Movies at Dinner: Spaghetti Squash with Sausage
This spaghetti squash with sausage recipe is a classic and always a reader favorite. Enjoy! 
Spaghetti Squash and Sausage Recipe
Films and Food. Oh, when they are good, they are sooooo good. Take the dialog from the following iconic scene:
“Goddamn, that’s a pretty fu**ing good milkshake.”
“Told ya.”
“I don’t know if it’s worth five dollars, but it’s pretty fu**ing good”
It’s hard to order a milkshake, especially not a $5 shake without thinking of Pulp Fiction. I can’t even order a high-$$$ everyday eatable without thinking of Pulp Fiction. The $12 burger? $16 pho? They all get the Vincent Vega skepticism.
Video for Delicious Spaghetti Squash with Sausage recipe:
This film and food connection extend way past burgers, shakes, and the cult dialog of Pulp Fiction. Sometimes it is the music linking the food & film forever in our minds. Mambo Italiano and Big Night, anyone? Or take Paolo Conte’s “Via con me” and the kitchen scenes of Mostly Martha.
Other times it will be a certain dish or ingredient which sparks the TCM flashback. Spice and chocolate – Chocolat. Any mention of bear meat – A Chef in Love. (Weird, I know but if you’ve seen the movie you’ll know what I’m talking about.) Nearly all of our Top 10 Food Films will inspire some sort of culinary trigger.
Sometimes they will even inspire or influence our cooking or techniques. I first tackled the challenge of Puff Pastry due to Babette’s Feast. And an obscure scene from Dinner Rush forever changed how I cook sausage.
One of the boys in the kitchen whips up a quick meal of sausage and pasta for the boss (Danny Aiello). To cook the sausage, he took an uncooked sausage, pulled pinches of sausage out of the casing, dropped the perfect little balls into the pan and quickly sauteed them up.
So simple. So brilliant. Something I had never seen or read about. We didn’t grow up in an Italian household so my ways about cooking Italian stemmed from books. And now, the movies have become our teachers too.
In a salute to the great food movies, here’s a simple little dish using this movie inspired cooking technique… Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Sausage.
We love spaghetti squash. It is a perfect winter squash, giving up a great texture when cooked right. Try not to cook it until it gets mushy. It should still have a little bite like… spaghetti. Mangia!
-Todd
P.S. Would love to hear your food and film connections! Whether it is just your favorite food movies or scenes (can’t end this without giving a shoutout to Tampopo – one of our favorites of all time), foods you associate with a movie, or anything else related. Hit us with your Fave Fives.
How to make this spaghetti squash with sausage recipe:
roast in oven until squash separate easily
sauté onions or shallots and garlic until lightly golden
cook pinched sausage until golden brown
add squash, cook until heated, toss with parmesan cheese & herbs. Enjoy!
Dive in. This spaghetti squash with sausage is soooo good.
Nothing beats tried and true kitchen tools and products, plus a little bonus of some of our favorites for entertaining. Here’s some of the favorites:
Paderno Spiralizer – The Classic! We’ve lost track of how many meals this one has made for us. Fantastic spiralizer.
KitchenAid Spiralizer Attachment – Spiralize, peel, core, slice. All from the power of the KitchenAid stand mixer. 
OXO Julienne Peeler – For those who love it simple. This great julienne peeler has seen a lot of mileage in our kitchen. This recipe was originally published in 2011 and re-published in 2020 with updated video.
Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 Spaghetti Squash (@3lbs or 1.35 kg)
- 2 Tablespoons (30 ml) Olive Oil , divided
- 1/2 large onion , thickly sliced
- 3 cloves Garlic , crushed or finely minced
- 1 pound (454 g) uncooked Sausage (any kind you prefer)
- 1 cup (100 g) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 Tablespoon (15 ml) finely chopped fresh Oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried oregano), or other complimentary herb to the sausage
- Kosher Salt , to taste
- fresh Cracked Black Pepper , to taste
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 375°F. Oil a sheet pan with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil.
- Slice spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. (Kitchen Tip: Use the tip of the knife to first pierce and get the cut started. Once you get the first cut started the rest of the squash should slice easily.) Scoop out the seeds and strands, then place cut side down on the prepared sheet pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes, or until the squash flesh separates easily into strands with a fork. When cool enough to handle, finish loosening and removing the "spaghetti" from the shells and set aside.
- Pinch and pull small balls of sausage out of the casing (or make small balls from bulk sausage). Continue making small balls out of all of the sausage.
- Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Heat remaining 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in pan, then add onions and garlic. Cook until soft, stirring every 30 seconds, then add sausage. Cook untouched until bottom side of sausage starts to brown, then stir. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally until the sausage is cooked through (@ 2-3 minutes depending on heat and size of sausage).Add spaghetti squash strands to the sausage and continue cooking until heated (usually less than a minute.)
- Remove from heat. Toss in paremsan cheese and oregano. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Serve immediately.
This looks incredible! I’ve always wanted to try spaghetti squash and I love cooking (or baking ;)) with my cast iron skillet! I can’t wait to try this! Stunningly beautiful photos… as always!
gorgeous shots, as always!
You listed several food films I haven’t seen – putting them on my list. I would have to add the classic, “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman”. I can’t get enough of the cooking scenes in that movie.
This spaghetti squash dish is something we would love to eat for dinner. Spaghetti squash is so versatile and can take on almost any flavor profile.
I LOVE the contrast of colors in your photos – Makes me want to whip up something in my cast iron skillet tonight! You dish looks delicioso!
As far as food movie quotes…I always laugh when I hear the word “quarter pounder”.
Pulp Fiction: What is a Quarter Pounder called in Europe? Royale with cheese. LOL!
~Yvette
that looks magic. i make a VERY similar dish with spaghetti squash and homemade turkey meatballs. my 6 yr old daughter will eat the whole pan if left to her own devices.
as for movie food, whenever i watch “big night” i need to make timballo, and when i watch “Eat drink man woman” i feel like a schmuck for not making each component by hand when i want an asian dish.
🙂
Another great movie- Eat Drink Man Woman. Definitely takes making it from scratch to a whole nother level.
Yum!! So beautiful! and Tampompo!!! Watched that lots in the early 90’s. Excellent film!
Love spaghetti squash! Here’s the thing…by the time we get our 5 kids to bed and at that point we have already made a large meal, cleaned it up, done a whirl wind of last minute clean up…we can’t wait to pop in a movie and not get up again. My hubs has perfected stove popped pop corn. He makes it in a big old stock pot (fills it to use in school lunches the next day) and we crack open a cold beer and we’re in movie heaven.
~Kristin
That exactly how we do our popcorn too! Except usually it’s a cocktail instead of a beer. Nothing better than late evening popcorn!
I don’t think my experiences with spaghetti squash ever looked that pretty.
I’m afraid my film / food connection is quite appalling – it’s more TV series related. Old Law & Order with Jerry Orbach, popcorn and a G&T.
Mine are situated around booze – imagine that…
White russians – The Big Lebowski was a game changer. Just try and drink one without thing of the dude. Impossible.
As sad as it is after watching Sideways wine snobbery went to an all new high. I dig a good pinot noir. I can’t taste a pn without thinking of the movie.
I’m totally with you on the White Russians. I’ve been making a variation of them all winter by subbing Calvados for the vodka. Can’t reach for the half & half (or cream and milk as is usually the case) without thinking of the Dude.
Calvados…. brilliant!
I used to buy a $5.45 smoothie every Saturday morning, and every single time I’d think about the Pulp Fiction $5 milkshake. I think that’s the only detail that “dates” the movie. Now, people don’t think twice about paying more for good food.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks always made be want British food with I was little 🙂 This dish looks delectable!
I never saw Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but that genre was so fun to watch. Might have to see if Netflix has it!
I have never tried spaghetti squash before, but yours look really awesome, and makes me want to make one myself:) This is absolutely gorgeous!
The spaghetti squash looks PERFECT! Wow….I don’t make it nearly often enough but you’re the 2nd blog in a day that I’ve seen it on…that’s a sign. 🙂
Two movies with Alan Rickman always make me hungry: Bottle Shock and any of the Harry Potter movies. The feasts in the Harry Potter movies always make me want food. The movies actually inspired a cake: The Butter Beer Cake. Its a brown butter and beer cake with butter scotch on top so good. In the animated realm, I like Ratatouille and The Princess and the Frog. The Princess and the Frog always makes me want Cajun food.
This spaghetti squash looks amazing and its one of my favorite foods. Too bad I gave up meat for Lent.
Bottle Shock was great. So true about the Harry Potter feasts. Never thought of making anything off of them (I think of Bott’s Beans & chocolate frogs mostly) but you’ve got me inspired. The cake sounds fantastic!
I love spaghetti squash – it’s such a unique vegetable and so fun to use! As for my movie-food connections, I’m a huge fan of both but am having a lot of trouble thinking of certain foods and movies that I associate. Some of the films I cherished during my childhood remind me of a snack my mom would always make for my sisters and me – popcorn with melted marshmallows overtop. And you already named the other (somewhat obvious) one – Chocolat. But really, what’s more perfect for movie-watching (or any activity really) than a chocolatey snack?
That looks so delicious! I have a spaghetti squash to use up and I was thinking about pairing it with sausage. Yum!