This Chicken Carbonara Spaghetti Squash Casserole is a great one-pan meal that’s comforting and healthy! Packed with veggies, protein, and a delicious sauce.
There are few things more satisfying than a heaping plate of warm pasta! This “pasta” dish is made with a spaghetti squash casserole base, chicken, spinach, bacon, and a pretty traditional carbonara sauce. Note that while this recipe follows the meal prep components of our Cook Once, Eat All Week Series (where we’ve pre-made the shredded chicken), you could absolutely make this dish with pan-friend or grilled slices of chicken.
Combine all the goodies and bake for one last opportunity for the flavors and textures to come together.
Cook Once, Eat All Week
If you’re new here, this Cook Once Eat All Week Series post is a great introduction to our Cook Once, Eat All Week series!
Here are the other recipes in our COEAW: Week 4 meal prep series:
- Base Recipes of bulk-prepared shredded chicken, spaghetti squash, and spinach: click HERE!
- Balanced Breakfast Egg Cups Recipe
- Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Boats Recipe
Chicken Carbonara Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 medium spaghetti squash
- 3 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 4 strips bacon sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Cream from one can of full-fat coconut milk about 3/4 cup
- 6 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil
- 2 cups grilled or shredded chicken breast
- 1, 10 ounce package frozen spinach cooked and drained
- Fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Cut the spaghetti squash in half, scrape out the seeds, and place it in a rimmed baking dish face-down with 1/4 cup of water. Bake at 375 F for 1 hour, or until soft. Once cooked, set aside until cool enough to handle. Once cooled, scrape the squash out into a large bowl.
- Add the bacon to a large pan over medium heat, cook for about 5 minutes until crisp, then remove the bacon. Add the garlic to the pan and sauté for 3-4 minutes, or until fragrant and browned. Add the spaghetti squash to the pan and toss with the garlic, salt, and pepper.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the solids from a can of full-fat coconut milk and 6 egg yolks. Add this mixture to the pan with the spaghetti squash, then add the basil, chicken breast, spinach, and half of bacon from earlier. Toss to combine.
- Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes, then remove from oven, garnish with parsley, the rest of the bacon, and serve!
Nutrition
I made this and it was easy as well as delicious. My only problem is the sauce looked curdled which was rather unattractive. We don’t do coconut milk so I subbed in fat free half and half. Should I have used something else? Was the sauce to cook for a bit before serving? Seems like the eggs would still be raw if the dish was served immediately after combining with the other ingredients as the instructions indicate.
So many of the recipes in the e-book look yummy and I can hardly wait to try them. One of the make ahead breakfast recipes is next.
Hi Pam! After tossing the spaghetti squash with the sauce, you’ll bake the entire thing at 375°F for 15 minutes. As for the curdled sauce, that sometimes happens with dairy, but it should be better after baking!
We can’t have eggs; what would you recommend as a sub for eggs in this dish? With so many eggs, I’m worried that if I try to “wing” a substitute, it could go horribly wrong! 🙂
Hi Julie, unfortunately this one is pretty dependent on the eggs! If you want to try another route, I’d suggest heating the coconut milk and whisking in about 1 tablespoon of arrowroot to thicken it.
Wow, this really didn’t turn out like the picture. Very runny. I wouldn’t make it again.
This was delicious! My egg and coconut cream mixture curdled a bit when it hit the pan. Any idea what I could have done wrong?
constant stirring can help that–more movement the better 🙂
Excited to make this tonight! I notice the directions mention putting half of the bacon into the mixture, but I don’t see reference of what to do with the other half. Should all of the 4 slices go into the mixture?
Sprinkle the other half on top of the casserole! Instructions updated.
I know this is probably a weird question but by using coconut cream can you taste the coconut in the finished dish? . This looks so good but I am not a fan of coconut flavor with savory. I am just curious, I would like to make this.
Thank you.
Hi Michele, there’s no coconut taste! When you cook with coconut milk it takes away most of that coconut flavor, plus the garlic and bacon help even more. If you can tolerate dairy you can also substitute with heavy cream!
Looks amazing! I’m confused though. In the post you say to bake one last time at the bit I don’t see that listed in the recipe. How long and what temperature? Thanks!!
Hey Kim – the recipe is updated now! Bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Looks great. What do you typically do with the leftover egg whites? BTW – made your plantain pizza base the other night. What a great idea. Turned out really well and will become a regular in our house!
Won’t be long until you will be looking into your daughter’s eyes 🙂