Turkey Taco Spaghetti Squash Boats
Original recipe: Turkey Taco Spaghetti Squash Boats by skinnytaste
Serves 2 (makes extra taco filling - freeze to use for taco salad topping)
INGREDIENTS
1 small spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise
2 tbsp olive oil (plus extra to brush on the squash)
1 lb extra lean ground chicken
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 cup water
4oz tomato sauce
3/4 cup tex-mex cheese (plus extra for sprinkling on top)
4 tbsp jarred salsa of your choice (though I recommend making the fresh pico de gallo as per the original recipe - see Note #4)
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Half the spaghetti squash lengthwise and brush the exposed skin with olive oil before seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the squash flesh side down on the baking sheet and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the skin is soft and gives when you poke it. Take it out and set aside.
3. While the squash bakes, heat a large skillet to medium with 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the ground chicken and cook through until no longer pink, using your spatula to break it apart.
4. Add to the cooked chicken the garlic powder, cumin, 1 tsp salt, chili powder, smoked paprika, and oregano. Cook 1-2 minutes.
5. Add in the onion, bell pepper, tomato sauce, and water. Mix, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Use a fork to scrape the flesh of the spaghetti squash into strands.
7. If you wish to serve using the spaghetti squash halves as the serving vessel, remove some of the spaghetti strands as there will be too much in there. Then add the ground chicken mixture on top, and top with salsa & cheese.
8. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
9. Serve!
*See Note 3 regarding serving.
My Changes & Notes:
1. Lean, ground poultry.
The grocery store I frequent is pretty hit or miss when it comes to the availability of lean, ground turkey. So, when I cannot get my hands on turkey, I substitute with extra lean ground chicken. Obviously this, along with my other changes below, can significantly change the nutritional information provided on skinnytaste.
2. Foil, not parchment.
As pictured, I baked the spaghetti squash on aluminum foil instead of parchment and didn't have any issues. I've tried other recipes baking spaghetti squash without oil, salt & pepper, but after seeing the results of doing so - DO IT! The squash developed some nice caramelization which only adds to the flavour.
3. The squash.
I only planned to have this for one meal between the two of us (me and my husband), so I only baked up one squash. As a family that loves meat, I kept the meat proportions the same as the original recipe. There was definitely leftover taco filling, which I froze and will use to top a salad base for quick work lunch!
After using a fork to create the spaghetti squash strands, I noticed there was a whole lot of spaghetti squash and not a whole lot of room for the filling! I had to remove some of the strands of squash so that the filling didn't overflow.
I also have some bad news... eating this out of the spaghetti squash boats seems like a cute idea, but it just wasn't practical. If you eat it as pictured, you're just going to get a huge forkful of filling. Then a huge forkful of nothing but spaghetti squash. That doesn't sound overly pleasant us, so we dumped it into a bowl and mixed it all up for equal distribution of flavour.
4. Toppings.
For the cheese, we used a tex-mex blend and we also included sour cream as well for some richness. My husband doesn't like tomatoes so we omitted the pico de gallo and used regular salsa instead; however, I would strongly suggest you go for the pico de gallo. I feel like our version was missing a freshness that could have been achieved with the fresh tomatoes, jalapeno, and lime juice. At the very least, next time I will include the jalapeno for some spice!