Butternut Squash Spaghetti

It’s a happy day for low-carb noodle lovers! We’ve got a whole new noodle to love: butternut squash noodles. Gee, this recipe is going to take me longer to make than regular spaghetti, you may be thinking. Yes, this is true. It will take more effort. And yes, the noodles do look a little different and taste a little different than the noodles your kids are used to. So why do it?

I don’t think that healthy eating should mean salads for dinner every night. As a mom, I know firsthand what a fight that would be! So by making simple, real-food swaps—like using butternut squash for noodles, rather than processed, boxed noodles—we can serve our families the foods they love while making a real improvement in our health. Let’s make a difference in the lives of those we love—one meal at a time!

Now, there’s a little bit of technique involved with cutting your squash so that you can run it through a spiral slicer, but the rest is super-duper easy. I’ve found that the narrow part of the squash—the “neck”—is the piece that works best. Slice or peel off the skin first, and then simply run the squash flesh through the slicer. Then either reserve the remaining squash for another use or scoop out the seeds and thinly slice the flesh to serve alongside the long noodle strands.

Note: The spaghetti sauce recipe here is awesome because it simmers all day in the slow cooker while you are hard at work doin’ what you do, so the house smells amazing when you get home. The noodles only take about 20 minutes, so you can cook ’em right before you eat.