Chicken Caesar Spaghetti Squash Boats packed that chicken caesar flavor into a low carb spaghetti squash. A healthy, gluten free, paleo, and Whole30 remake on a classic comfort food!
Raise your hand if you used to eat chicken caesar salad wraps from Chick-fil-a growing up 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️
Guilty as charged. In high school my friend and I would go to the mall and stop by there for lunch. We totally thought we were being healthy by ordering salad in a wrap.
I mean we got waffle fries too (obviously), but the healthy sandwich thing balanced it out. I now know that definitely wasn’t the healthiest of meals for a handful of reasons, but man was it good. And it forever made me a lover of chicken caesar.
So I’m taking that love and putting a fun twist on it – chicken caesar spaghetti squash boats!!
Instead of you typical wrap, we are serving this chicken Caesar over spaghetti squash! It makes a great low carb alternative, ups the veggie intake, and adds some fiber to the meal. And it’s both kid and adult approved.
These chicken caesar spaghetti squash boats are perfect for an easy weeknight meal (most of the cook time is the spaghetti squash cooking) or for meal prep. We practically ate it all between 4 people (I couldn’t stop picking at it when I made them). It’s the ultimate healthy comfort food that is gluten free, paleo, and Whole30 approved!
How to make Chicken Caesar Spaghetti Squash Boats
Less then 10 ingredients to make dreamy spaghetti squash boats. The chicken caesar mixture comes together in about 10 minutes and the rest of theme is just the spaghetti squash cooking. Here is what you need:
- 2 small spaghetti squashes
- chicken breast
- kale (120 grams)
- onion
- garlic
- lemon juice
- avocado oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Caesar dressing
To start you need to roast the spaghetti squash in the oven. You can also do this in the Instant Pot (manual mode for 7 minutes!), but you would need to do it in 2 batches since we are using 2 spaghetti squashes. When the squash is almost done, you make the chicken mixture.
Sauté the onion, chicken, garlic, and kale until chicken is cooked through. Toss the mixture with lemon juice and the dressing and then evenly divide it between the spaghetti squash! Voila!
To meal prep
To meal prep these guys, it’s super simple. Just make it according to the recipe and for storage you can either store the spaghetti squash and chicken caesar mixture separately or together. It will keep in an airtight container (these are my favorite meal prep containers) for about 5 days. You can either reheat it in the microwave or in a pan over the stove.
Homemade vs store bought Caesar Dressing
I used store bought Caesar dressing to make this recipe even easier than it already is. While you can definitely make your own, or find a recipe online, this is just so much easier for me! And I’m not sure if you have tried Tessemae’s dressing, but they are bomb! I will gladly pay a bit more for it rather than try to perfect my own.
If you can’t find Tessemae’s, I would look for a dressing that doesn’t have any added sugar (or as little sugar as possible), any weird preservatives or artificial flavors, or fillers.
Can I use pasta instead?
Yes! While I love the spaghetti squash, any noodle will really work here.
You can easily substitute zucchini noodles (just make sure you squeeze all the water out of them or they will make the sauce runny), sweet potato noodles, parsnips noodles, or anything you like. If using a veggies noodle, you can toss it in with the kale and sauté until cooked through. You could also use cauliflower rice as well if you want a super low carb meal.
If you aren’t doing the Whole30, you can use gluten free pasta or pasta of your choice!
More Healthy Spaghetti Squash Recipes:
Turkey Kale Spaghetti Squash Boats
In other exciting news, I hope you guys are ready for next month?! Not because it is March and that means the warmer weather, although that is pretty great, but because I’m bringing you a new series – 30 Minute Meal Solutions!! All month I will be focusing on easy, one pan dinners that are made in 30 minutes or less. I know you guys love those kinds of recipes so stay tuned!!
Chicken Caesar Spaghetti Squash Boats
ingredients
- 2 small spaghetti squashes (about 1760 grams)
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped onion (half a large/150 grams)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound chicken breast (cubed)
- 4 packed cups chopped kale (120 grams)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Caesar dressing
instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut spaghetti squash in half, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place flesh side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Roast for 35 minutes until skin gives when you press into it.
- When there are about 10 minutes left on the squash, make the chicken mixture. Add oil to a large sauté pan and let it get hot, about 30 seconds. Add onion and sauté until softened, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken and garlic. Season liberally with salt and pepper and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add kale, mix to combine, and cook for 1-2 minutes until cooked down and chicken is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and lemon juice.
- Remove chicken mixture from the pan and place in a medium bowl. Mix with 1/4 cup Caesar dressing. Remove spaghetti squash from oven and thread with a fork. Evenly divide mixture between the 4 boats, mixing up the mixture with the spaghetti. Top each spaghetti squash boat with 1/2 tablespoon (or more) Caesar dressing and pop back in the oven for 5 minutes. Enjoy!
nutrition
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Jessica Loyd says
This is so good and easy to make. I have been eating a lot of spaghetti squash and this was a fun new way to enjoy it. It would be great to add mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and top with croutons or parm. This is a great recipe, thanks for sharing.
Kelly says
Happy to hear it was a fun change-up! Those additions sound great too – it is super customizable. Thanks, Jessica!
Leah says
If I could give this more than 5 stars I would! My husband even ate it and liked it! So delicious! Oh and we subbed shrimp cuz I didn’t have chicken! Soooo goood!
Kelly says
Yay, so happy to hear that! Glad it was a hit with the husband too. Love the idea of swapping out the protein!
Zoe says
It’s so good and easy to make. I made with spinach this time because I don’t have Kale. Also added a little nutritional yeast because why not?
love that the ingredient list is simple too!
Kelly says
Oh I love the addition of nutritional yeast! So glad you enjoyed Zoe!