Shrimp Enchilada Spaghetti Squash Boats is a fun and extremely flavorful way to eat your veggies! A winning dinner every time! Read on to find out how to make this a one-pot meal!
Hi friends, today I’m reposting one of my FAVORITE recipes from 2014, enjoy!
I figured out what the deal with Spaghetti Squash Boats really is. Do you know why food bloggers make all Spaghetti Squash recipes in the form of a casserole or put them back in their shells?
Spaghetti Squash = extremely unphotogenic = looks like slop = unappetizing. So someone somewhere came up with the idea to put them back in their shells to take pictures. All of a sudden this turns a disgusting sloppy mess into a pretty delicious looking meal.
Regardless of the impossibility of taking pictures, the Shallal household is convinced that shrimp was created for the purpose of being doused in enchilada sauce. (Plus I found 5 bottles in my cabinet #hoarder, for my gluten-free friends I prefer Frontera which is what I used in this recipe.)
These shrimp enchilada spaghetti squash boats are so incredibly delicious they are typically in our spaghetti squash recipe rotation. Now that I know how to cook spaghetti squash in the microwave, and now theinstant pot it’s a delicious one-dish meal ready in under 30 minutes!
I’m super thankful for these cooking methods because whenever I used to make spaghetti squash I almost always had to do it in a two-day process. If I turned on the oven for something else I’d throw in the spaghetti squash so that it was cooked and ready to go for a hectic and busy weekday night.
It was still super inconvenient though because it was another dish to wash. Now, I don’t have to remember to pre-cook it or meal prep because either the microwave or the instant pot (see what I want you to know about the Instant Pot) does the job.
I have to say, between the two I definitely prefer the instant pot method (I’m sharing below.) I prefer the instant pot because it’s entirely hands-off, set it and forget it kind of thing (I provide instructions below.)
Currently, the only advantage the microwave has over the instant pot is that you don’t have to cut it half, but then I found this tutorial explaining how to cook an entire uncut spaghetti squash in the instant pot! So, I guess that means the instant pot wins! Plus, after you cook the spaghetti squash you can drain your instant pot and use the pot to mix the all the ingredients up! ONE DISH FOR THE WIN!!!!!
Enough about enchilada boats, how was your weekend? I know some of you having been going on some amazing summer vacations?!?!
Me personally, I’m skipping out on vacations, apparently, and still having the best weekend ever. Let me explain. Mr. Hungry went up to visit his folks for the weekend, and I chose to stay home, which is TOTALLY unlike me.
I’m usually the can do, go for it, experiences are what life is about type person. FOMO has always been a REAL thing for me.
This time, however, I said no to myself and to my family. I stayed home so that I wouldn’t run myself ragged in a situation that was already going to be stressful.
Thanks to our upcoming 30-day apartment stay, I needed to photograph enough recipes for the rest of July and most of August until we get into our new house. The funny thing is, though, I decided not to go when we didn’t know about the apartment.
I decided not to go before we found all those demons in the yard and had to cancel our contract. At that point, I was thinking I’d only need to photograph like 2-3 extra recipes, not the 9 I photographed over the weekend.
The good news is most of what I made was freezer-friendly, so we now don’t have to cook at all while we are in the apartment, which is pretty cool. The even better news is that I was 100% comfortable with my decision to sit this one out.
One thing I’ve learned is that my hormones are SUPER sensitive to stress, SUPER SUPER SUPER sensitive. (Well, everyone’s hormones are designed to be responsive to stress. My hormones just make it really obvious that self-preservation is the utmost important priority. ) Let me tell you, this month was no walk in the park, but the decision to stay here and take care of me was the best thing I could have done.
Typically, when Mr. Hungry goes out of town, I make a million plans, so I’m not bored or lonely at home while he is gone. This time was different, I was split immersed in work (developing and photographing new recipes) and season 4 of Friends on Netflix.
At times, I found myself incredibly grateful for the time I had spent with myself. Isn’t that incredibly grown up of me? It appears I am so READY for 30!
I felt totally recuperated on Sunday and got a bunch of packing done in addition to recipe development and photos. I also did something I hadn’t done in a long time. I actually went shopping in an actual store.
When I told my mom, she literally said, “Wait, what? You hate shopping. Did you go shopping?” Then I told her what I bought and she believed me a little bit more.
Planning to share over on IG stories today so look out for that! So, overall I would say it was a solid weekend and just what I needed.
My point of telling you this story is to remind you that you don’t always have to say yes. You don’t always have to “make it work.” You don’t have to push yourself to exhaustion, it isn’t worth it in the long run.
If I had gone this weekend, I would be scrambling to keep up with everything, hell I’m still gonna be scrambling. The thing is, though, I’ve done better recently at spending less time working and more time playing, so I don’t feel guilty at all for prioritizing work this weekend.
Especially since I wasn’t just prioritizing work, I was preserving my sanity and protecting my health. It’s scary to say no sometimes. Naturally, we don’t want to miss out or disappoint others. However, I have truly come to believe that doing less increases the quality and richness of life 10-fold. When was the last time you said no to something?
You May Also Like These Shrimp Recipes:
- Sheet Pan Sweet and Spicy Shrimp
- Baked Coconut Shrimp
- Cajun Shrimp Deviled Eggs
- Easy Chimichurri Shrimp
- Creamy Chipotle Shrimp
- Stupid Easy Shrimp Tacos
- Bruschetta Shrimp Pasta
- Mu Shu Shrimp
Shrimp Enchilada Spaghetti Squash Boats
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked spaghetti squash or two cooked spaghetti squashes
- 1/4 cup roasted green chiles
- 12 ounces cooked medium shrimp
- 3 green onions
- 1 cup red enchilada sauce
- 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used grassfed white cheddar-omit if non dairy)
Garnish
- 1/4 cup sliced green onions
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti squash: Option #1- Oven: Preheat oven to 400F. Cut in half and place facedown in oven safe dish with ¼ inch water. Bake for 40-45minutes or until fork tender. Option #2- Microwave: Cut in half and place face side down in ¼ inch of water, cover squash and dish with plastic wrap. Microwave each side for 7-10 minutes, until fork tender. Option #3: Instant Pot: Cut spaghetti squash in half. Add 1 cup of water to an instant pot and place spaghetti squash in the pot on top of the metal trivet. Press manual and cook for 9 minutes. Release the pressure using the quick release and retrieve spaghetti squash.
- Meanwhile, defrost or cook your shrimp up. (I just defrosted them in the microwave.
- Scoop out the strands of spaghetti squash to a large bowl, careful not to break the shells. (Don’t worry if you do, you can just bake it casserole style.)
- Preheat oven to broil. Combine spaghetti squash, green chiles, enchilada sauce, and green onions. (I had mine cold in the fridge so I microwaved this mixture to move the process along a bit.)
- Scoop mixture into shells and place in oven on a shallow baking pan. (Or just place in a 8 x 8 oven safe casserole dish if your boats fell apart.) Top with cheese and broil for 2-3 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crispy golden brown.
- Garnish with cilantro and green onions.
Notes
Nutrition
You may also enjoy:
Pizza Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Creamy Zoodles with Lemon Pepper Shrimp
Haha you are so right about spaghetti squash not being photogenic. It does look much prettier back in its “shell”
Either way, these look incredibly delicious!! Pinning 🙂
So hard to photograph! Thanks for sharing!
and Oh my gosh HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Hope it’s great
First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Hope you are having a wonderful day! And secondly, I LOVE this idea! Sounds and looks delicious!
Thanks Stephanie, it was pretty awesome!
Good for you taking the time you needed this weekend! This sounds delicious, can’t wait to give it a try.
Yum!! I was actually going to make a spaghetti squash casserole this weekend but might try this instead. It’s true spaghetti squash is usually really ugly to photograph when it’s all prepared. Nice trick to put it back into the shells, but it also makes it a more creative dish.
Used this as my inspiration tonight… but modified b/c I wanted to use ingredients up in my fridge 🙂 My main point is that I did the spaghetti squash whole in the IP like the one you linked to and HOLY COW, GAME CHANGER!!!! It literally slid right out of the shell and was so so easy to work with.
Yes!!!!! Thanks for telling me, I still haven’t tried it but now I can’t wait!
Sounds fabulous! My queue of things to bake keeps getting longer.