You may be wondering what on earth is a spaghetti squash, and you are not alone. I’ve been reading about this mythical vegetable (or fruit?!) for over ten years. All of the US blogs and cook books use it but I have never even seen one in Australia, until recently when I saw one at my local farmer’s market. I couldn’t believe it! The time had come when I finally could try spaghetti squash. 

And it did not disappoint! Every time I see one at the markets now, which is normally around Autumn and Winter, I buy it.

This incredible squash, which looks a bit like a large melon (it’s that big), is related to pumpkin and zucchini and other kinds of squash. But what makes this amazing is that when cooked, the flesh falls into strips that emulate, you guessed it, spaghetti! Although in actuality I would say it’s more like a noodle than pasta. But I guess noodle squash doesn’t quite have the same ring. 

I will say that when making these “replacements” I would advise against using it in place of say pasta or noodles, because it’s not exactly the same. Instead celebrate it for what it is. When cooked in a recipe, you get the naturally sweet flavours of squash, with a slight vegetable bit and the soft noodle-like texture that mops up sauce (especially garlic butter sauce) so well. 

It took me some time to figure out how to prepare this thing, as you can see here, but after some research, this is my favourite. Enjoy!