So do you remember my sharing with you how to make perfect oven roasted spaghetti squash each and every time? And do you remember my teasing you on facebook and instagram telling you that I was taking it beyond the standard squash dish, casserole or pasta substitute recipe? Well what you didn’t know was I kinda went nuts making that how-to recipe because I ended up with about 14 cups, yes 14, of roasted spaghetti squash. And while I love the stuff, there is only so much a person can eat as a casserole or a pasta dish. So I had to become creative.
By now you all know my absolute FAVORITE food in the ENTIRE world is pizza. Like we’re talking if I had to choose a single food I had to live on for the rest of my life it would be pizza. Now don’t get me wrong it has to be good pizza and yes before you say “even bad pizza is still good pizza because it’s pizza” um, no! NO NO NO! How do I know? Because I had BAD pizza when I was in Arizona. It was worse than wretched if that’s even possible. We’re talking I couldn’t even eat one bite bad and Mr. Fantabulous refused to eat it. That man would eat rocks covered in marinara if he could but he couldn’t even eat that pizza.
HOWEVER this pizza, you’re gonna want to make this every day, forever. PLUS those of you that live or need gluten free you’re in luck! Yes this has flour in it but from doing my research rice flour is naturally gluten free. You don’t need the gluten in this recipe.
When you make this crust the most important bit of advice I can give you is squeeze out as much liquid from the squash as possible. The more dry it is, the more crispier your crust will end up. Just put the cooked squash in a strainer and press and press and press down to get the water out. Or put the squash in a clean dish towel (not terry cloth btw… trust me, I learned the hard way) and squeeze it like you’re squeezing the most sexiest booty out there. Wha? LOL
What you’ll also notice is there is no yeast or leavening in the recipe. There’s no need to. Because the noodles are sturdy you really don’t want to create a ‘doughy’ crust that rises with strands of squash in it. You want the squash to meld together to form the crust. Next, spaghetti squash is pretty bland so by adding in some basic seasoning you can really amp up the flavoring. Remember this is just the crust. However you top it, those flavors will infuse into the crust.
Once you mix it all up you’ll want to spread it out on lightly sprayed parchment paper. I would advise against putting it directly on a baking sheet only because one, I haven’t tested it, and two it may stick. With the parchment I know it doesn’t. And since this isn’t a dough crust you don’t roll it out or stretch it. Instead you spread it out and then shape it with damps hands (hahaha I first typed damn hands). Fine use your damn hands too! And as you can see when you spread it out, you want to give a lip all the way around the edges. This gives it that ‘puffed’ crust appeal.
For me my crust takes between 20-30 minutes to get to that desired crust look. I like mine golden brown around the edges. When you pull it out it should be firm to the touch. AND you can pick up the side/crust and look at the base crust. If it’s gorgeous golden brown and ‘stiff’ then you’re good to go! The only reason why it wouldn’t brown up is if you didn’t squeeze most of the liquid out. Did I mention that this is super important???
Once it’s cooked you can top however you want with whatever you want. Now if you’re eating this type of crust I’m “assuming” you are going more for a healthier pizza. HOWEVER you don’t have to! For me my favorite topped pizzas are:
– pizza sauce, variety of cheese and basil
– bbq shredded chicken, cheddar, caramelized onions and crispy bacon – yes I said bacon. I never said you had to keep it healthy but remember everything in moderation!
– roasted veggies, drizzle of olive oil, crumbled feta and pumpkin seeds
– um… anything cause it’s pizza, duh! LOL
Now stay tuned for future recipes featuring this crust in various pizza recipes! So for now if you gave up carbs for Lent go make this and eat your pizza!
PrintSpaghetti Squash Pizza Crust
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Ingredients
- 2 cups Oven Roasted Spaghetti Squash, cooled *Note – this is measure after you squeeze the liquid. Before you squeeze the liquid, go with 3-3/12 cups prior to squeezing.
- 2 Tbl rice flour (can use AP flour) – *rice flour is naturally gluten free
- 1 large egg, slightly beaten
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F, rack in the middle.
- In a strainer place the spaghetti squash and press down to get as much liquid out as possible. You can also place the squash in a clean towel and squeeze to get the liquid out.
- Place the strained squash in a bowl, add in the rice flour, beaten egg, salt, parmesan cheese, oregano and pepper.
- Using a mixing spoon, mix the stuff together until well combined. The mixture will be tacky. If it’s too runny, add a Tbl or 2 more flour.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet; lightly spray.
- Dump the mixture into the middle of the parchment paper and using damp hands gently spread out the mixture into a 12” circle building up the edges to form a crust. The crust should be about 1/4-1/2” thick.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the crust edges and bottom are golden brown. The crust should be firm to the touch with little to no give.
Notes
Once the crust is made just top with your favorite toppings and bake for 5-8 minutes until your cheese is melted!
Truly the best alternative pizza crust there is. Easily adapted to gluten friendly by using almond flour.
I’m so making this next week! Does the crust have to include cheese?
Hi! No, it doesn’t but you might have to add a tad more rice flour in its place. The cheese is used as a binder and for flavor.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Hey Lor. You bake this entirely and then add topping and bake just an additional 5 to 8 min?
Hey Karen!
Yep! Here’s recipe using that crust: https://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2016/02/24/cheesy-spaghetti-squash-pizza/
The crust is already cooked by the time you add on the toppings. You just cook it long enough to melt the cheese.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Thanks! Do you have to be careful not to put too many toppings on it? Can you also use this crust for your hoagie pizza? ie “salad” pizza?
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I mean I wouldn’t go hog wild with toppings but I can make it a meat lovers and it holds up. And yes, you can use those toppings as well from the hoagie pizza.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Had a little trouble getting the squash drained and will use a towel or cheesecloth next time. The taste & texture was incredible. I topped it with salami, mushrooms, red onion and mozzarella. Thank you for the great recipe!
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Oh that sounds sooooooo yummy!!! You could use a linen cloth to help get all of the liquid out next time.
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Excellent! Family loved it. Topped it with vodka sauce, salami, mushrooms, black olives, and mozzarella cheese. Definitely trying this again.
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What is AP flour?
All purpose.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
This recipe was great. Even my husband liked it better than the traditional flour recipe.
Thank you so much!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Would there be any benefit to using a perforated pizza pan or a pizza stone?
Hi Tracy,
I wouldn’t use the perforated one with the parchment as it could burn. When you initially bake it, it need to be on parchment. You could use it on a stone but watch as it could burn before it’s actually cooked through. Now to bake a 2nd time (i.e., when you add the toppings you could cook try to cook it on the pizza screen or stone but I’ll be honest I’m not sure how that would turn out. Since the crust does have egg in it it may stick to them. If you use the pizza stone, I would still use the parchment. Now full disclosure I haven’t tried this on a screen or stone for the 2nd bake only because I don’t want a mess to clean up if it does stick. If you do try it and it works let me know!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Would whole wheat flour work as well? My husband is on a diabetic diet and I keep whole wheat flour on hand.
Hi Samantha!
The only drawback to using whole wheat is that it may make the crust dense but since it’s only 2Tbl in the recipe you should be ok!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I just made this for lunch. Had a spaghetti squash that needed to be used and some leftover pizza sauce. It was delicious! I thought I had squeezed out all the liquid but once I added the other ingredients it was pretty watery. I drained as much as I could but then used paper towels to soak up the rest of the liquid after forming the crust. It worked great! Also, for those that don’t want to use any flour, I substituted ground cashews for the flour and it worked great! Will definitely make again!
Hi Judy!
Yeah the squash is so water-laden that it’s one of those things when you think you’ve squeezed all of the liquid out, squeeze again. LOL And awesome tip about using ground cashews! Thank you! I’m so happy you loved it as much as I did!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
After draining the cooked squash, Spread the squash out on a cotton dish towel. Fold up dish towel, twist dish towel, squeeze dish towel, and you will have absorbed all the excess moisture in the dish towel. I do this sometimes with lettuces. Really works well.
Great tip Marianne!
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Have you tried freezing this crust/do you have any pointers?
Hey Beth,
No I haven’t to be honest as I kinda eat it too fast for leftovers 🙂 I’ll be honest I’m not sure it would hold up to freezing. I’m thinking that, even though we press as much liquid out of it as possible, that freezing it may turn it ‘mushy’ when you bake it from the freezer. However I do have a squash here. Let me try it this weekend and I’ll let you know what happens, k?
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I love your crust recipe!!!! I am working on a spaghetti squash lasagna noodles recipe any pointers you can share??
Thank you so much Jim! Hmmm… so I’m thinking about your “noodles”. You can make them like the pizza crust but they will have to be super thin and baked fully first. I’m thinking make the crust but roll it really thin then when it’s done you cut it as strips. Then for the layered effect (and this is where I’m not 100% sure how it would work – I’d have to actually test it out), you’d have to layer it like lasagna and bake it. But…what I’m not sure about is if the “noodles” would hold their shape while you bake it or if they would kind of ‘melt’ into the cheese mixture. Cheaters way is just just layer the noodles with the sauce and cheese and bake like a casserole butttt that’s not really “lasagna”.
Let me know what you come up with!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Do you have to add the flour (rice or ap?
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Hi Lorraine,
Yes you need that powdered element to help bind the mixture together otherwise it will spread out so much when you bake it that it won’t really hold a shape.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I love spaghetti squash and can’t wait to try this, I have a few questions…
I have coconut flour and almond flour…will either of test work without ruining the taste?
I usually cook my squash in the microwave, does it make a difference in tears pizza crust when it’s oven roasted vs cooked in micowave?
2 cups of squash with the liquid drained or before you squeeze dry?
Thank yout for this recipe!
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I have not used coconut flour but almond flour didn’t alter it at all. It’s 2 cups after it’s squeezed. Pre-squeezed is about 3-3 1/2 cups.
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I made this for lunch today and it was really good. Hubby loved it too. A question: the recipe indicates 2 cups of cooked spag squash, but didn’t indicate if that was the measurement of pre-squeezed or post-squeezed squash. I assumed it was before squeezing the liquid out and out of curiosity measured the “after-squeeze”. I ended up with 1/3 cup of squash. Crazy. So I just wanted to make sure that is what you experience as well … a lot less once squeezed. Thanks!
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Looks fantastic! Can you please clarify what AP flour is? Thanks.
Thank you so much Dina! AP flour is All Purpose flour; just regular old flour 🙂
Best Kitchen Wishes!
★★★★★
This is an excellent recipe! I was so tired of my cauliflower crust. It was good but…this has so McGuire more structure and neutral flavor! I squeezed my squash so much I couldn’t get it to mix well so I put the dry ingredients into a food processor and pulsed it til blended then mixed in the egg by hand. Really awesome recipe!
Thank you so much Staci! I really appreciate it! I love this crust so much and love the fact that I don’t have to feel guilty eating it!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
★★★★★
This sounds amazing. Can not wait to make this.
lisa
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Everyone I’ve heard from Lisa has loved this crust. Let me know!
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★★★★★
Excellent! Even appreciated by three picky eaters! Great recipe.
Thank you so much Maggie! And hey picky eater approval is a BONUS!
Best Kitchen Wishes!
★★★★★
AMAZING!!! The fact that it’s low carb and gluten free is a big bonus! I now no longer have to feel guilty eating pizza!
LOVE YOU!!!
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You’re exactly right Maggie – no guilt now! Well unless you put bacon, sausage and pepperoni on it *wink* But hey I’m not judging.. that is as long as you share *wink*
Best Kitchen Wishes!
★★★★★
This was incredible! I love spaghetti squash but get tired of the same using it as a pasta substitute. But using it as a pizza crust.. BRILLIANT! I absolutely love your website, your wit and how you really treat us a family! I’m honored to be a TKW sister!
Love love LOVE this!
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Hi Kelli!
Thank you so much! Yeah I was super happy when I came up with this recipe. Though my thighs were happier 🙂 LOL
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