Throw out that boxed garbage. This homemade pan of deliciousness will show you how mac and cheese is supposed to taste.

Traditional noodles are replaced with spaghetti squash to create this low carb goto dish.

You will need:

  • 1 large spaghetti squash
  • 1 pack of Bacon
  • 1 white onion, chopped into small pieces, or one cup of frozen chopped onions.
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 TBSP full-fat cream cheese
  • 12 oz of sharp cheddar, freshly grated
  • 4 oz of Asiago, freshly grated
  • 2 oz of Parmesan, freshly grated
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Paprika (optional)
  1. Prep the squash:
    1. Preheat oven to 375.
    2. Cut the squash in half, length wise, with a SHARP knife. You will not be able to do this with a dull one. If you don’t know how to do this you can usually find tutorials on YouTube.
    3. Scrape out the seeds with a grapefruit spoon.
    4. Lay the squash flesh side down in a 9×13 baking dish filled with about 1″ of salted water.
    5. Bake for 45 minutes. It’s done with you can insert a fork into the skin (should be easy but not TOO easy).
    6. Remove from the oven, and from the pan, carefully (will be VERY hot and it retains a lot of heat in its flesh). Set it aside and let it cool for 5 minutes. You will want to shred it while warm but not burning off your hand.
    7. Ideally using a glove to protect your hand from the heat, hold the squash in one hand and use a fork to shred it to create the noodles. Shred the noodles into a colander so they can drain (so your dish won’t be watery).
    8. Let sit in a colander for 15 or so minutes. Add salt to help them release more water.
  2. While the squash is cooking above, start on the cheese sauce:
    1. Cut the bacon into bite sized pieces. Then fry in a deep sauce pan (you will use this pan for the entire sauce plus squash, so make sure it’s big enough) over medium-high heat.
    2. Once the bacon is cooked, set it aside, then fry the chopped onion in the bacon fat. YUM. Once onions are cooked and caramelized/browned, remove them and set aside.
    3. At this point you can choose to be lame and discard the rest of the bacon fat, or you can simply add it to your sauce. Make a decision, then add the cream to the pot and reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir the cream often to prevent burning.
    4. Once the cream is hot to an almost-simmer, but not boiling, stir in and melt the cream cheese. Once that is melted, start to add in the cheeses, slowly. Add a little at a time and stir in constantly. Continue until all cheese is used up.
    5. Once sauce is thick and combined, add in lemon juice, a little pink salt, and some black pepper. Stir.
    6. Add back the bacon and onions. Stir.
  3. Turn oven back on and set to 350 F.
  4. Add the squash to the pot with the finished cheese sauce. Stir until well combined so that cheese and bacon is seen throughout.
  5. Transfer to a greased 9×13 casserole dish (hint: You can re-use the one from earlier so there’s one less dirty dish!), sprinkle paprika on top, and bake for 30 minutes.

Right out of the oven:

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Original recipe adapted from cavemanketo