Happy Friday everyone!  We’re headed over to Houston this weekend for a friend’s baby shower and am so excited to see all my girlfriends!  It’s been way too long since we’ve all gotten together and man have I needed some girl time :)  The husband is tagging along and will get in some good bro time with the other husbands by the pool while we baby shower (slightly jealous of that).  Definitely will try to squeeze in a Pottery Barn trip on the way home too ;)

Today is also our Monthly Ingredient Challenge and whew, this one was a doozie!  Our ingredient this month was chosen by the uber-talented Christin at Blue Crab Martini and she chose spaghetti squash (insert wide-eyed emoji).  I’ve only made spaghetti squash once back in grad school and remember liking it, just not knowing what all I could do with it.

I have no idea how, but I got the idea to use it as a substitute for cabbage in coleslaw because Matt isn’t a friend to cabbage.  My goal was to make a husband-friendly coleslaw for him to finally enjoy.

I wasn’t sure how crunchy the squash would come out so I used matchstick carrots and unsalted sunflower seeds to make sure it was still coleslaw-crunchy.  I think next time I’ll add broccoli sticks as well for some green color and more crunch.

I searched the web on how to cook the squash and settled on doing the basic oven roasting which worked out well.  I didn’t need long noodle-like pieces so I cut mine in half longways.  I am intrigued by the circular slicing method I saw though which yields long, continues “noodles”.

For the dressing, I just prepared a normal coleslaw sauce, but added lemon juice just to give it a little more zing.  I’ve never been a fan of super-mayonnaise-y coleslaws.

I realllllly wasn’t sure what to expect with this hair-brained idea but ohmygosh you guys!  It came out so good!!  We actually both preferred this over regular coleslaw now!  And it completely created a spaghetti squash monster because I want to make everything with it  now.  How have I had my head in the sand for so long?!?

Bonus: One of our local seafood restaurants has this non-mayonnaise coleslaw that has a sweet-ish vinaigrette with poppy seeds so I recreated that one too with spaghetti squash and will share that recipe with y’all next week.  It actually was my favorite between the two, although I shoveled both versions down ;)

Spaghetti Squash Coleslaw

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Spaghetti squash is a perfect substitute for coleslaw in this variation on the classic favorite side.

Print

Ingredients

Slaw:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 2 cups 1 small package of matchstick carrots
• 1/4 unsalted sunflower seeds

Sauce:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp sugar

Instructions

1. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds
2. Place face-down on a baking dish and stab numerous times with a fork
3. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes
4. Allow to cool, then use a fork to scrape into strings perpendicular to cut
5. Combine squash, carrots, and sunflower seeds and set aside
6. Whisk mayonnaise, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar together in a separate bowl
7. Pour over squash mixture and mix thoroughly
8. Place in refrigerator until chilled then serve.

Notes

You can add other crunchy veggies to the slaw as desired such as broccoli strips, jicama, cauliflower, or even zucchini.

Check out the other spaghetti squash recipes from the others here: