Spaghetti Squash with Chile-Spiced Pinto Beans

Alert!  This Mexican-flavored spaghetti squash with chile-spiced pinto beans causes purring noises while eating. Really. I’ve heard those contented purrs from across the dinner table! Brick-red chile-spiced beans and golden spaghetti-like strands–this is a gorgeous purr-worthy vegetarian meal.

When cooked, the insides of the oval yellow squash can be separated with a fork into yellow strands that resemble thin spaghetti pasta. Yay for vegetable spaghetti! It’s a perfect low calorie, low carbohydrate vehicle for most any sauce you would serve with pasta. This is my favorite way to eat spaghetti squash!

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While the squash is in the oven baking mix the pinto beans and enchilada sauce. Scrape the “spaghetti” out into a bowl, top with the sauced beans and garnish with avocado slices and cilantro! Serve this easy wholesome Mexican-food dinner with a mixed greens and veggie salad.

It’s January of a new year, when many people make resolutions to lose weight. We know the diet that works best in the long term is to make positive food choices, healthy choices like eating more vegetables, leafy greens, nuts, and whole grains, less or no processed foods, more plant-based meals, or going meatless at least one day a week. Along those lines would be subbing spaghetti squash for regular pasta!

When I was about 12 years old, my mother joined Weight Watchers. She went to weekly weigh-in pep talks and brought home recipes using nutritious ingredients. Eating along with Mom, my sisters and I learned weight loss tricks and I’ve kept many of those lifestyle food habits my whole life.

One time Mom came home from her meeting psyched to make spaghetti squash “pasta”, a recipe she’d picked up from her weight-loss “teacher.” We were suspicious this new vegetable would taste like acorn squash, which we thought was awful, even swimming butter and brown sugar. Mom bathed our spaghetti squash with lots of pasta sauce and cheese. We loved it!

Thanks Mom for introducing us to spaghetti squash. I bet you’d like it this way, Mexican style, with pinto beans and plenty of enchilada sauce!

Mexican Spaghetti Squash recipe details:

• I make this quick and Easy Enchilada Sauce with prepared chili powder to mix it into the creamy beans. More ambitious–make authentic red enchilada sauce.
• You can use canned pinto beans or home-cooked beans. If you have black beans on hand, substitute them for the pintos.
• Bake ahead: Bake the spaghetti squash earlier in the day or the day before. You can rake the strands before or after, just refrigerate, then heat if when you are ready to serve with the pinto beans and enchilada sauce.
• If you eat cheese, sprinkle on cotija, sharp white cheddar, or jack cheese.

• Sometimes I’ll finish this dish with a sprinkle of toasted pumpkin seeds, or the toasted seeds from inside the spaghetti squash.
• Toast the seeds: Unless I’m being lazy, I like to save the seeds from the insides of the cooked spaghetti squash. Some strands of squash will cling to the seeds, but you can get them pretty clean by rinsing through a sieve. You don’t need to be anal about it though, the little rogue strands will practically disappear in the oven. Toss the rinsed seeds with a bit of oil and kosher salt and dump onto a baking sheet. Bake 5 to 10 minutes, until the seeds are crunchy and very slightly golden.

Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and cook something healthy and delicious!

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Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Mexican Spaghetti Squash with Pinto Beans and Enchilada Sauce

Warm spaghetti scraped from a big roasted yellow squash! Simply topped with pinto beans and enchilada sauce, this healthy vegetarian recipe rocks with flavor! 

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Vegetarian, Gluten free, Vegan friendly

Keyword: Spaghetti squash, pinto bean, enchilada sauce, easy

Servings: 4 servings.

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 3 cups cooked pinto beans, homemade or canned
• 2 cups enchilada sauce, (see note)
• Chopped cilantro leaves, as needed
• 1 avocado, sliced
• crumbled Cotija or feta cheese, as desired, optional

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 375° F. Poke a few holes in the squash with a knife or carving fork and place in a pan. Bake about one hour, until the squash skin is soft. Let cool.
• While the squash is in the oven make easy enchilada sauce and mix it with the pinto beans.
• When the squash is cool enough to touch, cut it in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and stringy parts. Rake the squash meat with a fork. Divide into large bowls, 1 to 1 1/2 cups per person. Spoon the sauced beans over or alongside the squash. 
• Garnish with cilantro and slices of avocado. If you wish, sprinkle with cheese.

Notes

Enchilada sauce made with chili powder is super easy. Heat oil and garlic, stir in chili powder and cornmeal or flour, and cook a minute. Whisk in vegetable broth or water and vegetable or tomato juice and cook until the mixture thickens into a nice sauce. (Recipe here.)

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 388mg | Potassium: 858mg | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 365IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 122mg | Iron: 2.9mg

Did you make this recipe?Mention @lettyskitchen or tag #lettyskitchen

This is an updated January 2014 post, edited with new photos and writing.