This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This Creamy Pumpkin Casserole is my new favorite fall dish. This optionally dairy-free dish has pumpkin, spinach, and chicken and is topped with a delicious sauce and baked to perfection. It’s Paleo and Whole30, too.
Dairy-free Pumpkin Casserole
I know most people think of sweet when they think of pumpkin, but savory pumpkin dishes are so delicious! This hearty fall dinner is packed full of pumpkin flavor, both in the sauce and within the casserole itself. Plus, this one is paleo-friendly and lower-carb thanks to the use of spaghetti squash as the base!
Ingredients Needed:
- Cooked Spaghetti Squash
- Shallot and Onion
- Garlic
- Pumpkin
- Chicken (optional)
- Spinach
- Parmesan Cheese (optional, omit for dairy-free)
- Almond Milk
- Mayo
- Spices
Substitutions
Spaghetti Squash: Using this instead of pasta or rice makes this much more nutrient-dense and lower-carb. However, if you wanted to try this with gluten-free pasta or rice, it may work, though we can’t guarantee it since we haven’t tested it ourselves.
Pumpkin: I mean…this is a pumpkin casserole. But you could use butternut squash in its place with a very similar, if not the same, flavor profile.
Chicken: You can leave this out to make this vegetarian…or if you aren’t vegetarian bacon also might be another swap!
Mayo: We haven’t tried this, but cashew cream should probably work as a replacement for mayo.
Cheese: Leave it out if you can’t have it for dietary reasons.
How to Make this Pumpkin Casserole
- Roast or cook the squash in an Instant Pot. Check out this article for more info.
- Saute the aromatics, veggies and chicken!
- Mix together the sauce.
- Assemble and bake!
If you are all about the pumpkin recipes, check out these others:
- Homemade Pumpkin Purée
- How to Make Pumpkin Butter
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie (Nut-Free, Too!)
- Sea Salt Chocolate Pumpkin Cups
Creamy Pumpkin Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 large spaghetti squash about 5 cups cooked
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 onion minced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 4 cups pumpkin or squash of choice peeled and diced
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed
- 2 cups spinach
For the sauce:
- 1/4 cup mayo homemade or store-bought
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons almond milk
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- Pinch of cinnamon
For topping:
- 1/3 cup fresh Parmesan cheese optional
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti squash. Find instructions here.
- In a large skillet over medium heat heat 1 tablespoon oil and add onion shallots, and garlic cook for 1-2 minutes, until shallot just starts to become translucent. Add in pumpkin or squash and cook until just about tender, about 8 minutes. Add in chicken, and a big pinch of salt and pepper and continue cook until no pink remains, about 8 minutes. Add in 2 cups of spinach and cook for 3-5 minutes, until spinach starts to wilt. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a small bowl mix all sauce ingredients together and set aside. Grease a 8" x 8" (or similar sized) casserole dish and set aside.
- Take spaghetti squash out of oven, let cool. Using a fork scrape out the spaghetti squash into a greased casserole pan. Add in pumpkin and chicken mixture, and top with the sauce. Top with Parmesan, if desired.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, and broil for 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
- Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Edible, but I wouldn’t make this again. Took too much time and used too many pots and pans. Would be worth it, but the taste was on the bland side. I could taste all of the spices, but the other flavours were lost. Always worth a try for a new healthy recipe, but this one will be a pass.
Super great! Used butternut squash instead of pumpkin, dried thyme instead of fresh, and no parmesan and STILL AMAZING. 10/10 will make again.
Absolutely delicious! I made this for meal prep so I only followed the instructions through step 4 (skipped the baking). I am going to add this to my regular recipe rotation!
Is there a way to substitute canned pumpkin? I have a 29 ounce can I want to use up and this casserole sounds delicious
Hi Diane. Do you mean pumpkin puree? It would definitely change the texture of the recipe, but you can give it a try!
Thanks for investigating,the nutrition and making the carb corrections in the recipe. That makes more sense to me now. For me, I guess I would probably need to have 1/2 serving, or 20 carbs, as my portion.
Is this 80 g carbs for the entire recipe (all 4 servings)? Or does “As Served” mean it applies to only 1 serving (1/4 of total recipe). This is confusing and potentially misleading . As a diabetic, this is critical to know for me. If the first case is true, then a serving is only 20 g, which is great. However if it’s the latter, there’s no way I could have this.
Sorry Doug, it seems our nutrition calculator is having some issues displaying all the data. Our team is checking on this.
Not sure what happened with the carbs here. Looks like they were doubled somehow. It is still 40g per serving though. I fixed it in the recipe. That is because the spaghetti squash and pumpkin have a ton of complex carbs. A majority of both are made up of complex carbs.
When dealing with diabetes and these sources of carbs:
-Pumpkin has a high glycemic index of 75, but its glycemic load is low, at just 3.
-Spaghetti squash has a low glycemic index, meaning that it won’t cause sudden spikes in your blood sugar.
Is there a nutritional breakdown please?
2nd fall season I decided to whip this up. Tip make this in 2 days. First bake the squash well actually i crockpoted my turkey the night before..5 to 7 hrs then baked the squash the 3rd day i put it all together. Its a labor of love but its keto its healthy and its delicious….i added tge parmesan after i took it out if the oven might add brussel sprouts roasted
This should be called Fall in a Bowl, it is amazing!!!! I used acorn squash and butternut squash in place of pumpkin and swapped bacon for the chicken (because we had LCK Pecan Popcorn Chicken with it!). This was such a comforting dish without the guilt. I can’t wait for the leftovers, big hit, thanks Lexi!!
HI!! COuld I get the calories on fhis??
This is a supreme fall dish..thany you for sharing it with me..Laura..we both doubled the sauce..and I would recommend using milk..i used camels milk and it rocked it!..i also added.coconut aminos 3 tablespoons of butter and generous pink salt and extra thyme..oh and if you have a cast iron dish it comes out so perfect..oh I more thing add permesean…i suggest you just use have of the spaghetti squash and use butternut squash..
Hi,
I absolutely detest mayo, but this recipe looks amazing. Do you think I can substitute coconut cream? I read in an earlier comment to use extra almond milk, but I don’t want it to be watery. I am also dairy free so can’t use sour cream, etc.
Made this for some dear friends tonight. Doubled the recipe, but tripled the sauce to make it super duper creamy. Everyone loved it! I especially loved all the different squash elements. I had to use pumpkin, because pumpkin with a pumpkin sauce sounded divine. 🙂 Thank you Lexi!
Woohoooo!
I have a billion food sensitivities and everything in mayo is basically a no. I’m also dairy free. Any suggestions for substitutions? This looks sooooooo good!
Hi Colleen! You can probably do some additional dairy-free milk, but it won’t be as creamy.
Do you think cashew cream (i.e. blended soaked raw cashews) might work as a substitute for mayo in this recipe?
YES!
OR… Cashew cream!
I made this tonight with butternut squash and it was phenomenal. My kids are super picky and both asked for seconds!! Thanks for the great recipes!!!
I am SOOOO happy!!! You are so welcome!
This looks SO good! Great fall dish. I can’t wait to try it.
I made this for dinner tonight, with butternut squash, and it was insanely good and so easy to put together. I definitely would like to try making it with actual pumpkin to taste the difference.
My boyfriend and I can’t wait to have this for our lunches tomorrow!
OMG. Had this tonight and it was amazing. I didn’t have any chicken so I crumbled up some whole30 compliant bacon. I’ll definitely make this again.
SO glad!!!!
It’s like you KNEW I had a spaghetti squash on my counter looking to be eaten. I’ll be making this over the weekend. Can’t wait to try it! 🙂
I totally knew it!!! Can’t wait to hear how you like it!
Wow! This seriously looks amazing. Adding to next weeks meal plan right now!!
Woohoooo- you will love!