Spaghetti Squash “Crabcakes”

It occurred to me that the spaghetti appearance of spaghetti squash could easily mimic crabmeat, and so I began assembling traditional crab cake ingredients. One of my favorite techniques uses cracker crumbs and so I decided to put together a spaghetti squash crabcake recipe using Ritz crackers. This recipe is mostly vegetarian, and can easily be adjusted to be lacto-ovo or completely vegan by using a vegetarian worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise and substituting the egg.

Even though I have used spaghetti squash an innumerable amount of times over the years, I was still surprised at how dominate the squash flavor could be. After several adjustments and variations, I decided to let the squash flavor be predominate in this recipe. I was able to push that flavor to the back a bit by adding more cracker and mayonnaise and seafood seasoning, but I wasn’t happy with the nutritionals in those versions.

Spaghetti squash has a surprising amount of moisture, and so produced a rather soupy crabcake mixture the first time I made this. I remedied this by scooping the flesh into a towel, wrapping it and placing it in a colander and weighting it to press out the moisture. I actually removed over a cup of liquid doing this, and the result was a firm block of spaghetti squash. This helped reduce the amount of mayonnaise and cracker in the final mixture, and resulted in a consistency very similar to a crabcake. I also added very finely diced red bell pepper to this and the final outcome was very good. Serve these with a nice remoulade or tarragon mayonnaise and they are so reminiscent of crabcakes that your guests may do a double take to confirm that they do not actually contain any crab! These are great as an entree, as mini “not” crabcakes, or stuffed in mushroom caps as an appetizer. Really, you can substitute this for any item that you may stuff with crabcake mixture.

Print Recipe

Spaghetti Squash “Crabcakes”

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 45 mins Cook Time 60 mins Rest Time 120 mins Total Time 3 hrs 45 mins

Servings: 4

All ingredients

Servings

• 1 Whole medium sized spaghetti squash
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp red bell pepper, diced finely
• 3 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
• ³⁄₄ cup Dukes mayonnaise
• 15 Each Ritz crackers, crushed
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 3 dash Old Bay Hot Sauce
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Each whole egg
• 3 tbsp melted butter

Instructions

1. To prepare squash

   Carefully split spaghetti squash in half, scoop out seeds.

   Place squash halves cut side down on a parchment lined sheet pan.

   Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes until squash is soft.

   Remove from oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

   Scoop flesh from shell and place in a clean kitchen towel, wrap tightly.

   Place in a colander and weight  with a pot of water or similar item 1 hour.

   Unwrap squash and cut block into 1 inch cubes.

    

    

1. To prepare batter

   Combine all remaining ingredients, except for butter, and refrigerate for 15 minutes to allow cracker crumbs to absorb liquid and seasonings to marry.

1. Final assembly

   Combine cubed squash with seasoning batter and work with your hand to combine well and form a thick batter like consistency.

   Form into 4 ounce rounded cakes.  Square sides to create the crabcake illusion.

   Heat butter in medium sized saute pan on medium heat.

   Brown cakes lightly on one side, flip, and place pan in 350 degree oven.

   Bake for 25 minutes.

   Serve as is or with your favorite condiment.

   After roasting and scooping the spaghetti squash the "spaghetti" strands will still have a firm texture. If the squash is over baked initially the resulting batter takes on a mushy texture. Baking the cakes for 25 minutes softens the squash and allows the batter to maintain the crabcake like texture.
2. 

Keywords: spaghetti squash, crab cakes, vegetarian,