Vegan Baked Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Hi Everyone!

For this week’s recipe I wanted to make a bit of a mashup. I love spaghetti squash and normally I have it will a little salt, pepper, and butter or mix it with a little marinara sauce and have it as a side to my main dish and I also love a good casserole of any kind, throwing ingredients into an oven safe pan adding some breadcrumbs on top and making a gooey yummy mess is pretty much my heaven so I thought what if I combined the two. Could I take spaghetti squash, my simple friend, and turn it into a gooey yummy mess with some breadcrumbs on top? Well, the answer is yes!

For this dish I wanted to highlight the versatility of spaghetti squash showing that it really is a great substitute for pasta and can absorb flavors as well as pasta can. Obviously coming from a family who is of Italian descent I had to make this casserole with a bit of Italian flare with some homemade tofu ricotta cheese, recipe in the notes, some marinara sauce, sausage, and the Italian works! So, I hope you enjoy this new take on a casserole and a new and delicious way to recreate spaghetti squash! Enjoy!

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Baked Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Servings: Approximately 8

Prep Time: Approximately 50 Minutes

Cook Time: 50 Minutes

Ingredients:

- 1 Medium Spaghetti Squash

- 2 Tsp. Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil

- 2 links, Sweet or Hot Beyond Meat Italian Sausage

- 2 ½ Cups of Marinara Sauce

- ½ Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes

- 1 Tsp. Parsley

- ½ Cup Frozen Peas

- 1 Cup Tofu Ricotta, my recipe is below in the ‘Notes’ section

- ½ Cup Follow Your Heart Parm Shreds

- 1 Cup breadcrumbs

Instructions:

- Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees

- Cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove all of the seeds

- Coat the flesh side of the spaghetti squash with the olive/vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper

- Lightly spray a cookie sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray and place the spaghetti squash flesh side down then cover both sides loosely with a piece of tin foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes

- While the spaghetti squash cooks, cut the sausage into small bite sized pieces and cook in a frying pan until cooked through with a nice char on the sides

- In a sauce pan add in the marinara sauce, red pepper flakes and parsley and cook until warmed through

- add in the cooked sausage and peas to the marinara sauce and set aside

- when the spaghetti squash is cooked through remove it from the oven, keeping the oven on, and let it cool until it is able to be handled, around 10 minutes

- once the spaghetti squash can be handled take a fork and remove all of the flesh from the spaghetti squash and add it into a mixing bowl

- add the marinara sauce, sausage, and pea mixture and the tofu ricotta to the spaghetti squash and mix together

- in a separate bowl mix together the parm shreds and breadcrumbs

- add the spaghetti squash mixture to an oven safe casserole dish and sprinkle the parm shred/breadcrumb mixture on the top covering all of the casserole

- cover the casserole dish tightly with tin foil and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, then remove the tin foil and bake it for another 15 minutes until the cheese and breadcrumbs on top are melty and crunchy then enjoy!

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Notes

- If you want to exclude the sausage or the peas or add different vegetables please do! You can make this so many different ways

- The mixture will look slightly loose when adding it to the casserole dish initially, don’t worry, it will firm up in the oven when you bake it

- if you buy a store-bought vegan ricotta cheese, I would recommend doctoring it up with garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, and parm shreds to make it a bit more flavorful

- For the breadcrumbs I use an Italian blend that I checked was vegan, but you can also just use plain breadcrumbs

Tofu Ricotta

- 1 Package Extra Firm Tofu, not pressed

- ½ Yellow Onion, Diced

- 2 Cloves or 1 ½ Tsp. Garlic, Minced

- 1 Tbsp. White Miso Paste

- 1 ½ Tbsp. Nutritional Yeast

- 1-2 Tsp. Lemon Juice, or a small squeeze of a lemon

- 2 Tbsp. Parsley

- ½ Cup Follow Your Heart Parm Shreds

- 1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder

- Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

- In a sauté pan cook the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent and the garlic is soft, about 3 minutes

- Break the tofu into 4 pieces and add it to a blender or food processer along with the cooked onion and garlic, miso paste, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice

- Blend/process until the mixture is smooth and creamy

Move the mixture into a bowl and add in the parsley, parm shreds, garlic powder and salt and pepper and mix until combined

- Enjoy in all your favorite Italian dishes!