Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash is a savory low carb, gluten-free dinner filled with rich, creamy flavor. It’s easy comfort food perfect for weeknights and special occasions.
Also try my other spaghetti squash boats recipes like Tex Mex stuffed spaghetti squash and butter chicken spaghetti squash.
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients for Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash
- How to Cook Spaghetti Squash
- How to Make Spaghetti Squash Chicken Alfredo
- Tips and Variations
- What to Serve Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash with?
- How to Store and Reheat
- FAQs
- More Spaghetti Squash Recipes
- More Alfredo Recipes to Try
- Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash Recipe
Fall marks squash season! Spaghetti squash chicken alfredo is true fall comfort food made in a healthy way! It is an old recipe of mine from 2017 that I have retested and updated with new photos.
This lighter take on chicken alfredo is every bit as indulgent as the classic Italian dish. The boats are filled with spaghetti squash strands, juicy chicken, and homemade sauce, they’re delicious!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Full of flavor: Heavy cream is substituted for healthier Greek yogurt. But I promise, the taste remains creamy! My healthy alfredo sauce is full of garlic and freshly grated Parmesan cheese flavors.
- Lower in carbs: In this recipe, tender spaghetti squash noodles replace traditional pasta.
- Extra vegetables: With spaghetti squash alfredo you get all the creamy sauce, chicken, and cheese with an extra serving of veggies aka spaghetti squash.
- Can be made ahead: This recipe is meal prep friendly and great for busy weeknights or healthy lunches. Make all components ahead for easy assembly, or assemble as per the recipe, refrigerate, and reheat.
Ingredients for Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash
Here’s a short list of everything you’ll need to make chicken alfredo spaghetti squash. You most likely have most of these wholesome ingredients already.
- Spaghetti squash: The recipe calls for 1 medium spaghetti squash. You can also use 2 smaller spaghetti squash.
- Chicken: I use Instant Pot shredded chicken breast. You can also use store bought rotisserie chicken (add less salt to the sauce then), or pan fried chicken breast or slow cooked chicken breast.
- Garlic cloves: Use fresh garlic cloves for more flavor.
- Oil: You’ll need a bit of oil to sauté the garlic, I like avocado oil or olive oil.
- Chicken broth: Low sodium chicken broth or chicken stock is used as the liquid for the sauce.
- Cornstarch: Thickening the sauce with cornstarch yields the right consistency, without losing flavor.
- Spices: A dash of salt and pepper to taste.
- Parmesan cheese: Freshly grated parmesan cheese from a block is always best for flavor and texture.
- Greek yogurt: I swap heavy cream for Greek yogurt or plain regular yogurt to make a thick and creamy sauce. I recommend full fat or low fat yogurt, fat free yogurt will curdle from the heat.
- Mozzarella cheese: Top with cheesy mozzarella. Freshly grated is best, pre-packaged cheese has anti-caking agents which don’t melt as nice.
How to Cook Spaghetti Squash
First step is roasting the spaghetti squash. Start by preheating your oven to 375 F, and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut spaghetti squash: Cut the squash in half lengthwise. If you’re nervous, here’s a quick tutorial on how to safely cut spaghetti squash. The key is to use a very sharp knife, I love my Henckels chef’s knife.
- Scoop out the seeds: Use a big spoon to scoop out the seeds from the inside of the squash.
- Bake: Place spaghetti squash halves cut side down on the prepared baking sheet, poke skin with a fork, and bake for 30-40 minutes. The skin should be dark and glossy.
- Cool: Remove baking sheet from the oven, and cool squash for about 15 minutes while you make the filling.
Recipe Tip
You can also air fry spaghetti squash instead of baking. I wouldn’t recommend any other methods of cooking it because results are more watery and less flavorful, but air fryer works wonderfully.
How to Make Spaghetti Squash Chicken Alfredo
Here’s an easy-to-follow photo overview of how to make the filling for chicken alfredo spaghetti squash.
There is a full recipe card below.
- Make alfredo sauce: First, sauté garlic in a large non-stick skillet until fragrant. Then add chicken stock, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat, add Parmesan cheese and whisk until cheese has melted.
- Add yogurt: Next, add Greek yogurt to the pan and stir well until smooth.
- Add chicken to the sauce: Stir in the pre-cooked shredded chicken into the sauce, stirring well.
- Shred spaghetti squash: Once squash is safe to touch, separate strands with a fork leaving them inside the shells.
- Combine: Scoop chicken alfredo sauce on top of each spaghetti squash shell. Use a fork to combine the sauce and squash strands.
- Add topping: Just sprinkle the top of each shell with 2 tablespoons of shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Bake and broil: Roast for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees F, then broil on low for 5 minutes until tops are bubbly and golden.
Tips and Variations
Here are some helpful tips for making this spaghetti squash recipe with chicken a huge hit!
- Don’t overcook spaghetti squash: Just like regular pasta, al dente strands are best. Overcooked squash can leave the strands watery.
- Add yogurt off the heat: The yogurt should be added to the sauce last, off heat so it doesn’t curdle.
- Make it vegetarian: For a savory vegetarian dish simply omit the chicken and follow the same recipe.
- Use other winter squash: This recipe is flexible! You can roast butternut squash halves or bake acorn squash halves and then stuff with the same filling.
- Turn it into a skillet meal: Scoop out spaghetti squash strands and add them to the skillet with sauce and chicken.
What to Serve Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash with?
Stuffed spaghetti squash makes a healthy meal on its own and perfect for the whole family to enjoy. Of course, you can always serve it up with a favorite veggie or leafy greens.
- Vegetables: Any roasted or sautéed veggie would make an excellent side dish. You can’t go wrong with easy sautéed zucchini, or broiled asparagus. Another delicious option is crispy air fryer broccoli.
- Salads: Depending on your appetite, you can make a heartier salad or something lighter. We love this sweet kale salad, spinach avocado salad, and brussels sprouts salad during fall and winter.
- Soup: A warm bowl of comforting soup pairs well with spaghetti squash, try some healthy pumpkin soup or classic tomato soup with breadsticks.
How to Store and Reheat
Store: Leftovers can be placed in an airtight container for 3-5 days.
Freeze: Spaghetti squash does not freeze well.
Reheat: Reheat in a microwave or in the oven covered at 375 F for 10 minutes. Don’t cook too long, sauce can separate.
FAQs
If you don’t like tangy taste of yogurt, sour cream is a good substitute but will be higher in calories.
Yes. Make the sauce with dairy-free plain yogurt and vegetarian parmesan cheese.
The best way is to roast spaghetti squash or make air fryer spaghetti squash. If you make it into a skillet instead of stuffing the halves, you can cook spaghetti squash whole or make spaghetti squash in Instant Pot. These methods aren’t good for stuffing the boats though, too hard to cut afterwards and less flavor.
If you’re not a fan of spaghetti squash you can swap with zucchini noodles, baked butternut squash, or angel hair pasta.
More Spaghetti Squash Recipes
- Spaghetti squash breakfast with avocado
- Ground turkey spaghetti squash
- Spaghetti squash quiche with kale
- Spaghetti squash quiche with vegetables
More Alfredo Recipes to Try
Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti Squash
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 medium spaghetti squash
- 2 large garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon oil for frying
- 3/4 cup chicken broth low sodium
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 3/4 cup plain regular yogurt or Greek yogurt
- 2 cups cooked chicken breast shredded
- 1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F degrees F. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds out. Place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 30-40 minutes or until skin is dark and glossy and inside flakes with a fork. Don't overcook.
- Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down until safe to the touch, about 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat large skillet on medium heat and add oil. Add garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add chicken stock, cornstarch, salt, pepper and whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1-2 more minutes until sauce has thickened a bit.
- Remove from the heat, add Parmesan cheese and whisk until smooth and cheese has melted. Add Greek yogurt and stir again until smooth. Add chicken and stir to combine.
- Using a fork, separate spaghetti squash into strands leaving them inside the shells. Scoop chicken alfredo filling on top of each shell and gently move around with a fork to make the sauce settle deeper into the spaghetti squash.
- Top each shell with 2 tablespoons of mozzarella cheese and place in a baking dish. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes and then broil until golden.
- Stir the squash with a sauce a bit before serving and serve hot.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days. Do not freeze.
Made this for my hubby who is not crazy about alfredo. He ate every bit and asked me to make it again. It was my first time using spaghetti squash, voila! It turned out fantastic. So rich and creamy, one of my favorites. It’s squash season here, so it’s important I find some variations. This is a hit!!!!
That’s the best review we could all ask for. Glad everyone enjoyed!
Slam dunk of recipe! The sauce was amazing and genuinely has that comforting Alfredo sauce flavor without the heaviness. Can’t wait to make this for my kids. The spaghetti squash is perfect for the adults and big kids but I will use pasta noodles for my toddlers.
I’m so happy to read this! Thanks for your positive feedback!
When you say grated Parmesan cheese… Are you meaning the shakeable kind like for pizza topping, or shredded kind? Or does it make a big difference?
Freshly grated from a block of Parmesan cheese will taste best, not the shakeable kind in container.
5 starts for flavor, 3 for appearance = 4 stars total. I don’t know what I did wrong, but my dish was very watery. I used canned and drained chicken breasts, which I finely shredded. (Maybe the canned chicken is the reason for the runny texture.) I’ll try it again and add a tablespoon of cornstarch and see if that makes a difference in the texture. However, the FLAVOR was shockingly rich and delicious! I admit, I was hesitant about the Greek yogurt becoming a flavorful sauce; so, I’m sorry I doubted you! 🙂 I’ll definitely try this again! I’m looking forward to leftovers for lunch!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the wonderful review! I think you might have overcooked your squash though.
This was delicious! I was very happy that it satisfied the desire for a creamy alfredo sauce without any butter or heavy cream! So good!
Awesome Sharron!
Great recipe! I love Chicken Alfredo. It is great to have a delicious healthy version.
Yes it is! From the sauce to the spaghetti squash!
Delicious! The yogurt gives the sauce that extra little tang that really puts it over the top (in my humble opinion)!
Thanks for sharing Pamela!
This is sooo good! Hubby had no idea it was yogurt based! Winner! Sent to my bf and she loves also! Never rated a recipe before either!
Haha, awesome! Glad everyone enjoyed, Lesa!
I just sent this recipe to my son because it’s easy and OMG so delicious …. thank you, thank you, thank you ?
PS…. this is actually the first comment I have ever left ??
Awesome!!! Happy to hear, Tracy. Comments are great and not scary, right?!:)