Greek spaghetti squash with chicken, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and kalamata olives. Fire up your ovens and roast ye a spaghetti squash!
Happy MLK day! Are you working? Are you off? Are you relaxing or scratching things off your To Do list?
Remember when the holidays happened and we roasted all the sweet potatoes, resulting in tater juices crusted all up in the bottom of our ovens? We should probably clean them, right?
Wrong.
Going into the weekend, I had every intention of doing adult-ly projects around the apartment (like clean out the oven), but every time I’d take a gander at my Messes to Clean, I’d simply flee.the.scene.
Don’t look at me like that, I know your Christmas tree is still up.
When it comes to household tasks that involve reading instructions, staying in one place for more than an hour, and are hidden by – oh, I don’t know – keeping the oven door shut, I’m completely helpless.
PLUS, I recently wrote an article that touches on the subject of indoor air quality, and guys, you don’t want VOCs all up in your grill. Oven cleaner? VOC central. Let’s use the pursuit of keeping our homes VOC-free as an excuse to just.not.clean. Let’s just continue baking things and pretend the sweet potato juices never happened, cool?
What are we going to do with me?
I can’t guarantee a cozy, spick-and-span apartment, but I can 200% guarantee spaghetti squash baked in a sweet potato juice-crusted oven. Come on ovaaaaaaa!
I could just eat this all the live long day.
Greek-ifying food is an automatic win in my book. Chicken + spinach + kalamata olives + sun-dried tomatoes is always a recipe for success. I will say, roasting the spaghetti squash is a bit time-consuming, so this isn’t necessarily a meal you want to make when you’re throwing a fungry tantrum. HOWEVES, The chicken-y spinach mixture takes very little time to cook, so you can slam dunk that portion of the recipe while the squash is roasting.
If you’ve never roasted a spaghetti squash, follow my tutorial on How to Roast Spaghetti Squash. For those of you who are vegetarian or vegan, feel free to remove the chicken from this recipe. It will still be plenty filling.
Greek-ify!
More Spaghetti Squash Recipes:
- Chicken Pesto Spaghetti Squash
- Spaghetti Squash Bolognese
- Salmon Bowls with Pesto Spaghetti Squash
- Roasted Garlic Kale Spaghetti Squash with Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Vegetable Spaghetti Squash Marinara
- Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai
- Garlicky Spaghetti Squash with Chicken Mushrooms and Kale
Greek Spaghetti Squash with Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 large spaghetti squash roasted
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes drained
- 5 ounces baby spinach
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Chop the tip and tail off of the spaghetti squash. Carefully cut the squash in half length-wise and scoop out the seeds and innards. Drizzle olive oil over the flesh and use your hands to ensure all of the flesh is lightly coated. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the flesh and place both halves on a baking sheet cut-side down. Roast for 45 to 50 minutes or until squash is tender.
- Allow the squash to cool enough to handle, then run a fork down the length of each squash half to release "spaghetti" strands. Place spaghetti in a serving bowl.
- While the squash is roasting, prepare the remainder of the recipe. Add the olive oil to a large skillet, and heat to medium. Add the garlic, chicken and lemon juice and cook just until chicken is browned (but not cooked through), about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and red pepper flakes. Place a lid over the skillet to allow the spinach to steam and soften. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Uncover the skillet, stir to combine all of the ingredients and continue cooking just until the chicken is cooked through.
- Transfer the contents of the skillet to the bowl with the spaghetti squash and toss everything together. Taste the "spaghetti" for flavor, and add salt and lemon juice as desired.
- Serve with pine nuts, and/or grated parmesan cheese and enjoy!
Wish
Tuesday 27th of February 2018
Thanks for the advice, Delicious.
Rainman
Monday 11th of May 2015
Fixed this spaghetti squash "Greek-a-fied" meal for my bride tonight and it was a terrific hit! The flavors all enhanced each other. Also, this was a first time for me to fix spaghetti squash. Who knew it would be so good? This is a "ten" in my cookbook along with your wonderful zucchini pasta dish. I'm looking forward to more of your wonderful recipes!
Julia
Tuesday 12th of May 2015
Yaaaaay! I'm so happy to hear it!! This is one of my favorite meals and I'm always sad to see the spaghetti squash go when summer rolls around. Many thanks again for all the support!! xoxo
Joanne
Thursday 22nd of January 2015
Anytime anything hits the bottom of my oven floor, it starts a small fire inside my oven...so there is NO IGNORING THE SWEET POTATO JUICES for me. Sadly. I would much take the ignorance is bliss approach.
Girl, you make spaghetti squash look SO enticing!
Terri Camp
Tuesday 20th of January 2015
We love spaghetti squash but never roast it in the oven. Instead, place it on a parchment lined 9x11 pan in the microwave, skin side up. I start with 10 minutes on high power, and add 5 minutes at a time until the squash is very pushy-finger tender (skin side). It comes out perfect every time and takes 1/3 the time of the oven method. Ya gotta try.
Julia
Tuesday 20th of January 2015
Thanks for the advice, Terri! My mom's all about making squash in the oven, too, but I prefer using the oven, myself ;) Hope you enjoy the recipe!!
Liz @ Floating Kitchen
Tuesday 20th of January 2015
Oh I am a neat FREAK out in the outside (if you come to my house it is spotless and highly organized) but messy on the inside (if it's hidden behind a door or closet then I don't get a sh**). So the oven. No bueno. Yeah for eating all the spaghetti squash! Can't stop, won't stop!
Julia
Tuesday 20th of January 2015
Fuck yeah, I'm all about hiding and ignoring my messes. One life to live, Liz...one life to live. Can't spend all the time tiding up, no sir!