Vegan Spaghetti Squash and Meatball Boats

At some point in my adult life I decided in my mind that I hated spaghetti squash.

I have no actual memory of ever actually eating a spaghetti squash or how it was prepared, I just decided I did not like them, and I would never cook one. Period.

Then recently I saw a spaghetti squash recipe in a magazine that looked amazing. Weird, I know…I hate spaghetti squash. This made me question myself and my stern stance on this noodle imposter squash.

So I decided I would buy a few and try to veganize the recipe I saw. I mean I am grown lady now and should be open to trying something again..right?!?!!? But the more I thought about that recipe, the more I knew my kids would 100% reject it ,and if I were going to try to sell the family on a squash as spaghetti, it better at least involve a vegan meatballs some vegan gooey cheese. Those are two things my family normally agrees on!

So I did just that. I made a batch of easy vegan meatballs, I used beyond meat but you can use any meatball you make. Seitan meatballs, lentil meatballs, or frozen meatballs. Whatever is easy and your preference.

I still want to try and veagnize the original recipe I saw, but a vegetable stuffed with more vegetables is gonna be a slow roll in this house. Baby steps, y’all.

As far as the squash goes, I don’t know why I thought I didn’t like it.?!?! Because once its covered in meatball laden sauce, and gooey vegan mozzarella, it is delicious, super filling, and a nice change from pasta! Not that I have anything against pasta, I mean I LOVE CARBS….but I need to get behind this being a healthier option.

I think these vegan spaghetti squash boats would work well for entertaining. As long as you use a gluten free meat substitute, these boats should be pretty allergy friendly ( you can make the cheese sauce with sunflower seeds instead of cashews, too,) healthy and delicious!!

Plus y’all, any food baked as a boat always just seems more fun! And if you thought you didn’t like spaghetti squash too, maybe this recipe can change your mind. It did mine!

This recipe will make enough for 2 large spaghetti squash or you can use I squash and have leftover marinara and cheese sauce. The cheese sauce can be refrigerated for up to one week and used on lots of things. The leftover pasta sauce could be refrigerated or frozen. 1 Squash typically serves 4.

INGREDIENTS:

1-2 large spagetti squash
1 pound vegan ground “beef” ( we used Beyond Beef)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup vegan bread crumbs
1 tablespoon corn or tapioca starch, or one flax egg
1 batch Marinara sauce or use store-bought if you prefer
1/2 batch of easy vegan all purpose cheese sauce

Homemade Marinara Sauce:

1 yellow onion, diced
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14.4 oz) can diced tomatoes
1/3 red wine (optional)
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Prepare the meatballs by mixing the vegan ground “meat” in a bowl with the starch, bread crumbs, garlic and ssteaonings. Using a small 1 inch scoop or a a small spoon, scoop out mixture and roll into small meatballs. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and pop them in the oven to bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.
Carefully cut the spaghetti squash in half length wise (you will need a good knife as they can be kind of tough to cut.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and turn the squash halves upside down on the pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the same oven as the meatballs.
If you are making homemade marinara sauce, add the onions and garlic to medium sized sauce pan with a teaspoons of oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the tomatoes, wine, and seasoning and let simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally.
Once the meatballs are done, add them to the pot with the sauce and let them simmer a bit.
Once the squash is tender remove it from the oven and let it cool a bit. Once cool, scrape the seeds and stringy part off the top. Once they are cleaned up, use a fork and scrape the “spaghetti” strands loose.
Prepare the cheese sauce according to directions.
To make the spaghetti squash boats, leave the squash on the the pan you baked them on. Scoop some sauce and meatballs right into the squash. Top with some of the cheese sauce and pop the pan back in the oven until the cheese sauce is bubbling and beginning to brown.
To serve, you can cut each boat in half after it has cooled a bit. We consider 1/2 of a boat a serving. But you could also cut each boat into thirds if you are serving children.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Beyond Meatball Filled Bread Bowls

I love meatballs. Vegan “meatballs” that is.

I love that Beyond Meat can be used to make a deliciously convincing meatball so I can still enjoy one of my all time favorite pre vegan foods.

Before Beyond started selling the beyond meat in a 1 lb. block, I simply bought the burgers and thawed them, mixed them all up and used them as I would ground meat. It works really well and 4 burgers equal 1 lb. of vegan ground. You can use any brand of vegan mince you like. I prefer Beyond but I know there are a lot of new brands popping up these days, so use your fave or what you can find locally! What a glorious time to be a vegan!

So, that said, what do you do with your vegan meatballs? Add them to spaghetti? Sure, I guess, I do love spaghetti and meatballs. Put them on a sub roll and make a sandwich? Sure, It’s one of my favorite sandwiches. OR, you can bake up you very own homemade bread bowls and fill it with vegan meatballs.

Hear me out. These are way BETTER than a sub! For starters it’s less messy, and also you can pile up a LOT of meatballs into a bread bowl. Then you can smoother it, cover it, drowned it, in vegan cheese sauce and bake it up til it’s bubbly brown, and extra gooey. You will likely look a little more classy eating this than you would with marinara running down your chin as you chomp on a meatball sub. Just saying.

Bread bowl meatballs get my vote!

If you don’t want to make bread bowls, you can go buy some smaller round loaves of bread at the bakery and use those. I have done this with a giant round bread loaf and just made one giant bread bowl for sharing. “Sharing” sure…. if you even believe me, then yeah, I shared it.

Anyways, our all purpose vegan cheese sauce gets extra stretchy and gooey, and is perfect for topping these meatball bread bowls. Also, you are going to want to lick the pot you cook it in, so just a heads up, it’s actually that good. You can use the bread scraps to clean up the cheese pot. I am a genius like that, y’all!

So I you are a fan of meatballs, then try them in a bread bowl. Bread makes all meals better and carbs are for sure my love language. Can you even eat a meatball without bread? I would strongly argue that you for sure can not!

INGREDIENTS:

You will need one batch of our Easy Vegan Bread Bowls or 4-6 store bought bread bowls

4 thawed Beyond Beef burgers, or 1 lb block of Beyond Meat
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (a mix of thyme, sage, basil, marjoram, rosemary, and oregano) if you do not have Italian seasoning feel free to add a combo of any of the listed spices
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 flax egg
1/2 batch All Purpose Vegan Cheese Sauce

THE SAUCE: ( or use a favorite pre-made sauce)

1 onion, diced
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 small 14.4 oz can diced tomatoes
1/3 red wine (optional)
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

INSTRUCTIONS:

Meatballs:

Mix thawed burgers, panko bread crumbs, garlic, spices, and flax egg together in a bowl.
Once well combined, form meatballs with a small scoop, or spoon, and place them on a baking pan. You can line the pan with parchment paper for easier clean up.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sauce: (you can also easily use store bought sauce)

In a medium sized sauce pan, sauté onions and garlic in 1 teaspoon of oil, and a teaspoon of salt, until onions are translucent.
Add the wine, and let it cook for 2 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients, and let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the cooked meatballs, and let simmer in the sauce for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Prepare cheese sauce according to directions, allowing it too cook until it is thick and stretchy.
Cut tops of bread bowls and hollow them out. You can save the extra bread to make croutons, or just save the scraps to dip in extra sauce. No judgments from me. It’s what I do. Fill the bread bowls equally with vegan meatballs and marinara sauce.
Evenly top the bread bowls with dollops of the cheese sauce, and sprinkle with some parsley if you like.
Place bread bowls on a baking sheet.
Place in the oven on the top rack just until the cheese starts to get extra melty and gooey.
Allow to cool a bit before serving. You don’t want to burn you mouth ( I am a mom of 4, I can’t help but give this warning)

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Beyond Meatloaf Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes