Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole (Dairy-free, Paleo)
This chicken spaghetti squash casserole is a savory and easy spaghetti squash recipe made with a creamy dairy-free sauce.
This spaghetti squash chicken casserole is my favorite healthy pasta casserole alternative. It is creamy, protein-packed and incredibly flavorful. It really hits the spot for those times that I am wanting a creamy pasta dish, but am looking for something healthier.
This casserole is considered to be “primal”, but it can easily be made Paleo and Whole30 if you remove the goat cheese.
Check out my Zucchini, Eggplant and Ground Turkey Casserole or Creamy Mustard Tomato Chicken Casserole for other yummy healthy casserole ideas.
Table of Contents
- What makes this recipe great
- Recipe ingredients
- Additions/ Substitutions
- Step by step instructions
- Recipe FAQs
- Other squash recipes you’ll love:
What makes this recipe great
- It is a great casserole recipe for those who are following a Paleo, Gluten-free, dairy-free, or grain-free diet.
- There are lots of veggies and protein inside.
- It makes for great leftovers.
- Its a great way to use up spaghetti squash.
Recipe ingredients
- spaghetti squash– a medium sized one works for this recipe.
- chicken breast– this will be shredded to add protein here.
- chicken broth– make sure your doesn’t have extra sugar or chemicals inside.
- thyme and rosemary– these herbs season the dish.
- cauliflower– a head of cauliflower is what you’ll need.
- garlic and onion– these season the dish well.
- olive oil– any good quality olive oil works well here.
- nutmeg– this adds nice taste to the sauce in this dish.
- coconut cream– this is used to replace heavy cream in this recipe.
- coconut flour– this helps absorb some of the liquid in this dish.
- goat cheese– crumbled goat cheese is added to the top of the casserole.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Additions/ Substitutions
- Instead of chicken broth, you can use bone broth. This adds extra protein.
- Instead of coconut flour, you can use tapioca flour.
- You can omit the goat cheese if you want to make this Paleo and Dairy-free.
Step by step instructions
Step 1– Bake the spaghetti squash.
Step 2– Boil the chicken breast in chicken stock, then shred it.
Step 3– Boil the cauliflower in water.
Step 4– Make the cream sauce. Mix the spaghetti squash, shredded chicken, cauliflower and cream sauce together and pour into a pan.
Sprinkle the goat cheese on top.
Step 5– Bake the casserole.
I like to broil this casserole at the end of cooking to get it a bit crisp. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn. Some ovens are hotter than others!
Recipe FAQs
Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes! Follow all the steps before the baking part at the end. Then store in the fridge until ready to bake.
No it doesn’t. There is similar texture but it is softer in texture and tastes like squash.
Other squash recipes you’ll love:
Did you try this recipe? Please leave me a ⭐ review below!
Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole (Dairy-free, Paleo)
Ingredients
- 1 medium spaghetti squash
- 1.5- 2 lbs chicken breast
- 32 ounces chicken broth ( to boil chicken in )
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 2 1/2 Tbs minced garlic
( or 1.5 tsp garlic powder)
- 1/2 of a yellow onion minced ( or 1.5 tsp onion powder )
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper (optional- omit for AIP)
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional- omit for AIP)
- 1 can coconut cream
- 3 tsp coconut flour ( or 1 Tbs tapioca flour )
- 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (optional- omit for AIP, Paleo, and Whole30)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Cover a cookie sheet in aluminum foil.
- Cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove the mushy core with a spoon. Then cover the surface with some olive oil and evenly "paint it on" with a silicone basting brush. You could also spray olive oil on top with a cooking spray instead.
- Lay the squash face down on the aluminum paper. Cook the spaghetti squash for 30-40 minutes and then remove it from the oven and let it cool.
- While the spaghetti squash is cooking, put the chicken breast and 32 ounces of chicken stock into a large pot and bring to a boil. Add 1/4 tsp of dried rosemary and 1/4 tsp of dried thyme. Lower to a simmer and cook covered for 30 mins. Remove the chicken from the chicken stock (reserving 1 cup of liquid) and shred it with two forks. Set the shredded chicken aside.
- While the chicken and spaghetti squash are cooking, fill another pan with water and cook the cauliflower (cut into smaller cauliflower floret pieces) for 11 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Set the cauliflower aside.
- Put 1 tbs of olive oil in a pan. Set the stove top to medium heat. Place the minced garlic and onions into the pan and mix them into the olive oil. Let them cook for 4 minutes. Add the can of coconut cream to the pan, along with the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the coconut flour or tapioca flour, and the 1 cup of reserved chicken stock ( from when you boiled chicken) to the mixture and allow the mixture to boil for 8-9 minutes. It will thicken during this time. Remove the mixture from heat.
- Take the spaghetti squash and use a fork to rake against the inside of it, removing the “spaghetti” from the inside.
- Place the shredded chicken, cauliflower, and spaghetti squash in the pot with the creamy white sauce and mix it all together.
- Place everything in a large 13×9 inch pan and cover it in 1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese.
- Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Set the oven to broil and bake for 5 more minutes.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Instead of chicken broth, you can use bone broth. This adds extra protein.
- Instead of coconut flour, you can use tapioca flour.
- You can omit the goat cheese if you want to make this Paleo and Dairy-free.
Nutrition
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31 Comments on “Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole (Dairy-free, Paleo)”
Really great recipe. We eat this all the time. Yummy!
So happy to hear that!
Delicious!! Love it! <3
Thank you 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that 🙂 🙂 🙂
I added some chopped baby spinach at the coconut milk/chicken stock boiling stage. Added color and flavor.
That’s a great idea! Thank’s for sharing! 🙂
I am such a casserole girl. I just started eating Paleo due to several food allergies. I am so excited to try this dish.
Me tooo, there is something so comforting about a casserole. I hope you like it! 🙂
I just did a quick calculation and there are around 2265 calories in the whole casserole, so 566 calories a person if you are serving 4, and 377 calories a person if you are serving 6. Most of calories come from coconut cream. 🙂
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Absolutely delicious! I added some mushrooms, used shredded leftover rotisserie chicken, and added a quarter cup of hot sauce. 🙂
Yumm! What a great idea– mushrooms, rotisserie chicken, and hot sauce! My fiance would love that. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
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Will Coconut Milk work, I live in the Middle East and it is sometimes hard to get products, just wondering if I can’t find the cream. We do get coconut milk, I assume it will not be as creamy.
If it’s canned coconut milk, it will work great. It’s usually very creamy and I have found that canned coconut cream and canned coconut milk are pretty interchangeable. 🙂 Let me know how it works out!
Thanks, will let you know.
Make the casserole with the full cream coconut milk, it was wonderful. Thank you for sharing this recipe. Have you tried it with adding curry? Just wondering and if so how much curry powder should be added.
I could not get coconut flour here so I used tapioca flour.
Thanks for getting back to me and letting me know the coconut milk worked! I’m also happy to hear the tapioca flour worked too. I haven’t added curry, but I’d love to hear if it does taste good. I was thinking about incorporating hot sauce to make a buffalo chicken version soon!
Will try the curry the next time I make it. My husband loved the dish and likes curry.
Will this freeze well?
Will be going back to the states for a few months and want to make meals for my husband before I go.
We have just started eating Paleo and want to keep him on track.
I’m sorry for the delayed response! I don’t know about how it will freeze. I want to say it will be fine, but I’ve never done it. As far as paleo meals go, meat sauce freezes really well. You can also use meatsauce to make stuffed peppers and freeze those. I did some research on freezing spaghetti squash, it seems to work, but doesn’t taste as fresh.
My husband will not eat cauliflower, what can I sub?
What about broccoli? You could also try carrots, asparagus, or sweet potato. Let me know how it turns out (and how he likes it haha)
What do you mean by a can of “coconut cream”?
Hi Wendy! I meant a 14 ounce can of coconut cream. I usually buy the Savoy brand, which is in the international section of my grocery store. I hope that answers your question! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Made this with ground turkey! It was amazing and my husband ate it up. I highly recommend this recipe!
That’s a great idea to make it with ground turkey, yum! Glad you guys liked it!
You could even make this with the faux alfredo sauce (made from cauliflower) as the white sauce, i bet that would be a great veggie superboost!
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Great dinner !
Absolutely divine…
Thank you Dominique