Trim Healthy Mama Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole
This recipe is a dream come true for me! That may seem a bit overly dramatic, but seriously I’m so excited about this trim healthy mama chicken spaghetti squash casserole.
I love casseroles, and chicken spaghetti casserole has always been a favorite of mine. I would sometimes think longingly about having chicken spaghetti casserole, but then I would remember sadly that pasta isn’t the best for my blood sugar or my waistline.
While this recipe doesn’t really taste like the casserole recipe I grew up with, I actually think it’s so much more delicious, and I can enjoy it without guilt! My whole family loved it the first time I made it, and it’s now part of our regular meal rotation. Even my pickiest eater loves this!
It does take a bit longer to make than some meals (with the extra steps of cooking the squash and the chicken), so I often save it for a day when I’m not in a hurry. It’s soooo worth it, though!
A friend shared this recipe in the THM Facebook group, and I jotted down the extra ingredients I needed to make it, since I already had two spaghetti squash waiting to be used. I made a few changes to her original recipe and re-wrote some of the instructions, but she came up with this whole concept, and I’m so grateful to her for sharing her amazing idea!
Trim Healthy Mama Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole
One of the many great things about this recipe is that it feeds a large family. It makes two 9″ x 13″ pans.
For our family of seven, we usually eat at least one pan of this, and then we have almost the whole other pan for another meal! I love that, as it saves time. If you don’t like leftovers or you’re cooking for fewer people, you may want to halve this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 spaghetti squash
- 3 lbs. chicken, cooked and shredded
- 2 packages 1/3 less fat cream cheese
- 2 cups sour cream
- 1 stick of butter
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- 4-4 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Directions:
1. Cook the two spaghetti squash.
To do this, I wash the outside with water and vinegar, cut in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, and place cut-side down on a well-greased baking sheet (I grease my baking/cookie sheet with expeller-pressed coconut oil). Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Remove the strands of squash with a fork.
Take out the seeds…
Bake the squash for 30-45 minutes…
Remove strands of “spaghetti” from the squash with a fork.
2. While the squash is cooking, cook and shred the chicken.
I put my chicken pieces in boiling water and let them cook/boil for about 30 minutes. Then I remove them from the water, cool, and shred with two forks. You can also cut the chicken with kitchen shears to make smaller pieces.
3. As you’re waiting for the squash and chicken to finish cooking, make a sauce.
Make a sauce using the cream cheese, sour cream, butter, 2 cups of the cheddar cheese, chicken broth, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Depending on the size of your squash, decide how much chicken broth to use. You want it to be a soupy consistency, but not too watery. 4 1/2 cups has been just about right for me, but it depends on what you like and how big the squash are.
4. While the sauce is heating, blend well with a fork or wire whisk.
Whisk until it is smooth and free of clumps.
5. Divide the cooked spaghetti squash and the cooked, shredded chicken between two greased 9″x 13″ pans.
6. Pour the sauce over the squash and chicken.
Divide the sauce between the two pans. Stir the mixture well to combine everything.
7. Sprinkle 2 cups of cheddar cheese over the two casseroles.
8. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, until heated through.
Serve with a salad or vegetable of your choice, and enjoy your delicious meal!
Updated to add: you can freeze this recipe! I recently tried it and it worked great.
Freezer Instructions:
If you’d like to freeze one of the casseroles for later, simply assemble the casserole as per the instructions above, but don’t bake it. Cover with plastic wrap and/or a plastic lid, label, and freeze.
When you’re ready to make it, remove from the freezer and thaw in refrigerator the night before baking. About an hour before you hope to eat it, remove the plastic wrap/lid and put into a cold oven (do not preheat the oven first).
After putting the casserole dish into the oven, turn oven to 375 degrees. It may take longer than the usual cooking time, since it may still be cold or even still partially frozen. I set my timer for 30 minutes initially, but it ended up taking about an hour. The casserole may be a bit more watery, but it’s still delicious! We just served ours with a slotted spoon! 🙂
Trim Healthy Mama Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole (S)
Ingredients
- 2 spaghetti squash
- 3 lbs. chicken cooked and shredded
- 2 packages 1/3 less fat cream cheese
- 2 cups sour cream
- 1 stick of butter
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese divided
- 4 to 4 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp garlic powder
- 3 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Cook the two spaghetti squash. To do this, I wash the outside with water and vinegar, cut in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, and place cut-side down on a well-greased baking sheet (I grease my baking/cookie sheet with expeller-pressed coconut oil). Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Remove the strands of squash with a fork.
- While the squash is cooking, cook and shred the chicken. I put my chicken pieces in boiling water and let them cook/boil for about 30 minutes. Then I remove them from the water, cool, and shred with two forks. You can also cut the chicken with kitchen shears to make smaller pieces.
- As you're waiting for the squash and chicken to finish cooking, make a sauce using the cream cheese, sour cream, butter, 2 cups of the cheddar cheese, chicken broth, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Depending on the size of your squash, decide how much chicken broth to use. You want it to be a soupy consistency, but not too watery. 4 1/2 cups has been just about right for me, but it depends on what you like and how big the squash are.
- While the sauce is heating, blend well with a fork or wire whisk until it is smooth and free of clumps.
- Divide the cooked spaghetti squash and the cooked, shredded chicken between two greased 9"x 13" pans.
- Pour the sauce over the squash and chicken (dividing the sauce between the two pans). Stir the mixture well to combine everything.
- Sprinkle 2 cups of cheddar cheese over the two casseroles.
- Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, until heated through. Serve with a salad or vegetable of your choice, and enjoy your delicious meal!
- Freezer Instructions: If you'd like to freeze one of the casseroles for later, simply assemble the casserole as per the instructions above, but don't bake it. Cover with plastic wrap and/or a plastic lid, label, and freeze. When you're ready to make it, remove from the freezer and thaw in refrigerator the night before baking. About an hour before you hope to eat it, remove the plastic wrap/lid and put into a cold oven (do not preheat the oven first). After putting the casserole dish into the oven, turn oven to 375 degrees. It may take longer than the usual cooking time, since it may still be cold or even still partially frozen. I set my timer for 30 minutes initially, but it ended up taking an hour. The casserole may be a bit more watery, but it's still delicious! We just served ours with a slotted spoon!!
Opened this recipe looking for a reduced calorie casserole with the spaghetti squash alternative to noodles. While it cuts back on calories without the noodles, all the butter, sour cream, cream cheese and cheddar cheese probably brings the calories per serving up to near 1000
Not trim or healthy, Mama
Yes, this isn’t a low-fat or low-calorie recipe, this is a “Trim Healthy Mama S,” which is heavier on the fat. If you’re not familiar with the Trim Healthy Mama program, they have a book (available here), outlining how to do the plan. The idea is to switch between “S” meals that are higher in fat, and “E” meals that are leaner. According to the plan, this helps many people to lose weight, by switching up the fuels regularly.
I followed the Trim Healthy Mama plan for several years (and did lose weight while on the plan), and all of those posts are available here.
This looks amazing
I love spaghetti squash. I’m taking your word – with your large family you have many taste testers – lol
Thanks for sharing!
My family really enjoys this recipe! I hope you enjoy it as well! 🙂
Absolutely delicious and worth the effort.
I’m so glad you liked it, Jeannie! Thanks so much for the positive feedback!
Can you substitute yogurt for sour cream?
I’m not sure. That works in many recipes, so it might work in this one, but I haven’t tried it myself. Let me know if it works! 🙂
How many servings per casserole?
It depends on how big of a portion you consider a serving size, but I would say 6-8. Our family of 7 eats a whole casserole for dinner and sometimes part of the other one. But we have several teenagers, too. 6-8 is my best guess. 🙂
Do you know the carb content of the spaghetti squash and chicken casserole? We have been following a low carb diet and this recipe looks good!
I’m sorry, I don’t know the carb content. With Trim Healthy Mama we don’t count carbs, so I haven’t learned how to do that! 🙂 I would think it would work for a low carb diet, though, since the spaghetti squash takes the place of pasta. Sorry I can’t be of more help!
I made this tonight and took it to church to share and everyone raved about it! The only change I made was to add rotel to it and was a little heavier handed with the pepper. It was great! We will definitely be making this again! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Oh, good, I'm so glad it was a hit! Thanks so much for letting me know you liked it, and also for the suggestion for more pepper and rotel. I'll have to try that! 🙂
Making this right now!! Do you freeze the extra pan? And if so, do you cook it first or freeze before the last baking?
Hope you like it, Aneesa!
I've never tried freezing it. We have 7 people in our family (including 3 teenagers), so we go through one whole pan and sometimes a little bit of the other pan. Then we eat whatever is left as leftovers the following day (for lunch or dinner). If you try freezing it, let me know how it turns out!
Aneesa, I just wanted to come back here and let you know that I tried freezing one of the casseroles, and it was a success! I added freezing instructions to the recipe. 🙂
I cut grains from my food so this would be a great casserole!
Hope you enjoy it, Hannah! 🙂
This looks delicious, Joy! My family actually just tried spaghetti squash, and (those who tried it) loved it! Thanks for sharin' the love,
Jazzy @ http://thetruthsofmyheart.wordpress.com
You're welcome! Enjoy! 🙂
Looks delish, thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Tori! 🙂
We've done something similar and called it Chicken Parmigan!
I cook the spaghetti squash & chicken the same but then in the pans I layer: homemade spaghetti sauce, shredded spaghetti squash, cut up chicken, shredded cheese and more spaghetti sauce. We serve with a salad bar.
There's not usually much leftover 🙂
I'll have to try it with your cheese sauce sometime too ~ thanks for posting another great option!
Becky
http://www.etsy.com/myershousehandcrafts
Your recipe sounds delicious, Becky! Thanks so much for sharing!
I can't wait to try this recipe! My family eats spaghetti squash often, and this looks quite tasty. I bake my spaghetti squash whole on a parchment lined cookie sheet for about 70 minutes at 350 then let it cool for 10 minutes before cutting it. I feel much safer cutting it after it is baked!
Hope you like it as much as we do, Jennifer! And that's a great tip about baking the squash whole. It is a huge pain trying to cut them raw!
Jennifer, How do you keep it from exploding? I baked mine whole once, spent all night cleaning it from every surface of my oven.