Easy 7 minute pressure cooker spaghetti squash is so simple, you'll always make the spaghetti squash instant pot version from here on out.
Whether you're looking for simple garlic parmesan spaghetti squash or want to try our version with a holiday-inspired sausage sage alfredo sauce, you'll learn all you need to know about how to cook spaghetti squash in the instant pot!
Spaghetti squash also makes a FABULOUS healthy alternative to pasta and works so well whether you're on a low carb, keto, gluten-free, or paleo diet. And after making it in an instant pot, you'll never go back to oven-roasted spaghetti squash again!
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Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash
Since I can't eat gluten and my husband is losing weight on a keto diet, pressure cooker spaghetti squash has become a staple around our house (or sometimes we'll make an air fryer spaghetti squash!) Our favorite ways to serve spaghetti squash is either simply with a litle olive oil (or butter), salt and pepper, OR it's fantastic with our 10 minute stovetop alfredo sauce recipe or homemade pesto sauce.
With it being close to the holidays, I not only wanted to show our readers how easy it is to make spaghetti squash in instant pot, but also to create an easy holiday side dish by adding a sausage sage alfredo sauce in a pressure cooker.
Using an instant pot during the busy holidays has been a game changer! Making a low carb holiday side dish that doesn't get made in the oven truly makes cooking for large crowds even easier.
If you love alfredo sauce as much as we do, then you'll also want to check out our instant pot fettuccini alfredo, 10 minute stovetop alfredo sauce, alfredo with zoodles, and our easy cheddar cheese sauce, which is basically alfredo sauce made with cheddar!
Ingredient Notes
If you're making simple pressure cooker spaghetti squash, all that's needed are spaghetti squash and 1 cup of water to put on the bottom of the pot. The rest of the ingredients are to make a yummy garlic parmesan sauce OR sausage sage alfredo sauce, that are totally optional!
Since I can't eat gluten due to health reasons, spaghetti squash is a regular item in our house (along with zoodles of course!) Just about any sauce tastes amazing on a bed of spaghetti sauce.
Simple Spaghetti Squash
- 3 lb spaghetti squash
- 1 cup water
Garlic Parmesan Sauce
3 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup chicken broth
¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese
garnish-fresh parsley
Sausage Sage Alfredo Sauce
- 2 tablespoon butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- 8 oz Italian sausage
- 1 teaspoon fresh sage
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
How to Make Spaghetti Squash in Instant Pot
Prep the spaghetti squash by washing the outside, drying it with a paper towel, and then cutting it in half lengthwise.
Remove the seeds.
Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pressure cooker and insert the steamer rack trivet.
Place the spaghetti squash halves on top of the instant pot trivet facing DOWN in the pot. They won't both fit perfectly and we needed to place one spaghetti squash half on its side to fit. If the squash faces up it fills with liquid and gets soggy.
Pressure cook the spaghetti squash on high for 7 minutes.
Do a quick release.
Remove lid, squash, and trivet from the pot. Use a fork to shred the instant pot spaghetti squash and then serve with butter (or olive oil), salt and pepper. Serve the pressure cooker spaghetti squash in either a bowl or in the squash shell.
This is also delicious with our garlic parmesan sauce, a simple alfredo sauce, pesto sauce, or our sausage sage alfredo sauce which is listed below.
Garlic Parmesan Sauce
- Over medium heat, melt the butter in the pot. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the salt, pepper, and chicken broth and combine.
- In a small bowl combine the spaghetti squash, garlic broth mixture and the parmesan cheese.
- Toss with two forks to combine.
- Garnish with fresh parmesan cheese and the fresh parsley.
Sausage Sage Alfredo Sauce
- To make the optional sausage sage alfredo sauce, you can either cook it on the stovetop while the spaghetti squash is cooking in the pressure cooker OR you can make it in the instant pot using the saute setting after the squash is cooked.
- To be honest, making it on the stovetop is quickest, but we still want to include the instant pot instructions for you fellow instant pot lovers that want to do the entire recipe in your pressure cooker.
- Drain any liquid from the bottom of the instant pot.
- Set the pressure cooker to saute and cook the Italian sausage until cooked through, which will take about 7-8 minutes.
- Remove the sausage and drain the grease.
- With the instant pot still set to Saute, melt the butter. Don't worry about a tiny bit of sausage grease or sausage bits getting mixed into the sauce. It'll make it taste even better!
- Stir in the heavy whipping cream, garlic, chopped fresh sage, salt and pepper. Combine all of the ingredients together.
- Add the shredded parmesan cheese in batches until it’s melted, stirring constantly. You don’t want to add it all at once since it could clump. This will just take you a minute or two at most to melt.
Recipe Note: It's very important not to let the alfredo sauce come to a boil, turn the instant pot down to low or even off if the sauce starts boiling. At a boiling temperature, the butter could separate from the rest of the sauce or the milk could burn–both of which would cause your sauce to separate.
Add the sausage back to the pot and stir until heated through and combined. The sauce will continue to thicken upon standing.
- Remove the sauce from the instant pot, add the shredded spaghetti squash back to the pot to make it hot again, and then stir the alfredo sauce into the squash right in your pot.
- This recipe might make more sauce than you want on your squash, so just add enough sauce back to the pot that's your personal preference. You can add as little or a lot of Alfredo sauce as desired. I mixed some in with the squash and then served more over the top. You can use the leftover sauce for zucchini noodles, pasta, or even cook another squash.
- Top the pressure cooker spaghetti squash with more alfredo sauce, and garnish with fresh sage, black pepper and more parmesan cheese.
- Enjoy! Serves 8 as a side dish.
Is Spaghetti Squash Keto?
If you've one of our readers following a ketogenic diet (like my husband!), you'll be happy to know that spaghetti squash is a fantastic pasta substitute if you're eating low carb or gluten free.
With only 5.5 net carbs per 1 cup serving, spaghetti squash in instant pot will become your new go-to pasta substitute!
More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Beer Brats
- Easy Instant Pot Country Style Ribs
- Low Carb Taco Soup
- Instant Pot Pizza Soup
- Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Instant Pot Mississippi Roast
- Instant Pot Steamed Broccoli
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Spaghetti Squash in Instant Pot Recipe
An easy 7-minute spaghetti squash in pressure cooker recipe that's so simple, you'll always make the instant pot version from here on out.
Whether you're looking for simple spaghetti squash or want to try our version with a garlic parm sauce, or sausage sage alfredo sauce, you'll learn all you need to know about how to cook the spaghetti squash in instant pot recipe.
Ingredients
- 3 lb spaghetti squash
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoon butter
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese
- garnish-fresh parsley
Instructions
- Prep the spaghetti squash by washing the outside, drying it with a paper towel, and then cutting it in half lengthwise.
- Remove the seeds.
- Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pressure cooker and insert the steamer rack trivet.
- Place the spaghetti squash halves on top of the instant pot trivet with the squash facing down. They won't both fit perfectly and we needed to place one spaghetti squash half on its side to fit.
- Pressure cook the spaghetti squash on high for 7 minutes and then do a Quick Release of the remaining pressure.
- Remove lid, squash, and trivet from the pot. Drain any moisture that collected inside the squash. Discard the water in the pot and remove the trivet.
- Use a fork to shred the instant pot spaghetti squash into long strands and then serve with butter (or olive oil), salt and pepper or try it with our garlic parm sauce or sausage sage alfredo sauce. Serve the pressure cooker spaghetti squash in either a bowl or in the squash shell.
Garlic Parmesan Sauce
Over medium heat, melt the butter in the pot. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the salt, pepper, and chicken broth and combine.- In a small bowl combine the spaghetti squash, garlic broth mixture and the parmesan cheese.
- Toss with two forks to combine.
- Garnish with fresh parmesan cheese and the fresh parsley.
Sausage Sage Alfredo Sauce
2 tablespoon butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup parmesan cheese
8 oz Italian sausage
1 teaspoon fresh sage
½ teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- To make the optional sausage sage alfredo sauce, you can either cook it on the stovetop while the spaghetti squash is cooking in the pressure cooker OR you can make it in the instant pot using the saute setting after the squash is cooked.
- To be honest, making it on the stovetop is quickest, but we still want to include the instant pot instructions for you fellow instant pot lovers that want to do the entire recipe in your pressure cooker.
- Drain any liquid from the bottom of the instant pot.
- Set the pressure cooker to saute and cook the Italian sausage until cooked through, which will take about 7-8 minutes.
- Remove the sausage and drain the grease.
- With the instant pot still set to Saute, melt the butter. Don't worry about a tiny bit of sausage grease or sausage bits getting mixed into the sauce. It'll make it taste even better!
- Stir in the heavy whipping cream, garlic, chopped fresh sage, salt and pepper. Combine all of the ingredients together.
- Add the shredded parmesan cheese in batches until it’s melted, stirring constantly. You don’t want to add it all at once since it could clump. This will just take you a minute or two at most to melt.
- Recipe Note: It's very important not to let the alfredo sauce come to a boil, turn the instant pot down to low or even off if the sauce starts boiling. At a boiling temperature, the butter could separate from the rest of the sauce or the milk could burn–both of which would cause your sauce to separate.
- Add the sausage back to the pot and stir until heated through and combined. The sauce will continue to thicken upon standing.
- Remove the sauce from the instant pot, add the shredded spaghetti squash back to the pot to make it hot again, and then stir the alfredo sauce into the squash right in your pot.
- This recipe might make more sauce than you want on your squash, so just add enough sauce back to the pot that's your personal preference. You can add as little or a lot of Alfredo sauce as desired. I mixed some in with the squash and then served more over the top. You can use the leftover sauce for zucchini noodles, pasta, or even cook another squash.
- Top the pressure cooker spaghetti squash with more alfredo sauce, and garnish with fresh sage, black pepper and more parmesan cheese.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Skip all the sauces if you just need a basic spaghetti squash pressure cooker recipe.
Serve with alfredo sauce, marinara sauce, garlic parm sauce, or just with butter, salt and pepper.
Cutting the squash in half lengthwise will give you short spaghetti squash strands, if you cut it in half across the width, it'll give you longer strands.
To cook the squash al dente reduce the cook time to 4-5 minutes.
To cook the spaghetti squash whole, put the entire squash in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes and do a Natural Release. Remove the seeds after it's cooked with a cookie scoop or ice cream scoop.
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Brooke says
What is the net carb total for this recipe without the sausage Alfredo sauce? I'm making a meal for someone on a strict keto diet.
Thanks!