Low-Fat Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Creamy Garlic Chickpea Spinach Sauce!
This Low-Fat Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Creamy Garlic Chickpea Spinach Sauce is bursting with robust garlic flavor and a delightful blend of hearty chickpeas and vibrant spinach. Plus, with its low-fat profile, you can savor every bite without the guilt. This scrumptious stuffed spaghetti squash is sure to become a staple in your healthy cooking repertoire!
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
We absolutely adore spaghetti squash in our kitchen! This dish is not only tasty and hearty, but it also gives us that warm, cozy feeling of comfort food without the extra calories. You’ve got to give this one a try—it’s a game changer!
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: This Low-Fat Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Creamy Garlic Chickpea Spinach Sauce is full of delicious garlic flavor. Filled with hearty chickpeas and spinach, this low-fat dish is both healthy and delicious.
- Low-Fat Dish Expectations: This dish was designed to be low in fat. Because it is low in fat, you are not going to experience that endorphin rush associated with eating high-fat foods when eating this dish. It is very tasty for what it is, and that is a low-fat dish. We just want to make sure that our Readers recognize this when contemplating making this recipe. If you wish to make it more indulgent, add the Vegan Parmesan Cheese on individual servings. The vegan parmesan cheese totally takes it over the top.
- Flavor/Texture: We had one family member who absolutely hated this dish. They simply couldn’t get past the combination of the baked spaghetti squash strings coupled with the sauce. If you have any individuals in your family who have textural issues, then perhaps consider skipping this recipe.
- Flour (of choice): You can pretty much use just about any flour you wish to thicken the broth with the understanding that the flavor may change slightly based upon the flour used. When adding the flour, it will appear that you are pushing flour coated onions/garlic around in the skillet. It is important to stir the flour and onions/garlic together to cook the flour to remove the flour flavor from the broth. Cooking the flour achieves this. Once you add the liquids, it is important to scrape the bottom of the skillet with a silicone or wooden spatula to pull up any flour that may have stuck to the bottom of the skillet.
- Chickpea Substitutions: We used chickpeas; however, feel free to use your favorite white bean.
- Bean Substitutions: If you are not a bean lover, you can easily replace the beans with sauteed mushrooms, sweet peas, broccoli, or other steamed or roasted veggies.
- Baby Spinach Substitutions: You can substitute the fresh baby spinach for frozen spinach, massaged curly kale, baby kale or other greens with understanding that the flavor and cooking times may be impacted by substitution choices.
- Greens: Greens such as spinach and kale are natural spice/herb neutralizers. A soup/stew/dish can taste perfectly seasoned before adding the greens, then once the greens are added, the flavor mellows requiring more seasoning.
- Table Salt: If using table salt, you should use less table salt than the amount listed in the ingredients as sea salt crystals are larger than table salt crystals. Since table salt crystals are very fine, less table salt is required to season a dish. We would suggest starting with about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of sea salt listed. You can always add more salt but cannot take it away. We recommend using sea salt as it is less refined than table salt.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep 5 days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered container.
This dish can be frozen.
Pantry Products:
- Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Equipment:
- Large skillet
If you try this comforting dish, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
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Low-Fat Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Creamy Garlic Chickpea Spinach Sauce
- Prep Time: 15 Minutes
- Cook Time: 45 Minutes
- Total Time: 60 Minutes
- Yield: 4 Servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop, Oven
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Low-Fat Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Creamy Garlic Chickpea Spinach Sauce is bursting with robust garlic flavor and a delightful blend of hearty chickpeas and vibrant spinach.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients:
- 2 medium spaghetti squash *
Skillet Ingredients:
- 1 medium yellow onion, fine dice
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 3 Tablespoons flour (of choice)
- 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth *
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- ¼ to 1 ¼ teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper (+/-)
Other Ingredients:
- 1 – [ 15.5 oz. can ] chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 cups packed, chopped baby spinach *
Finishing Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Prepare the spaghetti squash per How to Bake a Spaghetti Squash. We cut them as boats, in other words, in half lengthwise.
- In a large skillet, add the finely diced onions, sauté over medium-high heat for 7 to 10 minutes or until the onions are perfectly tender, add a splash of water, if needed to avoid burning.
- Then lower the heat to medium, add the minced garlic, sauté, stir constantly for one minute.
- Next add the flour and stir constantly for several minutes to cook the flour.
- Then add all the remaining Skillet Ingredients and the Spice/Herb Ingredients to the skillet, stir to incorporate, scraping the bottom of the pan to bring up any flour that stuck to the bottom on the skillet. Bring the mixture to a boil, then immediately lower to a simmer. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes to thicken the sauce.
- Once the sauce has thickened, then add the chickpeas and chopped baby spinach, stir well to incorporate, simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Finish with the red wine vinegar, stir well, simmer for several more minutes.
- To serve, with a fork, pull up the strands of the baked spaghetti squash all around the bottom and sides, then spoon a generous amount of the creamy chickpea/spinach sauce to fill the boat, then serve and enjoy!
Notes
*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Products Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Equipment Used.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Servings: 4
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