Low Carb Pasta Carbonara: Spaghetti Squash Carbonara with Pancetta and Parmesan
Carbonara has always been one of my favorite pasta dishes. However, I hadn't had it for years before creating this recipe. I forgot how much I enjoy it. The eggs and Parmesan cheese make a perfectly creamy texture. It’s almost as if you are eating a rich cream sauce, without actually adding any cream. I love coming up with creative low carb pasta substitutions. Who says that a low carb, ketogenic lifestyle has to be boring?
Low carb pasta substitution recipes:
- Sesame Ginger Noodles
- Keto Fettuccine Alfredo with Pesto Chicken and Broccoli
- Mediterranean Zucchini Noodle Pasta
- Caramelized Onion and Prosciutto "Mac" and Cheese
- Cabbage Noodle Tuna Casserole
- Spaghetti Squash Alfredo with Pancetta and Peas
- Rainbow Vegetable Noodles
Keto Cookbooks and Meal Plans
- Craveable Keto Cookbook
- Dairy Free Keto Cooking
- Keto Happy Hour
- 30 Minute Ketogenic Cooking
- Primal Low Carb Kitchen
- Keto Desserts
- Low Carb Slow Cooker Soups and Stews
- Keto Condiments Dressings and Sauces
- 14 Weeks of Low Carb and Gluten Free Meal Plans
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Low Carb Spaghetti Squash Carbonara
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 large spaghetti squash
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- sea salt and black pepper
- 5 ounces pancetta, diced
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic. minced
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Cut spaghetti squash in half. Scrape out the seeds. Drizzle the squash halves with olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt and black pepper. Place cut side down on baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes or until fork tender and the shreds pull away from the skin effortlessly.
- While the spaghetti squash is roasting, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add pancetta to the pan and cook until crispy. To the pan, add the onion and the garlic. Cook until translucent and soft. Once the spaghetti squash is roasted, use a fork to scrape out the shreds of squash. Add to skillet and toss with pancetta, onion and garlic. Make sure that spaghetti squash is nice and hot.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, parsley, grated Parmesan, sea salt and black pepper. To the mixing bowl, add squash mixture and toss with egg mixture. The heat of the spaghetti squash will cook the eggs just enough to coat them to the strands of squash without scrambling them.
- Top with shredded Parmesan before serving.
Notes
Per Serving - Calories: 256 | Fat: 19g | Protein: 13g | Net Carbs: 10g
Kim says
Oh - this looks awesome!! I've been on the hunt for some really good spaghetti squash recipes to try and this looks perfect!
Peace Love and Low Carb says
Thanks! You won't be disappointed!
Marisol says
This looks amazing. I can't wait to try it. My hubby might even eat it with no complaints, but then again the recipe calls for [email protected]
Anonymous says
Looks wonderful! Never had pancetta and had to look it up to find out what it was! I suppose one could substitute another type of meat eh?
Kyndra Holley says
Good ol' bacon will always do.
Gail Coddington says
Hi.
Trader Joe's carries diced pancetta in my area. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, they may also have it. Some Safeway stores also carry it.
Michelle says
This looks awesome. Any suggestions for a substitute to the onion and garlic? I have to follow a low-fodmap diet so thoae two ingediants are out but I havent quite mastered substitions yet. Shallots are also out. Can use garlic infused oil and green parts of scalions and then chives. Any thoughts?
susan says
I grow a chive that is garlic flavored that has a great taste and mild. I ordered the seed from Burpee seed company. I just cut what we need off and chop it up yummy. It just keeps growing back and is wonderful
Cindy says
In case anyone is just finding this recipe, like me, I substitute garlic-infused olive oil for the plain olive oil, and green onion tops for the onion. (Just drop garlic cloves in your olive oil and leave them there to make your own garlic-infused olive oil.)
Emily says
This recipe was AMAZING. I just finished eating the leftovers for lunch and wanted to say thank you!
Danielle says
This recipe has AMAZING flavor...it was husband and kid approved in my house!!!! My only question is, does yours not turn out a little soupy?? Mine was perfect other than it was a little more liquidy. Maybe I cooked the squash too long?? Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Peace Love and Low Carb says
Did you microwave the squash in water? If so, that would be why. Mine is dry roasted in the oven.
Danielle says
No I didn't even know you could do that! I dry roast it in the oven too. My leftovers this morning have tons of juice in them. I don't know what could be doing that. But it seems like I have a lot of juice when I make spaghetti squash for any recipe.
Krista B, says
Mine is soupy too! It's also very brown from the pancetta / onion / garlic oil. How is yours so light and fluffy and still yellow? :/
Peace Love and Low Carb says
How are you cooking your spaghetti squash. If roasted in the oven and cooked long enough, most of the moisture is gone. As for the brown, it sounds like maybe the heat was too high and it burned?
nancy b says
Make sure you make your egg yolk/parmesan mixture before you cook your squash. You need to add it to the squash while it is really hot so that the egg yolks cook some and get to where they stick to the squash noodles.... so have it ready to mix in as soon as the squash is really hot and ready.
Vanessa says
I bet you if you make your squash a bit earlier in the day, scrape it out and all that, and then let it drain a bit in some cheese cloth or in a fine mesh strainer/sieve it would get rid of some of that extra moisture. Squash is mostly water, so even dry roasting it will result in a watery vegetable. Salt from the bacon/pancetta will draw the water out of the squash if left long enough, so it's no surprise you experienced watery leftovers. Give it a try! I'm going to! Maybe it'll help... maybe not, lol.
Jacqui says
I roast mine whole. Overtime I cut it it became over cooked and brownish. I roast it whole, cut it in half then scoop out the "spaghetti" Perfect.
Hayley says
I drained the oil after cooking the pancetta and before I added the onions and garlic. That may help decrease the soupy-ness...
Lisa Ineson says
One word.......Delicious!!!!
Bernie Nussbaumer says
Just finished making and sharing with my wife. Delicious! We will be having this again soon!
Thanks!
Cris Martin says
I made this recipe ....and IT IS FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!! Thank you.
Jai Gallardo says
Hey There!
I was wondering if I could use julienned steamed zucchini squash in place of the spaghetti squash? When we julienne the squash and steam it for 3 minutes or maybe that's not the point here, in this recipe? The zucchini looks and tastes exactly like pasta noodles, it has been our replacement "pasta" since we went Paleo, lol...Thanks! I am excited to try this recipe 🙂
Peace Love and Low Carb says
I don't see why you couldn't. I'm sure it would be just as delicious. If you try it, report back and let us know. 🙂
Cathy says
That was awesome! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Peace Love and Low Carb says
I'm so happy you enjoyed it!
Fannelly says
Can't wait to TRY IT!!!! have been looking for different ways to make spaghetti squash! this looks delish!
Brigid says
This looks great! Nom Nom Paleo has instructions for preparing spaghetti squash in a pressure cooker. I think I'll give your recipe a whirl tonight with that cooking method.
Mitra says
I thought dairy wasn't paleo?
Peace Love and Low Carb says
This isn't a paleo recipe.
Claire says
Delicious. I loved the crispy of the pancetta. The whole family devoured it. This was also pretty easy to make. Will certainly want to make this again. thank you.
Lauren says
I just made this and it was delish! I usually make a family recipe for carbonara, and, even with the squash substituted for pasta it was really yummy and tasted similar to my original recipe. I agree that it came out pretty watery, but I didn't really mind. Also, I added frozen peas because my family recipe has them and they were very good in it and add a little color.
Brooke says
Love this recipe! I made it last night and it is the first Keto "pasta" dish I've made that doesn't make me miss actual pasta! I used Miracle Noodles because I didn't have spaghetti squash and added red pepper flakes since I need spice in everything. It tastes just as good as left-overs too. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Barbara says
Can you use bacon instead of pancetta?
Peace Love and Low Carb says
Sure!
Ruth says
Delicious. We added shrimp and lobster chunks. My wS a bit soupy but it's out of this world GOOD.
Natalie Ehrlich says
I made this recipe and my squash also got really soupy. The taste was good and it makes a nice side dish. I ate a portion and the rest turned really soupy so I didn't save it for leftovers. I double roasted the squash (cut it in half & roasted it, then scrapped it out and roasted the strands again to get out more moisture) and it still ended up with a lot of liquid in the end. I would recommend making a smaller portion and eating it right away. It had great flavor otherwise.
★★★★
Whitney says
I strayed from the recipe (bacon instead of pancetta). Other than the egg not cooking it was great! No worries, just tossed it all back in my work for a few...and done. Thanks!
★★★★
Carol says
This was lovely! I was very liberal with the Parmesan cheese,
Thank you for posting.
★★★★★
Stacey says
I sort of made this recipe. I used bacon, dried parsley, and I didn’t have eggs so I used a pad of butter and a small amount of cream (less than 2 tbsp probably), but it was delicious!
★★★★★