Spaghetti squash and chicken cook together along with your favorite marinara/pasta sauce in this easy slow cooker meal. This is a great low-carb alternative to pasta night.
I didn’t intend to keep this to 5-ingredients or less, it just came out that way. I guess I’ll keep adding to the series as long as I keep creating recipes that qualify. For this recipe you can absolutely use meatballs (fresh or frozen) in place of the chicken. You can even substitute vegetables if you want a meatless meal. I won’t be low-carb but you can add potatoes or sweet potatoes. The best thing about this recipe is that everything cooks together all at one. One-pot-meal. I had this with leftover salad. Next time though, I will definitely make it a more complete meal by adding in vegetables and/or a starch.
This recipe calls for your favorite Italian seasoning. I used a combo of Flavor God’s Italian Zest and Pizza seasoning. If you don’t have Flavor God or an alternative, here is an Italian rub from Allrecipes.com:
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 tablespoons dried marjoram
2 tablespoons dried cilantro
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried savory
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
In a food processor, combine basil, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, cilantro, thyme, savory and red pepper flakes. Blend for 1 minute, or until desired consistency is achieved.
The spaghetti squash will be very hot so make sure you are wearing oven mitts when you go to pull it out the slow cooker.
- 1 spaghetti squash (approximately 2 lbs)
- 1 lb chicken breasts, cubed
- 24 ounces marinara/pasta sauce
- 4 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Cut spaghetti squash in half crosswise and scoop out the seeds.
- Pour pasta sauce in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Add spaghetti squash
- Add chicken and seasonings.
- Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 5-6
Other 5-ingredient slow cooker recipes in this series: Pot Roast, Jerk Chicken, Italian Chicken, Coconut-Cilantro Curry Shrimp, Apple-Dijon Sausage & Sauerkraut.
This is so much easier than how I normally make spaghetti squash spaghetti! Thanks! I’ve used your recipe several times now and I don’t have any issues with excess moisture. It’s great!
Any tips on draining out the extra water from the squash once it’s done cooking? Noticed it’s a bit runnier than I’d like it to be…
Yeah unfortunately that tends to happen. One thing you can do it put a couple paper towels underneath the lid The paper towels will catch any excess condensation from dripping into the pot. You’ll be surprised how much there is. The paper towel will be soaking wet when done. Hope that helps! xShannon
Is the chicken cooked and cubed or does it cook with everything else in the crockpot?
The chicken is cubed and put in the slow cooker raw. It will cook with everything else in the crock-pot. I hope you enjoy the recipe!