I think I would like spaghetti squash better if we just called it stringy squash. It does make nice strings, tasty with a crunch. but it's not really a good substitute for spaghetti in recipes. When I found recipes that stuffed the squash instead of just pulling out the strings, ah... that was a much more successful Passover option! And yes, spaghetti squash is kosher for Passover; don't let the name fool you!
I've put together three different stuffed spaghetti squash recipes for Passover: a vegan one stuffed with nuts and vegetables, a dairy one based on a Broccoli, Penne and Ricotta recipe that I have made year-round for a long time, and another dairy one based on a gluten-free "Mac and Cheese" stuffed squash recipe. The squash cooks the same way for all of them; only the filling changes. I used spaghetti squash that were about 4 pounds each for these recipes. Depending on the size of your squash and the size of your appetite, this makes 4 - 6 servings. These recipes are all gluten-free and non-gebrochts (contains no matzah).
Note that this is not a quickie recipe. The squash takes a long time to prepare. If you don't have that much time, you may want to just serve the fillings in some other way (on a bed of matzah farfel, or in an easier to prepare vegetable), but the spaghetti squash has a very interesting flavor and texture with these fillings, so I highly recommend it if you have the time.
I'll start by walking you through preparing the squash (which is the same for all three recipes), and then you can jump to whichever filling you want to use.
Squash Preparation
- Start heating the oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice the squash lengthwise, as evenly as you can.
- Scrape out the seeds and the loose, stringy parts. Don't worry: after it cooks, there will be plenty of stringy stuff in what now looks solid!
- Put a layer of water in a large baking pan (I used a 12 inch by 12 inch square pan) and put the squash in the pan cut side down in the water. You may want to pre-line that baking pan with aluminum foil like I did for easier cleanup.
- Put the pan in the oven to cook for about 45 minutes (I warned you this wasn't a quickie!).
- About 20 minutes into the cooking, begin preparing your filling:
- When the squash is done, take it out of the oven, drain the water, flip it cut side up and let it cool a while.
- When the squash is cool enough to handle, scrape the insides with a fork to get stringy, spaghetti-like shapes (no, it didn't turn orange, that's just bad lighting in the photo). When your filling is complete, you will be mixing it with these strings (see discussions below).
- Some of them go back in the oven for a while to even out the heat.
- You can serve it in the squash skin and allow your diners to scoop the filling out with a spoon or you can slice it into smaller pieces
Filling details are below.
Vegan Veggie-Nut
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed
- 2 scallions (green onion), chopped (green parts only or green and white; whatever you prefer)
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup chopped cashews or walnuts
Kashrut Notes
- Olive Oil: OU's website confirms for 2022 that all the Extra Virgin Olive Oil they certify year-round are kosher for Passover without any special Passover certification. I usually use Pompeian, certified by Star-K says much the same about that brand.
- Garlic, scallions, broccoli, bell pepper: Chabad.org's website confirms that raw fruits and vegetables are essentially kosher for Passover and do not need to be labelled.
- Nuts require Passover certification. They are normally packaged with preservatives suspended in corn oil, a kitniyot oil. OhNuts.com has an amazing selection of nuts (among other things).
Preparation
- Get everything chopped up and ready while the squash is in the oven.
- As soon as the squash is done cooking, while it is on the counter cooling, heat the oil in a pot on the stove and add the garlic, stirring it around.
- Add the scallions and stir that too, giving it a minute or two to incorporate the flavor into the oil
- Add the broccoli and pepper, stirring, until the soften up a bit.
- Add about half of the nuts into the pot with the vegetables and stir until well-mixed.
- After the squash is scraped, sprinkle some of the uncooked nuts inside each one. Add the vegetable mix from the pot into the squash halves.
- Put the filled squash back in the oven for about 5 or 10 minutes to even out the heat and allow the flavors from the vegetable mix to incorporate into the squash.
Broccoli-Ricotta
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup cottage cheese or homemade ricotta
- 1 cup pasta or pizza tomato sauce
Kashrut Notes
- Olive Oil: OU's website confirms for 2022 that all the Extra Virgin Olive Oil they certify year-round are kosher for Passover without any special Passover certification. I usually use Pompeian, certified by Star-K says much the same about that brand.
- Garlic and broccoli: Chabad.org's website confirms that raw fruits and vegetables are essentially kosher for Passover and do not need to be labelled.
- Do not use store-bought ricotta! It his normally curdled using white vinegar (made from wheat) which is not obviously stated on the label. I provided a link above to the recipe for my make-your-own ricotta, or you can use cottage cheese which requires kosher for Passover certification. I have seen Breakstone's cottage cheese in stores with kosher for Passover certification, though it doesn't seem to be in all stores.
- Tomato sauce requires Passover certification. Gefen makes some very good kosher-for-Passover pizza sauces, if you can find them. If not, Manischewitz or Rokeach tomato sauces in a can are fine and more widely available.
Preparation
These instructions talk about three things that are done in a pot, but you can actually do them all in the same pot, just have someplace to put the broccoli between steps.
- About 10 minutes before the squash is done, boil the broccoli just enough to soften it up a bit.
- Drain the broccoli, then sauté it briefly in the olive oil and garlic.
- After the squash is out of the oven, heat the tomato sauce in a pot while the squash cools down and is scraped.
- Mix the ricotta or cottage cheese into the stringy part of the squash
- Put the broccoli on top of the cheese
- Put the tomato sauce on top of the broccoli
You'll probably want to eat all of this as soon as possible because I found that the flavor didn't hold up well in the refrigerator very long.
Cheddar Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 2 tbsp. potato starch
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional if you're allergic but it adds a very nice flavor)
Kashrut Notes
- Butter: Requires Passover certification. Breakstone's salted and unsalted whipped butter are commonly available in stores marked Kosher for Passover.
- Potato starch requires Passover certification. Manischewitz and Gefen make a kosher-for-Passover potato starch that is available in better Passover aisles. They are also available on Amazon.com but only in multi-packs.
- Milk does not require Passover certification if it is purchased before the holiday begins.
- Cheese requires Passover certification. Les Petites Fermieres makes excellent kosher cheeses if you can find them; I find them at Wegmans. Make sure it's certified for Passover; it isn't always. The traditional kosher cheese brand, Millers, is more widely available, and is always kosher for Passover.
- Nuts require Passover certification. They are normally packaged with preservatives suspended in corn oil, a kitniyot oil. OhNuts.com has an amazing selection of nuts (among other things).
Preparation
Begin making the cheese sauce about 10 minutes before the squash is ready to come out of the oven. You may be briefly interrupted to take out and flip the squash but that's OK. Don't fill the squash quite as much as I did in the pictures. If you have more cheese sauce than you need for this recipe, you can always use it as a dip for matzah crackers or vegetables!
- Melt butter in a saucepan
- Add potato starch gradually, mixing until blended. This mixture of fat and starch is called a roux (pronounced: roo), and is the thickening agent in many recipes
- Stir in the milk gradually. Allow the roux to spread through the liquid without clumping; break up any clumps you see.
- Add cheese and stir until the cheese melts. If the sauce is too thin, continue stirring until it thickens. You may need to raise the heat a bit.
- After the squash has cooled and been scraped, sprinkle the chopped walnuts around the inside of the squash
- Pour the cheese sauce into the squash (not quite as high as I did in the pictures!)
- Put the filled squash back in the oven for about 10 minutes, until it begins to brown.\
This recipe holds up in the fridge and reheats very well!