This recipe has been modified from the original recipe from EatingWell.

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Approximate time to prep, cook, and finally eat it: 1 hour and 10 minutes

Servings: 4+

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash (~3 lb)
• Olive Oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup mushrooms
• 1 cup bell pepper
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes (16 oz)
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• ground pepper
• ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
• ¼ salt
• Pepperoni slices
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
• Any other pizza toppings preferred

One 3-lb spaghetti squash may result in additional pizza filling. A larger squash, or two 2-lb squash may cut down excess. However, the additional pizza filling makes for a good base for pasta.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 °F.
2. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Remove the innards. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet, cut side face down. Rub olive oil over skin. Place in oven, let bake for 45 minutes. Note in the photo the squash is cut side up. This was only to show what it looks like with the innards removed.
   
3. Cut up onion. Heat some oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until translucent, which takes 5-8 minutes. Stir occasionally.
   
   In the above photo, raw onion is on the left. Translucent onion, cooked for 5-8 minutes, is on the right.
4. Add mushrooms, peppers, and any other veggies you wish to include. Cook until they are tender, which will take 5-7 minutes.
   
5. Add the minced garlic and stir until aromatic. This usually takes 1 minute or less; once you really smell the garlic, you have reached this point.
6. Add the crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, pepper, salt, and any other seasonings your heart desires. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until tomato is boiling. It will bubble, which is when you will know. This could take 2-6 minutes. Be careful not to let it start burning on the bottom.
   
7. Add some of the pepperoni and any additional cooked meat toppings. Stir to combine. Remove from heat.
8. Once the squash is done cooking, remove it from the oven. See the photo below for what it should look like. Leave the oven on at 450 °F.
   
9. Carefully flip the squash and gently scoop out the squash and transfer to a mixing bowl. Be careful to leave the skin in one piece without tearing/ripping. Don’t worry about getting every last single strand of squash.
   
10. Here is where the original recipe got confusing; however, the mistake I made ended up turning out really well. Add some mozzarella and the Parmesan to the squash and mix together. The cheese should start melting. (The original recipe intended to mix the squash/cheese mixture in with the veggie/tomato mixture. However, there was a dumb-ass attack and I made a crust out of the squash/cheese mixture.)
    
11. Take the squash/cheese mixture and press it into the squash skin-shell, forming a “crust.” Use as much as you can, don’t worry if there is some left.
    
12. Add any remaining squash/cheese to the vegetable/meat/tomato mixture from earlier. Scoop this combined mixture into the squash. Fill until about the top. You may have some left over, or a fair bit.
    
13. Add cheese(s) of choice and meat(s) of choice to the top of the squashes.
    
14. Pop in the oven, and bake for 15 minutes, until cheese has all melted. The photo below was taken after 15 minutes.
    
15. Now, keeping the squash pizzas in the oven, turn it to Broil. Let it broil for 1-2 minutes. The cheese and pepperoni should just start to brown. Then, remove from the oven. The final product:
    
16. The filling should separate rather easily from the skin. The skin is edible, and at this point should be a lot more tender than at the beginning. This recipe was not intended for the skin to be eaten (as it may be in squash soup or the sort).

Nutritional Information

Nutritional information is for one serving and is approximate. One serving is half of one half of the spaghetti squash (i.e., a quarter). This was calculated via the MyFitnessPal app. This assumes 4 servings, and may vary based on ingredients.

• Calories: 224
• Total Fat: 6 g
• Cholesterol: 13 mg
• Sodium: 232 mg
• Carbohydrates: 39 g
• Protein: 8 g