Smoked Spaghetti Squash

If you are looking for a hearty, healthy and delicious side dish to prepare then let me show you how to make a pretty tasty Smoked Spaghetti Squash on your pellet grill.

I going to show you how to smoke this squash AND I am also going to throw in a great serving idea that took this squash to a whole other level of awesomeness!

Let’s get this show on the road and fire up the smoker!

Slice and Seed the Squash

I started with a medium size spaghetti squash and gave it a quick rinse with some water to clean it up a little.

Take a sharp knife, preferably a Chef’s knife or something with at least an eight inch blade, and slice the squash in half lengthwise.

Please be careful on this step as the skin is going to put up some resistance.  Position your non-cutting hand in such a way that it will not get hurt if the knife slips.

Once the squash has been cut in half use a medium sized spoon to scoop out the seeds.

You will end up with two halves with large oval cavities.  Don’t worry about getting all of the little “shredy bits” out, we just need to get rid of the seeds.

Season the Squash with a Dry Rub

Now that the squash has been halved and seeded it is time to get it seasoned and put on the smoker!

Start by spraying the flesh of the squash with some canola or olive oil.  The type of oil isn’t important, I used Pam, as we are just making the surface of the squash tacky so the dry rub will adhere.

I like to use a sweet, salty and savory rub on squash like our award winning baby back rib rub.  I tweaked the rub a little for this recipe to tone down the garlic and increase the sugar.  Here is the recipe for the rub I used:

• 3 tbls smoked paprika
• 2 tbls turbinado sugar
• 1 tbls salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp granulated onion
• 1/4 tsp chipotle powder

Season the flesh of the squash liberally with the dry rub.  Take the time to rotate the squash onto it’s sides so you can get the rub to adhere on the inner walls of the squash.

Let the rub sit on the squash for about 15-20 minutes until it starts to pull some moisture out.

Smoke the Spaghetti Squash

Turn on your pellet grill and set the temperature to 300F.

I was using my Z Grills pellet grill for this cook but you can use your Traeger or Pit Boss if that is what you are working with.  My grill was burning hickory pellets and I liked the flavor that it put down on the squash.

Get your squash on the smoker and let it cook for at least one hour.  After one hour start checking for doneness by taking a skewer and seeing if it can slide through the flesh of the squash.

The exact cooking time is going to depend upon how large your squash is and whether your pellet grill is running with any hot spots.  This squash, which was Medium/Small, was done in one hour and fifteen minutes.

A fully cooked squash will be probe tender and the sides will be “squishy” when you squeze it with some tongs.

Shred and Serve the Smoked Spaghetti Squash

Use some tongs to take the squash off the smoker.

You have some serving options at this point.  The smoked squash is going to look beautiful coming off the pit and you can simply serve as is.

I decided to take this a step further.  I used a fork to shred the squash into spaghetti ribbons, keeping it inside the skin, and added a pat of butter for flavor.   Because butter.

I then added a few smoked shrimp to the shredded squash to make a a pretty filling lunch.  You could top the shredded squash with sliced sausage, leftover pulled pork or even slices of creamy avocados.

It’s a pretty slick trick to turn something as ordinary as squash into a somewhat elegant meal!

If you liked this recipe then here are two others that might grab your attention:

Smoked Acorn Squash

Smoked Butternut Squash