How to Cook a Spaghetti Squash in Your Instant Pot in Just 7 Minutes
You're likely familiar with spaghetti squash in its roasted or baked form, you may even have cooked the squash in your microwave, but if you are the owner of a pressure cooker such as an Instant Pot, you may want to know how to make Instant Pot spaghetti squash. After all, roasting the squash can take nearly an hour at which point you may still need to add it to a recipe like this casserole or these mini pizzas, to cook even more. Well, there's good news, you can cook spaghetti squash in your pressure cooker. In general, your pressure cooker gets things done much faster. Our Test Kitchen tried a couple different methods to find the one that works best so you can speed up the cooking time and not have to worry about your oven being on for an hour or more.
Related: Spaghetti Squash Recipes
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How to Cook Spaghetti Squash in an Instant Pot
Use our tested step-by-step directions to make spaghetti squash in the pressure cooker.
Start by washing your spaghetti squash. Note: We tested 3- and 3½-pound squashes, which both worked.
Cut squash in half crosswise (this gives longer strands of squash and fits in your cooker better than cutting lengthwise) and scoop out the seeds.
Place squash halves, cut side up, in a 6-quart Instant Pot ($130, Target) or other pressure cooker. Add 1 cup water. Lock lid in place.
Set electric pressure cooker on high pressure to cook 7 minutes. For stove-top cooker, bring to pressure over medium-high heat according to manufacturer's directions; reduce heat enough to maintain steady (but not excessive) pressure. Cook 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
For both models, let stand 5 minutes to release pressure naturally. Release any remaining pressure. Open lid carefully.
Using tongs, remove the squash halves. Cool slightly, then shred the squash with a fork. Serve as desired.
Related: Instant Recipes from Your Pressure Cooker
Can You Pressure Cook Spaghetti Squash Whole?
In hopes of saving on prep effort, our Test Kitchen tried cooking a whole spaghetti squash in the instant pot by piercing the squash exterior for ventilation and doubling the cook and pressure release times. When the squash was cool enough to handle, we found inconsistent cooking throughout. The edges were cooked but the center was not. And when we tried to start shredding the strands, it was too difficult to remove the seeds. In a nutshell, we do not recommend cooking a whole spaghetti squash in the pressure cooker.
Now that you can keep your oven free while cooking spaghetti squash, go ahead and bake a dessert or roast some veggies to serve alongside your squash recipe.
