusted a few things based on how we like it, but it’s so good! You wouldn’t even know they weren’t real meatballs if you didn’t make them yourself. The cayenne in these totally make the dish and give them a nice kick of flavor. One of my goals for this winter is try and adapt this into a vegetarian meatloaf recipe, but for now, we have meatballs.
Spaghetti squash is also a great alternative if you’re leaning towards something low-carb, or just something delicious! We keep a few spaghetti squash dishes in our rotation, and I’m happy to share this one with you.
-S
Ingredients:
For spaghetti squash:
Spaghetti squash
Italian seasoning
Olive oil
Garlic powder
Salt & pepper
For meatballs:
1 cup dried lentils with 2.5 cups of water
1 small onion / 1 cup chopped
8 oz baby Bella/cremini mushrooms
3-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tsps of salt for meatballs
2 eggs
1/2 cup cup parmesan cheese
Your favorite red pasta sauce
Shredded mozzarella
Method:
Preheat oven to 400 °F. Cut the spaghetti squash in half length-wise, and scrape out out all of the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Line a baking sheet with foil and add cooking spray. Place the squash halves on the pan cut side-down and set aside
Place dried lentils into a small sauce pan and with plenty of water (4in?). Bring them to a boil before bringing them down to medium-low to simmer, uncovered for about 20 minutes. They should be tender, but not super mushy. Drain any excess water and set aside.
While the lentils are cooking, pulse the mushrooms in a food processor (or finely chop) until they are about the size of peas.
Heat 1 tbs (ish) of olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté for around 3 minutes until onion is translucent. Add the garlic and mushrooms and sauté for a few more minutes until the moisture has burned off and garlic is fragrant.
Remove the skillet from heat and add the contents back to the food processor, along with the lentils. I use my ninja blender for this, and do it in two batches so the blade is still able to turn. If you find things are getting stuck, add a little water, veggie broth, or olive oil to the mix.
In a large bowl, combine the mushroom/lentil mixture with the panko breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, salt, cayenne, eggs, and parmesan. Stir to combine. If you’ve ever made regular meatballs, it should look pretty similar to that mixture.
Roll the mixture into balls (about 2 tbs each) and arrange them on another baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Lightly brush the meatballs with olive oil
Add both the squash and meatballs to the oven once it’s preheated.
For the squash:
Roast for 25-35 minutes, depending on the size of your squash, until the outside is easily pierced with the tip of a knife. Times will vary depending on the size. The cut side should be a little browned when it’s done. When you remove it from the oven, flip the squash so the cut side is up. Once it’s cool enough to touch, use a fork to fluff the strands from the sides while still keeping in in the shell.
For the meatballs:
After 15 minutes, flip the meatballs so they get an even bake. If some get stuck, that’s okay! Bake for another 15 minutes.
Once both the meatballs and squash are done, fill each squash half with meatballs; I end up fitting 4-5 in each half. Cover with desired amount of sauce and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella.
Bake for another 5-7 minutes or until cheese has melted.