Grain-Free Spaghetti Pie comes together with less than 10 ingredients and is made all in one skillet. It’s a hearty, warm and scrumptious Whole30-friendly meal.
This post was created in partnership with our friends at Primal Kitchen.
Comfort food made healthy.
If you’re in search of a comforting, warm and tasty meal that the entire family will enjoy, this recipe is for you! Personally, I’m quite the fan of comfort food meals – especially this time of year. They’re filling, they’re tasty, and almost always pretty simple to make. However, it’s not uncommon for these classic comfort food recipes like casseroles, hot dishes, pasta dishes, creamy soups and slow cooker meals to be made with ultra-processed ingredients, cream of this or that, not enough veggies and 1,000 milligrams or more of sodium in just one serving. A combination that might leave you feeling overly full, tired and blah! But that’s why we’re here. To take your most favorite comfort foods and turn them into something that’s not only wholesome, but also incredibly delicious and that makes you feel GOOD.
Allow me to introduce Grain-Free Spaghetti Pie.
An Italian-inspired, grain-free, dairy-free and Whole30-friendly recipe that just might remind you of your favorite pasta dish, such as spaghetti or lasagna, but without the pasta. Instead, this recipe calls for spaghetti squash, a winter squash that resembles the texture and look of angel hair pasta, but is much lower in carbs and calories yet much greater in nutrients. Using spaghetti squash is an easy hack to lighten up your favorite pasta dishes while maintaining the filling volume and providing an extra boost of awesome nutrients!
The secret is not only in the squash, but also in the sauce. Grain-Free Spaghetti Pie is made with Primal Kitchen Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce.
This marinara sauce is made with organic tomatoes, full of flavor, has no added sugars and is Whole30-friendly.
Here is the full ingredient list: Organic Diced Tomatoes, Organic Tomato Puree (Water, Organic Tomato Paste), Organic Basil, Avocado Oil, Sea Salt, Organic Onions, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Oregano, Citric Acid, Organic Garlic
Choosing a marinara sauce can be overwhelming with the endless options to choose from at the grocery store. So a big thanks goes out to Primal Kitchen for taking it upon themselves to create their own marinara sauce that’s made with organic, real food ingredients, no added sugars and tastes amazing! You’ll definitely want to get your hands on this sauce and make it a staple in your pantry like it is in ours. P.S. They also came out with a creamy and totally tasty dairy-free Alfredo Sauce!
Made all in one oven-safe skillet = quick kitchen clean-up!
Ahh…music to your ears. Recipes that can be made all in one dish are always a win in our book. Fewer dirty dishes result in a quicker kitchen clean-up! Yes, please. For this recipe, I like to use either a 12-inch cast-iron skillet or a 12 inch oven-safe skillet. However, if you don’t have either of those on hand, no worries! You can simply transfer the ingredients to a 9×13 casserole dish to bake.
Did I mention that this recipe is freezer-friendly, too?!
We all experience those nights when cooking sounds like quite the dreadful task. It’s maybe even the last thing you want to do. The solution –> making sure you have a freezer stocked with last-minute meals. This Grain-Free Spaghetti Squash is the perfect freezer-friendly meal. I like to divide it into 1 to 2 servings per freezer /oven safe container, then you can reheat exactly what you need for how many people you are feeding. To reheat, place it in the oven set at 350ºF and reheat until cooked through. You can do this from either frozen or thawed.
It’s time to give this Grain-Free Spaghetti Pie a try!
Plan ahead and bake the spaghetti squash the day before. This will help speed up the time it takes to make this dish the night it’s on your menu. If you’ve never cooked a spaghetti squash, here’s a step-by-step photo tutorial on how to bake a spaghetti squash.
And lastly, if cheese is part of your diet and you’re not following a Whole30 at the moment, by all means add the cheese! I like to top this Grain-Free Spaghetti Pie with a little mozzarella and/or parmesan cheese.
This recipe calls for grass-fed beef. Curious about red meat? Read this blog post to learn how to choose quality red meat.
Grain-Free Spaghetti Pie
Searching for a warm and hearty dinner? Look no further. This Grain-Free Spaghetti Pie is a comforting, tasty, family-friendly weeknight dinner!
Ingredients
- Avocado oil
- 1 medium spaghetti squash (2½–3 lbs.)
- 1 lb. grass-fed ground beef (or ½ lb. ground beef + ½ lb. ground Italian sausage)
- 1 medium green pepper, diced (~1 cup)
- 1 small onion, diced (~1 cup)
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 cups spinach (about 3 large handfuls)
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1–24 oz. jar Primal Kitchen Tomato Basil Marinara Sauce
- 2 large eggs, whisked
- Salt & pepper
Instructions
For the Squash:
- Pre-heat oven to 400ºF.
- Cut spaghetti squash in half length-wise, scoop out seeds, rub the squash with oil, and place face down on a baking sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until squash is slightly soft to touch. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Once you can handle the squash, scrape squash with a fork to remove the spaghetti squash strands. (click here for photo tutorial). Place strands on a baking sheet that’s double layered with paper towels. Let set for 5-10 minutes to allow liquid from the spaghetti squash to be absorbed.
While squash is baking:
- Place a 12-inch oven-safe skillet (round casserole dish) or cast-iron skillet over medium high-heat, add the beef, peppers, onions and garlic. Season with sea salt and pepper. Brown beef and sauté until peppers and onions are cooked through. **If you don’t have a 12-inch oven-safe skillet or cast-iron, see instructions below.
- Next add basil and spinach. Sauté until spinach is wilted.
- Turn off heat and stir in marinara sauce.
- Lastly, add the whisked eggs and carefully stir-in spaghetti squash strands. Cover with foil or oven-safe lid.
- Place spaghetti pie in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes for a total of 45 minutes.
- Once baking time is complete, remove from oven and let set for 10-15 minutes before serving.
- To serve, garnish with fresh chopped basil, crushed red pepper if you like a little heat and parmesan or mozzarella cheese (note: cheese is not Whole30 or dairy-free).
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Notes
**If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet or appropriate casserole dish, you can simply transfer the ingredients to a 9×13 casserole dish to bake.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1/8 of recipe
- Calories: 215
- Fat: 11 g
- Sodium: 350 mg
- Carbohydrate: 15 g
- (Fiber: 4 g
- Sugar: 5 g)
- Protein: 15 g
Dietary
Comment below with your favorite comfort food dish?
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Photo Credit: The photos in this blog post were taken by Jess of Plays Well with Butter.
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This is now on my regular rotation. So simple and so much flavor. Plus freezer friendly🙌
★★★★★
Do you freeze before or after it is cooked? thank you
I usually freeze it after it’s cooked.
I really like this recipe! If I make it ahead and put it in the freezer do I cook it first or cook it after it comes out of the freezer? Thanks for the information
★★★★★
Hi Linda, I typically do cook it before freezing it because of the egg. Once it’s out of the oven, I let it cool before freezing it. Sometimes I freeze it in individual portions and other times I split it into two containers and freeze it that way. Really depends how many you’re feeding.
Delicious and easy to make, I love it!
★★★★★
Another flavorful dish I will be adding to my rotation. Used a mix of spinach and kale, it’s what I had.
★★★★★
Awesome! Love the addition of kale. Thanks for taking the time to leave a rating and review!