Green Spaghetti Squash (Cooked as a Summer Squash)
This recipe for Green Spaghetti Squash (Cooked as a Summer Squash) is for vegetable gardeners who have young unripe spaghetti squash. This post will tell you what to do with those spaghetti squash that don’t have time to get ripe, and this recipe for young spaghetti squash is something I’ve loved ever since the first time I tried it!
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Back in the days when I had a big vegetable garden I used to LOVE cooking young Green Spaghetti Squash and eating it as a side dish, and for years I thought everyone did that. And when I realized how many people had never heard of this way of cooking spaghetti squash I decided gardeners who have spaghetti squash that aren’t going to mature might like to try my recipe for Green Spaghetti Squash (Cooked as a Summer Squash!)
This is something I’ve done for many years (whenever I could get my hands on unripe spaghetti squash). And the hardest part of this recipe might be finding the green spaghetti squash if you don’t have a garden. Some immature spaghetti squash is light green, but sometimes they are darker green, but you can tell what squash is good for this recipe by testing whether you can easily pierce the skin of the spaghetti squash with your fingernail.
I hope you find some green spaghetti squash to try this interesting recipe, and I hope you love it as much as I do!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe:
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- young unripe spaghetti squash (be sure the skin is soft enough to pierce with your fingernail)
- butter
- salt
- fresh-ground black pepper
What’s the difference between winter squash and summer squash?
Squashes are divided into two categories:
- Winter Squash (which ripen late in the season, can be stored through the winter, and have hard outer rinds). Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash, Spaghetti Squash, and many others are examples of winter squash.
- Summer Squash (which have a soft outer skin and can be eaten rind, seeds, and all.) Zucchini is the most well-known summer squash but this category also includes patty pan squash and yellow squash.
What does it mean to cook spaghetti squash as a summer squash?
When this recipe refers to cooking Spaghetti Squash as a summer squash it means cooking it when it’s young, the outside is green, and it still has a soft skin.
How did I learn about cooking green spaghetti squash?
Many years ago I was introduced to this way of eating spaghetti squash by a former boyfriend who grew it in his garden, and he taught me about picking the squashes when they were young and green and the skin could be pierced easily with your fingernail. Then he would simply boil the cut-up squash and serve it as a vegetable with lots of butter, salt, and pepper. It wasn’t until many years later that I learned to leave the spaghetti squash on the vine until the skins turn yellow, then bake or microwave the squash so the strands pull apart into a kind of vegetable “spaghetti” which is also tasty in a different way. I like spaghetti squash as a winter squash, but I am absolutely crazy about spaghetti squash when it’s cooked as a summer squash.
How can you get unripe spaghetti squash?
You’ll never be able to find young spaghetti squash like this in a regular store, so you’ll probably have to grow some in your garden or find a friend who has a garden who’s willing to share if you want to try this recipe. I haven’t ever run across another gardener who had tried this, so I hope some of my readers will be sure to try it if you get a chance. Trust me, you will love it! In fact, I just ate some of my leftovers while I was typing this up!
How to Cook Green Spaghetti Squash (Cooked as a Summer Squash):
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Most young spaghetti squash is light green, but in the photo you can see I got one that was darker green.
- Choose young, small spaghetti squash with skin that can be easily pierced with your fingernail.
- Wash the outside of the squash well.
- Cut off both ends, then cut the rest of the squash up into pieces about 2 inches square. (If your squash has noticeable seeds, be sure they are tender.)
- Bring water to a boil, add salt, and add the spaghetti squash and turn heat to medium.
- Simmer the spaghetti squash until it’s tender (but not mushy), about 10-15 minutes or until the squash is easily pierced with a fork.
- Put cooked squash into large colander and let it drain well, for 5 minutes or more. It’s important not to rush the draining time.
- After squash has drained about 5 minutes, use an old-fashioned potato masher (affiliate link) to coarsely mash the squash and let drain 2-3 minutes more.
- Put spaghetti squash into a serving bowl and serve hot, with plenty of butter and salt and freshly ground pepper.
- And trust me, this is not a time to skimp on the butter. I hope you try it if you get a chance!
Green Spaghetti Squash (Cooked as a Summer Squash)
This post about Green Spaghetti Squash (Cooked as a Summer Squash) is for vegetable gardeners who have squash on the vine that aren't going to have time to ripen! And this interesting recipe is something I've been making for about 40 years, and every summer I wonder why more vegetable gardeners don't try it.
Ingredients
- 2 young spaghetti squash (be sure the skin is soft enough to pierce with your fingernail)
- 4 T butter to flavor the cooked squash (see notes)
- salt for the water and for seasoning the cooked squash (to taste)
- fresh-ground black pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Choose young, small spaghetti squash with skin that can be easily pierced with your fingernail. (The color of the squash doesn't always tell if it's young, so use the fingernail test.
- Wash the outside of the squash well since you will be eating the skin.
- Cut off the stem and blossom end and cut the rest of the squash up into pieces about 2 inches square.
- If your squash has noticeable seeds, be sure they are tender.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a little salt, and add the spaghetti squash, and turn heat to medium-low.
- Simmer the spaghetti squash until it's tender, about 10-15 minutes or until the squash is easily pierced with a fork. Be careful not to overcook or it will be mushy.
- Put cooked squash into large colander and let it drain well, for 5 minutes or more. Don't rush the draining time, because there's a lot of moisture in the young squash.
- After squash has drained about 5 minutes, use an old-fashioned potato masher (affiliate link) to coarsely mash the squash and the skin and let it drain 2-3 minutes more.
- Put spaghetti squash into a serving bowl and serve hot, with plenty of butter and salt and freshly ground pepper.
- Leftovers will keep in the fridge for a few days and reheat beautifully in the microwave or in a pan on the stove.
Notes
I use a generous amount of butter; use more or less to taste.
Unripe spaghetti squash is not going to be in nutritional databases, but personally I suspect the carb count is lower than the amount of carbs in ripe spaghetti squash.
This recipe given to Kalyn by a man named Art who taught her to cook spaghetti squash this way many, many years ago!
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 169Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 20mgSodium 281mgCarbohydrates 19gFiber 5gSugar 10gProtein 3g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Spaghetti Squash does have a few carbs, and nutritional databases aren’t going to have young unripe spaghetti squash listed. But I am confident that when spaghetti squash is cooked as a summer squash it’s going to be lower in carbs than when the squash has ripened. I’d consider this is a good side dish for low-carb diet plans; use the amount of butter that works for your personal eating plan. This should be suitable for any phase of the original South Beach Diet, although South Beach would not recommend using butter.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
See Cooking for Gardeners for more ideas for cooking garden veggies! Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe for cooking green spaghetti squash as a summer squash was first posted in 2006, and I’ve been making this for many years, although now I have to beg my family members who have gardens to give me some unripe spaghetti squash to make it. The recipe was last updated with more information in 2023.
32 Comments on “Green Spaghetti Squash (Cooked as a Summer Squash)”
Just before I went on holidays, I advised my son who was house sitting for me that there were some spaghetti squashes growing in my compost pile. While I was gone, he spotted this medium sized – what he thought was a zucchini – squash, took it off the vine and refrigerated it, not sure what to do with it.
When I returned I was stumped. Why was it large and spotted green? I’d seen zucchini ripen like that but I’ve never seen a zucchini plant crawl across the compost pile and climb up the rails of the nearby greenhouse and form a green squash on one of the shelves.
After a week I decided he must have just picked it too young. Low and behold, this morning I found 2 more large, green, zucchini-like squashes amid the large leaves. Curious, I went hunting online and found your article.
I cooked the slices with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and a blend of garlic & herbs I like. Goodness me is it ever good!!!
You have saved my plants and squashes from having to wait until late October to be picked. I can enjoy them as is now! Thanks soooo much!
So glad you enjoyed it! I love the flavor when it’s young and still slightly crisp like this (better than the more mature spaghetti squash actually.) Ever summer I wonder why it doesn’t catch on more, but I am doing my best to promote the idea.
I’m excited to try this. I’m a lover of spaghetti squash and summer squashes. I’m just wondering can you freeze or can these early risers?
I’ve never tried that and to be honest I am highly doubtful it would work to be eaten this way. It would be like freezing or canning zucchini, which personally I’ve never found that satisfactory. But try it and see what you think if you like.
Young immature pumpkins, and quite a few immature varieties of asian gourds can be eaten as summer squash. Ridged gourd (luffa) aka chinese okra, Bottle gourd, Italian Cucuzzi, Nam Tao Yao, Fuzzy Gourd/Mao Gua/Mokwa, Wax Gourd, Tinda, Jointed Gourd/Hairy Melon, Calabash, Tai Hoo Gourd, Upo/Opo. There are also native squash such as Algonquin squash and Cushaw squash. Not all types of gourds are edible.
Thank you! It’s my first time growing spaghetti squash. I found an immature squash this morning broken from the vibe., so I was curious and found you, grateful. I’ll try this today. I also thought about some chunks of the squash in homemade soup.
I just cooked my second one of the year last night and enjoyed it so much! Hope you like it too. I do like the idea of using the immature squash as a vegetable in soup too.
It’s true that they cross pollinate, but that doesn’t change the current plant’s fruit… it affects the seeds of that fruit, so unless you take measures to isolate flowers, your saved seeds for next year are fairly likely to be a cross of squashes. The giant green spaghetti squashes seem to be normal from what I can gather… they just don’t sell those ones in the store so we’re not used to seeing them. I grew a spaghetti squash plant this year and half of them were the mottled dark green kind that were HUGE and half were the regular yellow kind. It was technically two plants that had been potted together when I received them, so I don’t know if the two kinds came from the same vines or if one vine was the green kind and the other was yellow. They actually appear to be on the same vines. It’s very interesting. I haven’t actually tried the green ones yet (I don’t typically grow spaghetti squash, but maybe I will now that I’ve read your post!) but my research tells me they are normal spaghetti squashes too.
I agree spaghetti squash can be green or yellow in color on the outside. But in this post when I say “green” I am talking about young squash that isn’t ripe yet, not necessarily the color of the squash. So this is a method for cooking unripe squash no matter what the outside color of the squash is. I hope you do try it, this is so tasty!
So glad you enjoyed it! This recipe makes me miss having a bigger garden; I don’t have room for spaghetti squash any more!
We tried the green/unripe Spaghetti Squash and it was delicious. Milder than Zucchini and sweeter. Hope to have it again this way….I would bet it is lower in carbs as well….
We are growing squash for the first time this year. One of our plants had a tag that says spaghetti squash, but when the squash was quite large I decided they must have made a mistake. So I brought it in. It is approximately the size of a football. It is dark green, just like the one in your photograph. I can’t imagine how much bigger it would have become if it had stayed in my garden until it turns yellow. Maybe it grows and grows, stops growing and then turns yellow? Anyway, I’m going to try cooking it up the way you’ve described here and I can’t wait to see what it tastes like. I’m also going to try cooking up some of the blossoms, as I don’t need as many squash as this plant seems prepared to give me!
I know there are all types and colors of spaghetti squash, and they can get quite large. Squash is also famous for cross-pollinating though, so if you have other squash varieties growing nearby, it might have cross pollinated with the spaghetti squash. I hope you let me know how it turns out!
About 6 months ago, I started burying my kitchen scraps in my raised bed to add nutrients into the soil before I planted in the spring. Once the weather warmed up, I noticed I had a bunch of squash plants coming up all on their own, so I just let them go. I was curious to see what had volunteered in my garden. Well, not too long after they started to grow I noticed these oblong squashes coming in. I thought that maybe they were butternut squash, but they looked pretty tasty so I picking them and sauted them with onion and garlic in butter… YUM! Tasted just like a zucchini. Come to find out, they are spaghetti squash and many of them are getting pretty darn big, but there are also lots of little guys. I’m so glad I discovered by accident, that they can be eaten when they are either mature or immature. They will feed my family all through the summer and into the fall and winter.
What a fun story, and I’m glad you agreed with me that they are tasty when eaten young.
Thank you so much for this post! I am currently growing Spaghetti squash (which i love as a winter squash) and am really looking forward to eating it out of my garden. BUT i am in a temperate climate and have a relatively small garden, and I am worried the plants will not get the conditions (climate or space) to develop optimally and to successfully grow fully mature squash. I am so relieved to see I will not be wasting precious nutritional opportunities nor garden space on these glorious plants. Thank you!
Julie, I don’t think many people know it can be cooked this way, but I have done it for at least 30 years, and absolutely LOVE it! I hope you enjoy it too!
This sounds interesting.
Letty, it’s so delicious! If you can get your hands on some young spaghetti squash hope you will try it.
I’ve never heard of this before. We have some spaghetti squash plants that are dying with young spaghetti squash on the vine. I’m so happy this recipe arrived in my inbox today! I’m looking forward to trying it.
Oh good, hope you like it as much as I do. I know this is only useful for a very small group of people but I’ve been making it for 30+ years now and always try to grow spaghetti squash just for this reason!
I did this earlier this year as well to see how they would eat. they were great! the flavor, even raw, is tender and sweet. Lightly cooked or sautéed in a stir fry works too!
I just wish I had some growing in my garden!
It looks amazing! I've replaced the usual pasta and rice with spaghetti squash, it works great! 🙂
Kayln,
your spagetti squash looks so beautiful! Just adding butter sounds great!
Sher, I hope you can find some green ones. Maybe I can mail you one??
I also have never seen spaghetti squash fixed this way! It tastes like young corn? OK, I’m going to buy one and cook it just like your recipe. Thanks.
Glenna, I don’t think many people know about this.
Mona, I missed you. Glad you’re back!
Jennifer, I know what you mean. They seem to multiply very quickly don’t they!
Christine, you might be able to get a farmer to pick them early for you, but I haven’t ever seen the young squash in the store.
This is something I didn’t know. Thanks for the information and the recipe – it looks so good! I’ll ask around at our farmers market to see if I can find some.
So good to know! I am always running out of ideas for what to do with the ever-plentiful squash. Thanks, Kalyn!
wow kalyn, never knew the difference. i’ve been enlightened, thanks for the info and the eye candy!
🙂 hope you’re doing well. it’s been a while. i’m such a slacker!
I learn something new every day. I’ve love spaghetti squash but had no idea you could eat the whole thing if it’s picked young enough. Looks delicious!