Thai Style Spaghetti Squash With Chicken Meatballs

Thai Style Spaghetti Squash With Chicken Meatballs is a mouthful of umami flavors. This very tasty dish will remind you of Pad Thai but is much lighter and healthier. What is great about this meal is that there are less carbohydrates compared to original Pad Thai and it is gluten-free.

Thai Style Spaghetti Squash With Chicken Meatballs

This meal gets its inspiration from several dishes that I have prepared in the past. I have made an Italian version of spaghetti squash with chicken meat balls which my husband and I loved. We made a decision then and there that spaghetti squash would be making a repeat appearance at our dinner table. Another meal that we enjoyed and inspired this dinner was Asian meatballs with vegetable “spaghetti”. Knowing how much we both like Pad Thai, I decided to create a recipe that would be a healthier version of this classic dish using spaghetti squash instead of rice noodles.

Thai Style Spaghetti Squash With Chicken Meatballs

Serves 4

Thai Style Spaghetti Squash

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into julienne pieces
• a handful of snow peas, cut on the bias into bite size pieces
• 2 – 3 scallions, sliced
• a handful of roasted peanuts, chopped
• a handful of cilantro, chopped
• 1 – 2 tsp. sesame oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• peanut ginger sauce (see recipe below)

Carefully cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Place on a baking sheet, drizzle the insides with a little oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for about an hour, depending on the size of the squash, until easily pieced. Remove from the oven and let cool enough to handle. Take a fork and scrape the flesh into pasta like strands and place into a bowl. Drizzle with a little oil and season with salt and pepper. Sauté the carrots, snow peas and scallions until tender crisp and add to the squash. Drizzle the squash with a little of the peanut ginger sauce, recipe below, and carefully toss. Garnish with chopped peanuts and cilantro.  Serve with Thai chicken meatballs, recipe below.

Peanut Ginger Sauce*

• 2 tsp. peanut oil
• 2 tsp. sesame seed oil
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 3 Tbsp. natural peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp. tamari sauce (I used San-J)
• 2 Tbsp. sweet Thai chili sauce, more or less
• 1 tsp. sriracha, more or less
• juice from 1/2 lime
• 1/2 c. chicken stock, more if necessary

Heat the oils in a small saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add all the other ingredients except the chicken stock and simmer until the peanut butter is melted and smooth. Slowly add the chicken stock a little at a time until the desired consistency. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if necessary. Keep sauce warm. *If you don’t want to make the sauce from scratch, you can use ready-made peanut sauce (San-J is gluten-free) and thin with chicken stock.

Thai Chicken Meatballs

• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 1/2 medium onion, minced fine
• 1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• 1 tsp. lemon grass paste (I use Gourmet Garden)
• 1 Tbsp. tamari sauce (I use San-J)
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. sirarcha
• 2 tsp. cornstarch

Mix all the ingredients together well and form into balls. Brown well on all sides until cooked through. Add to the peanut ginger sauce and simmer for a few minutes until the meatballs are totally coated.

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Thai style spaghetti squash with chicken meatballs is so good that you will forget that it is a healthy meal. If you have never had spaghetti squash, you must give this “pasta like” vegetable a try. It doesn’t taste anything like pasta but holds sauce in a similar way. A lot of people just cook the squash and then toss it with a little butter or olive oil. I would love for you to be a little adventurous and try my version that has an Asian twist. I know that this is a vegetable that may not be available where you live and if so, you can always make my recipe with traditional rice noodles.