Bacon Spaghetti Squash & Parmesan Fritters – need I say more?
This is one of my most favorite new recipes. Kids love these! Who knew that spaghetti squash could be a kid friendly food?
To make these spaghetti squash cakes, you will need to precook the spaghetti squash in the oven as described in the instructions below. IMPORTANT STEP: After you baked the squash, cooled it, and scraped it with a fork to remove the flesh in long strands, wring out the spaghetti squash by wrapping portions of it in paper towels and squeezing hard with your hands over the sink. Be careful not to drop the spaghetti squash into the sink if the paper towel breaks. Try to get rid of as much liquid as you can.
After the above step, making these fritters is a breeze! So delicious and easy to make! Just mix the pre-cooked spaghetti squash with eggs, bacon, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, a little bit of flour, and drop them by tablespoonfuls onto a heated frying skillet:
It’s very important that you get your skillet very hot before adding oil and then fritters. If you get your skillet very hot, then the fritters will not stick no matter how soft they are. Making fritters is a lot like making crepes in terms of how hot you want to get your skillet for the very first batch of fritters. Then, after cooking for a couple of minutes, flip them over:
And cook for 1-2 more minutes more. That’s it! Little spaghetti squash cakes are done!
They are especially good when served with a dollop of Greek yogurt (or sour cream) on top:
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup flour (for gluten free version, use multi-purpose gluten-free King Arthur flour)
- 3 cups spaghetti squash, cooked and wringed out (see instructions below)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoons salt
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 5 bacon strips, cooked, drained of fat, and chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 green onions, chopped
- dollop of Greek Yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 Fahrenheit.
- Cut the squash in 2 halves, scrape out the seeds and the fiber out of each half. Spray oil over the cut sides of the squash. Spray the baking sheet with oil and place the squash on the baking sheet cut side down.
- Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Remove it from the oven when it's cooked through and soft, and let it cool. Flip the squash so that cut side faces up – that will speed up the cooling. After squash cools, scrape squash with a fork to remove flesh in long strands and transfer to a bowl. Let it cool.
- Important: Wring out the spaghetti squash by wrapping portions of it in paper towels and squeezing hard with your hands over the sink. Be careful not to drop the spaghetti squash into the sink if the paper towel breaks. Try to get rid of as much liquid as you can.
- Cooked spaghetti squash can be refrigerated for 5 days. I prefer to cook spaghetti squash, refrigerate it and make fritters the next day or 2 days later - that allows spaghetti squash to drain the liquid out and get dryer, which is preferable for fritters
- In a large bowl, using electric mixer, beat 2 eggs on high speed for 1-2 minutes. Add flour and continue beating for about 30 seconds to combine. To the same bowl, add spaghetti squash, Parmesan cheese, 3 chopped green onions, and 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoons salt. Mix very well until all the mixture has uniform consistency. Add chopped bacon and mix. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary, even though it should be just perfect.
- Heat a large skillet on high-medium heat until VERY hot. Only then add olive oil. It should sizzle and smoke right away. Using a tablespoon, spoon the tablespoon-ful of the batter for each fritter and drop on the skillet. Using a spatula, correct the shape of each fritter, making it flatter and rounder. Cook until the bottom side of each fritter is golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Using spatula, flip fritters to the opposite side, and cook 1-2 more minutes. When flipping the fritters, you can use a spoon on the opposite side of spatula to help push each fritter onto the spatula and then flipping. Turn off the heat and let the fritters sit in the skillet (uncovered) for 2-3 more minutes (check the bottom to make sure it's not burned - if it is too dark, remove fritters from the skillet immediately). Do 4 fritters at a time, you should have a total of 2 batches (8 fritters total).
- Serve as is, or top with the dollop of Greek yogurt and chopped green onions (delicious if served this way!).
Did you notice that the above recipe was gluten free? For more good gluten free recipes, check out my GLUTEN FREE SAVORY RECIPES board on PINTEREST:
{ 64 comments… add one }
Julia – YUM! These look crunchy and delicious, and what kid could resist that adorable stack of fritters!
I’ve taken to cooking my spaghetti squash in the slow cooker. Poke a few holes, set in on low, et voila! Easy to then cut open, discard the seeds, and pull with a large fork into ‘noodles.’ Can’t wait to try your recipe!
Wow these look delicious. I can’t wait to make them. Wish I didn’t have to wait to get to the store to buy the squash. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I know my husband and I will love it!
Loupy, thanks for stopping by and commenting! Yes, sometimes it’s so hard to make yourself go to a store to get just that ONE missing ingredient.
Hi Julia, love these fritters, they look amazing!
Thanks, Cheri!
I need these fritters to get in my belly ASAP!
How is the spaghetti squash cut up? Is it diced? Thanks
Jen, the spaghetti squash should be baked first, and then just scrape squash with a fork to remove flesh in long strands and transfer to a bowl. After spaghetti squash is baked – you won’t be able to dice it as the flesh itself is just long strands that you scrape out. It’s not like butternut squash.
Oh man this looks freaking delicious!
Absolutely awesome, my kids would love these too!! They would be fun to waffle:)
Yes, kids love these! Adults, too.
i posted a spaghetti squash recipe today too! these fritters are so fun
I pinned these yesterday on my phone and I just had to hop on over to get better look! Jules – such an amazing idea using spaghetti squash in a fritter! I can’t even. So smart. I can’t wait to try these.
What unique and delicious looking fritters. I love that you used spaghetti squash. I just don’t have enough recipes using that fun squash.
I’ve been all about the butternut squash lately but have been overlooking spaghetti squash! Silly me. These fritters sound fantastic!
I love these fritters with spaghetti squash…and yes bacon just sounds even better…
Hope you are enjoying your week Julia 😀
Do these reheat well? Making for Bunko party would like to make batches ahead and reheat?? Ideas?
Yes, these reheat well. I’ve made them and then ate some of them 2 days later – just heated them up in a microwave. They were great!
is there a substitute that can be used in place of the flour to make these low carb?
Hi Melinda, I think only flour. combined with eggs, will hold these together, and it’s only 1/3 cup flour – so this dish is already low carb.
Melinda these are fantastic! It is worth spending some time experimenting to cut the carbs. I upped the cheese and onions by 1/2 and added an egg yolk. You have to be careful and patient let a good crust form then flip – don’t make them to thin, and most will hold together. I am still working on getting them where I want them.
These are also great made from leftover Spaghetti Squash Carbonara
http://peaceloveandlowcarb.com/2014/01/spaghetti-squash-carbonara-low-carb-gluten-free-primal.html
Hi Julia, these look fantastic. I’m just wondering, do they reheat well? I’d like to make them in advance, take to my sister’s house and reheat in the oven. Thanks
LB, yes these reheat well. I kept them refrigerated for 2 days and then used microwave to heat them up. Heating them up on lower heat setting in the oven should work perfectly!
Julia,
Thank you so much for the great idea!!! I grew a lot of spaghetti squash this year and can’t wait to make them. Can you freeze them?
Tina, I am so jealous – you grow your own spaghetti squash?! I’ve never frozen these so I am not sure. I did refrigerate them successfully. Because these are basically thick pancakes – I think they should freeze well after they are completely cooled.
OMG! Julia these are the bomb! Just finished making these and yum! I didn’t have green onions so used red onions which r my fave! So delish! Topped with sour cream mixed with dill…thanks for the recipe!
Kathy, I am so glad you liked them! I love them so much too, just made them recently and ate them all by myself.
Sour cream mixed with dill sounds delicious!
Oh holy hell these are amazing. I just finished making them for lunch and I’m not ashamed to say that I am going to singlehandedly eat the entire plate. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You!
Kim, you’re very welcome! You’re not the only one who likes to eat these all by herself – I made a batch a couple of weeks ago, and ate all of them by myself in the matter of 3 days without sharing.
Hey, Girlie! You’ve got two hungry males hanging out around there! How did you ever manage to keep these yummy looking things out of their clutches? These look awesome!!!
Thank you, Judy! Everybody loves these fritters – they are really good! Sometimes I just make them for myself, without sharing.
They are so convenient to eat in the morning!
I made these this morning for my morning breakfast. Topped them with an over easy egg. Hands down my favorite breakfast and there are plenty of leftovers for multiple breakfasts this week! Thank you!!!!
Sabrina, I am so glad you liked these! They’ve been my favorite breakfast too!
These look wonderful! What a wonderful fall appetizer with a bit of salad on the side.
Yes, it’s a great recipe to make in the Fall! Use up those squashes! 😉
Im hoping to make these this weekend. They look so DELICIOUS! The only problem is that I can’t seem to find bacon with no sugar or dextrose in it
Thank you – I hope you will find the bacon you want!
I’m going to try and substitute almond flour!!! I bet it would work
I bet it will – I used gluten free flour with great success!
These look amazing. In the process of making them now. Quick question, after adding the squash to the flower mix do you continue to mix with the electric mixer or with a spoon?
Do you think Coconut flour or almond flour would be best for regular flour sub? Or perhaps a GF baking mix?
This looks great! We are following a Low Carb diet. Can I replace the flour with Almond Flour?
Well I had high hopes for these fritters…
I should have been alert to the fact there is no seasoning in them. I thought the saltiness of cheese and bacon would make up for it, but nope they were really bland. More of a base recipe than a finished product.
I did like the way they cooked and held together. The texture was interesting and I enjoyed that. I will try the recipe again using it as a base and add some extra ingredients and seasonings.
Do you think whole wheat flour would be okay? I don’t do gluten free flour but I would like to make them a little better for me than all purpose. Thanks.
Hi! I tried to make these last week and for some reason, I couldn’t even get past the first step of cooking the spaghetti squash.
When I cooked it and let it cool, instead of it coming out like noodles as expected with the fork, it came out like mush. 
Could I have maybe cooked it too long or something? I’m not sure. Please help!
Thanks.
Cant understand why these would be on a low carb site when the receipe calls for a
third of a cup of FLOUR, that’s a no no on Low carb. But they do look delish
Couldn’t find spaghetti squash at my grocery store…used chopped up cauliflower instead and added some extra spices…they were delicious! Great hit with my bf, we will definitely be making these again
My daughter has an egg allergy, any ideas on how to substitute them? This looks delish!!
Here is a link with some tips. You probably want the section on Binding.
http://www.organicauthority.com/health/egg-substitutes-vegan-baking.html
These were so yummy! Thank you!
I’m going to tell myself these are healthy because of the spaghetti squash;-) Can’t wait to try! Thanks so much for the recipe!
LOVE this recipe, those fritters sound divine! Nutritional information would be mega-welcomed though for your site, having to do all this math for my LCHF diet is a bummer!
Otherwise, great instructions and photos. Thanks for the tips!
These are delicious!
I used jarred bacon bits since that’s what I had. I fried part of them and baked the others at 405 (my oven runs hot) for 20 minutes. Sprayed lightly with cooking spray before baking. Family preferred the baked ones. Thanks for a delicious recipe.
Wonderful sweet spaghetti squash taste! My teenaged sons loved these, and we all agreed that using maple bacon really made the difference. Great as a side dish, breakfast, or just a snack. Definitely making these again.
Just made these and they turned out wonderfully!! Great idea and recipe thanks!
Really? “wringed out”. Try “wrung out”. There is no such word as “wringed”.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/wringing
Jeez, lighten up
Just made these and OMG!!! I didn’t have any green onions so I just used some Onion Powder (1tsp?) I added maybe 1/3c Cheddar, and replaced the flour with CarbQuick. This made it low carb for us, which is how we eat. Thank you so much for such an awesome recipe! I was so burnt out on spaghetti squash but this just brought it back in a whole new way!
What a great idea! Made these for myself and the bf as a first course for dinner. You must have had a huge squash as mine only gave 1 scant cup of squash when all liquid was removed. No matter, still did the rest of the recipe but used 3 Tbs coconut flour in place of wheat flour and it worked beautifully. Also, added some lemon zest and juice to the yogurt. Gives a nice zing. Thanks again.
These tasted wonderful…but mine LOOKED terrible. I did not get nice firm cakes as depicted. They kept falling apart, even after trying several different skillets
Featured these on my Friday Five list today
feel free to stop by!
Xo,
Kara
http://www.fcnextdoor.com
Found your recipe because of an abundance of spaghetti squash in my CSA box. I used it today for a cooking class and it was very well received.
Did you really squeeze the strands in paper towels? I used a kitchen towel as I thought I’d otherwise be spending the day picking soggy paper out of the squash.
I made these fritters for eaters who weren’t fans of spaghetti squash and they were a hit! Next time I would cut the squash into inch long, or so, strands. The long strings made the fritters difficult to eat/cut. Great flavors!