Description
Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with black beans, corn, bell pepper, Mexican spices, enchilada sauce, melty cheese, and cilantro. Vegan-adaptable, or add ground meat if you like.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 small spaghetti squash, cut in half
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2–4 fresh garlic cloves- chopped
- 1 1/2 cups corn, fresh or frozen
- 1 red bell pepper – diced
- 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans ( 14-ounce can rinsed and drained) or sub browned ground meat, turkey chorizo, or leftover or baked chicken breast )
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon coriander
- 1 tablespoon fresh jalapeno, or 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup enchilada sauce , more to taste.
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish
- 1/2–1 cup shredded cheese- Mexican cheese blend, cheddar, mozzarella, or vegan cheese
- Garnish: cilantro, sour cream or sliced avocado, hot sauce
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 425 F
- Cut spaghetti squash in half, and scrape out seeds. If cutting in half horizontally, create a stable base by slicing of a little of the ends, so they stand upright, creating a “bowl”(or fee free to cut vertically).
- Place on a parchment lined or greased baking sheet, cut-side, faced down, and place in the hot oven for 40 minutes until fork tender.
- While they are roasting, make the filling. Saute onion in a skillet with the olive oil, on medium-high heat, stirring, for two minutes. Add garlic, turn heat to medium and sauté for 3-4 minutes until garlic becomes fragrant and golden. Turn heat to medium-low, add red bell pepper and jalapeno if using, stir occasionally for 5 minutes. Add beans, corn spices, salt and enchilada sauce and bring to a simmer. Turn heat off and stir in cilantro. The mixture will seem salty, but remember you will be mixing this with under-seasoned spaghetti squash, so the salt will disappear.
- When spaghetti squash is tender, carefully, using a fork, fluff and stir the inside of the squash, scraping it away from the sides. Place it in a bowl and mix with the black bean filling. Add more enchilada sauce to taste and mix in some cheese. Adjust salt and heat to taste.
- Divide the filling among the four shells, top with a little more cheese if you like and return the stuffed squash into a 375F oven and bake for 15- 20 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted. *Alternatively, you can pour the filling into a greased baking dish, top with cheese and bake it as a casserole.
- Garnish with cilantro, avocado or sour cream, and hot sauce.
Notes
These can be made up to 48 hours ahead, refrigerate, let come to room temp before baking. Internal temp should reach 140F
If adding ground meat instead of black beans, brown the ground meat with the onions and garlic. Season with the spices and salt, then add in the rest. You’ll need about ¾-1 lb. Adjust salt to taste at the end, after adding the enchilada sauce, you may need a bit more.
You can make some with meat and some with black beans for mixed households.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ½ a squash, mounded
- Calories: 473
- Sugar: 12.9 g
- Sodium: 1111.6 mg
- Fat: 17.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 65.3 g
- Fiber: 13.2 g
- Protein: 20.7 g
- Cholesterol: 26.6 mg