It’s a good day folks! We’ve got a new healthy comfort food recipe for you guys with this Paleo, Whole30 + Low Carb spaghetti squash carbonara, and you’re going to love it! It’s dairy-free, creamy and has bacon in it. So, basically it checks all the boxes and makes a great meal prep recipe, too! You’ll really look forward to the lunch leftovers!
What is carbonara
Carbonara is traditionally an Italian pasta dish made with noodles, pancetta and a sauce made with egg, cheese and heavy cream. It’s typically a quick and easy dish to whip up and one that just feels like comfort food. We played with this traditional idea a bit to come up with a Paleo-fied version.
How to make carbonara Paleo
Here’s how we modified this traditional dish to make it Paleo and even Whole30 friendly! It’s also low carb…although not quite low carb enough to call it Keto for you die hards out there, but scroll down a little further in the post and we give you some tips for cutting extra carbs if needed. But first…how we get to a Paleo version.
- Spaghetti Squash – we ditched the pasta noodles for spaghetti squash to get a little extra veggie goodness in the dish. And if you cook it just right, so the squash is more al dente, you will love the texture and feel like you’re actually enjoying pasta!
- Almond Milk – we opted for using almond milk over heavy cream, and you could also use full fat coconut milk as well. Either way it comes out creamy and delish, but is dairy-free.
- Optional Cheese – if you’re eating Keto, or just don’t adhere to a strict Paleo or Whole30 diet, you can use the cheese. Otherwise, it’s just optional and you can skip it all together. This spaghetti squash carbonara turns out great either way!
- Chicken and Greens – and because we love adding in extra real foods, we spiced up the traditional take on carbonara by adding some chicken and spinach to the dish.
More healthy comfort food to try
- CREAMY CHICKEN SWEET POTATO NOODLES (PALEO + WHOLE30)
- CREAMY MUSTARD CHICKEN (PALEO + WHOLE30)
- EASY SALISBURY STEAK (PALEO + WHOLE30)
- CREAMY CHICKEN ALFREDO (PALEO, WHOLE30 + DAIRY-FREE)
- EASY TACO CASSEROLE (PALEO, WHOLE30 + KETO)
- CREAMY GARLIC CHICKEN SKILLET (PALEO, WHOLE30 + KETO)
Try out this spaghetti squash carbonara
We love to make this spaghetti squash carbonara on Sunday for dinner and then enjoy the leftovers for lunches during the work week! It’s great for feeding a crowd or family or perfect for meal prep. Leave a comment below to let us know how it goes. Also, take a pic to share on social media, and tag us @realsimplegood so we can check it out! We LOVE seeing what you guys are cooking up! And if you don’t already, make sure to give us a follow – let’s stay connected!
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Spaghetti Squash Carbonara (Paleo, Whole30 + Low Carb)
Ingredients
- 1 medium spaghetti squash, sliced in half lengthwise and seeds removed
- 8 pieces bacon, chopped into small pieces
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- Sea salt and pepper, (about 1/2 tsp each)
- 1 cup almond milk, (or full fat coconut milk)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 tbsp arrowroot starch
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder, (or sub 1 tbsp garlic oil)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 4 cups spinach, chopped
- 1/2 cup pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, (optional – omit for Whole30 and strict Paleo)
- Fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and place open side down on the lined baking sheet. Place in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes. Once done, remove from the oven and set aside to cool enough to handle.
- While the spaghetti squash cooks, chop and place bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook until it just starts to get crispy. Remove and set aside on a paper towel lined plate and reserve bacon grease in the pan.
- In the same pan, add chicken thighs to the pan and season with half the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook for about 6 minutes, until the bottom gets golden brown and then flip. Season with the rest of the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and cook for another 6 or so minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked. Remove and set on a cutting board. Turn heat off and leave skillet as is. Cut the chicken into thin strips.
- Combine almond milk, chicken broth, sea salt garlic powder and arrowroot starch in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Once spaghetti squash is done and has cooled just enough to handle, scoop the flesh out with a fork onto the sheet pan you cooked it on. Discard the shells.
- Turn the heat on the pan you cooked the chicken in to low. Stir the almond milk mixture again to dissolve the arrowroot starch. Add the sauce mixture to the pan. Increase heat if needed to bring the sauce to a low simmer. Stirring frequently, simmer sauce for 3-4 minutes, or until it thickens.
- Add the spaghetti squash noodles to the pan and mix to coat with the sauce. Add spinach to the skillet and mix in. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, until spinach wilts. Add bacon and chicken back to pan. Mix ingredients.
- Serve and top with cheese (optional) and chopped parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
Followed the recipe exactly except I made a pesto to cook with the bacon and chicken and it came out really good. My only problem was the spaghetti squash was a little too crunchy still. I will next time rub olive oil on the squash and cook it for 40 minutes instead. Great recipe though!
Yes, all squash cooks differently due to size. Hopefully next time it turns out perfect!
Hi!! I was so excited for this recipe. I think I did something wrong because I substituted coconut milk as suggested and for whatever reason my recipe turned out mushy. I measured everything exact. Not sure what I could have done wrong. Any input would be very helpful!! 🙂
Sorry that your pasta came out mushy. This can happen if the spaghetti squash gets overcooked. Next time you can try cooking the squash for only 20-25 minutes and see if that helps. It may be harder to scrape out the noodles if it’s cooked less but that will prevent them from getting mushy. Since all squash is different sized, sometimes it’s hard to get the cooking time exactly right.
Giving this a go tonight! Love everyones reviews. Will be adding the mushrooms, onions, minced garlic and peppers. I wonder how it would taste with capers?
Made this the other night and it was delicious. Fam enjoyed it! Sub the spaghetti squash with GF pasta and was a hit. Very easy to make, the only tedious step was the chicken but maybe I could bake it then broil? Adding this to our reg fam menu. Thanks for this!
You’re welcome, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Wondering if you could use nutritional yeast rather than the pecorino cheese?
Hi Lisa, I think that would work well. You might not need to do a full 1/2 cup though, maybe try 1/4 cup to start. You could always mix in more at the end. Hope you enjoy this one 🙂
One of my favorite healthy go-to meals! Easy and delicious!
Love hearing that so much! Thanks for giving our recipe a try and for coming back to share a rating and review! We appreciate it. 🙂
Delicious!! I added onions and mushrooms and used coconut milk. It was amazing!! Will be a staple meal in our household now
So glad to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a rating and review, we appreciate it 🙂
I am in the process of making this now. Don’t use frozen spaghetti squash! Haha when I added the squash to the soup in melded and ended up looking like cream of corn. Didn’t taste right. So I am remaking the saue and trying it on zuchini noodles.
Hopefully the sauce turned out ok with the zucchini noodles 🙂
Hi! If I only have chicken breast on hand, how much would you use?
Thank you!
Mary
Chicken breast will work just fine, and I’d still use about 1-1/2 pounds. We’d love to hear what you think if you give it a try!
Amazing! So good.
Thanks Lindsay :). We appreciate you coming back to the site and leaving a review.
So good! Definitely adding this to my Whole30 meal rotation.
Amazing! One of the best meals I’ve ever made! I used coconut milk, I didn’t have any arrowroot so I didn’t use anything for that, and it was still creamy and awesome.
That’s so great to hear! Really happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for giving our recipe a try and for coming back to leave a review. 🙂
Instant potted this!! I’m not on Paleo or Whole30 so made some adjustments – regular milk, and wheat flour instead of the arrowroot. But the big change was that I did it all in my instant pot.
Cut spaghetti squash in half, clean out seed and place on trivet in instant pot with 1 cup of water.
Pressure cook on high for 8 min. Quick release. Set squash aside and drain pot. Chop bacon, add it to the pot and saute till crispy. Scoop out the bacon with a slotted spoon. Set pot to saute and add chicken per recipe. When the chicken is done, remove it to a cutting board. Mix up the sauce mixture and pour it into the pot. Stir constantly till it thickens. Add back the other ingredients, per the recipe.
Thanks for the details on how you made it work in the Instant Pot!
Yummy and nutritious!
I came across this recipe on the Whole 30 recipe instagram- and boy I am so glad I did ! My biggest struggle on whole 30 rounds has been missing those creamy comfort foods- and this did the trick with filling that void! This carbonara was creamy- delicious- and almost felt like a guilty pleasure! Definitely will be returning to the blog for more dinner inspiration!
That’s great to hear Melissa! Be sure to check out our Healthy Comfort Food recipe category for some more creamy and indulgent tasting recipes.
I’ve made this at least the times over the last four months. I really enjoy it, and it’s always a good use of veggies in my CSA box. I usually throw in peppers and onions too, reminds me of the bad for you carbonara I used to order from Domino’s years ago! This is a go-to recipe that makes the whole family happy!
That’s great to hear Jessica, glad you all enjoyed this one!
Made this tonight and it was a HIT with my 5 kids and my hubby!!! I made my meal Whole30 compliant, using spaghetti squash, and made it with pasta for the rest of the family as they have no wheat intolerances! The only change that I made was adding some Trader Joes “Everyday Seasoning” spice! Reading the above reviews, I will be trying this recipe with coconut milk next time 🤩
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!!
You’re very welcome, glad this was a hit with the family 🙂
Made this tonight and all I can say is that if you haven’t tried this “what are you waiting for”. So much lighter than regular Pasta Carbonara but very filling. When we brought our plates to the sink even our dog was jumping just to get to lick the plates. He’s such a paleo dog 😂
Okay, wanted to come back and say that my entire family gobbled this up!! I didn’t have spinach so added broccoli. So good!! Thank you!
Aaaw yay!! So glad to hear it! And I bet the broccoli was great! Thanks for giving it a try! 🙂
Used coconut milk and it was delicious!!!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for giving our recipe a try and coming back to share your experience! 🙂
This was so delicious. I will be making this over and over! Thanks so much!
You’re very welcome!
This was delicious! Will definitely make again. We used canned coconut milk and needed to thin the sauce, so I’d recommend omitting the arrowroot when using coconut milk.
Thanks for the tip Laura!
Made this last night, it was so good and light! I didn’t have spinach, so used kale, it tasted fine, just had to let it cook a little longer at the end. How can you go wrong with bacon?!?
I agree, you definitely can’t go wrong with bacon :).
This was absolutely delicious! My husband was skeptical at first because but even he loved it. Since I don’t have almond milk I used flax milk and I ran out of arrowroot so I used potato starch and it was perfectly creamy.
Amazing! So glad to hear it was a hit! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try and for coming back to share! We appreciate it! 🙂
Real!! Simple!!! And sooo good!!! I substituted the spaghetti squash with butternut squash noodles because I had some on hand that needed to be used, and it worked wonderfully. I also used coconut milk, and there wasn’t a coconut flavor at all. Even my picky 10 year old loved it. This will be on our repeat meal list for sure!! Thanks for creating simple and delicious recipes.
You’re so welcome! We are thrilled to hear it was a hit for the whole family! The butternut squash noodles must have been great. We’ll have to give that a try! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try and for taking the time to come back and rate and review it! We appreciate it! 🙂
This dish is delicious! I used coconut milk instead of almond milk and it was so creamy!
We’re so glad you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to leave a rating/review! Appreciate it! 🙂