How To Cook Spaghetti Squash in an Instant Pot

Squash season means tucking into as much butternut, pumpkin, and spaghetti squash as possible from now until spring. Butternut and whole pumpkins can be peeled and trimmed, but spaghetti squash requires its own preparation to keep its signature strands of noodle-like squash intact.

The oven and microwave are two tried-and-true cooking options for spaghetti squash, but last winter I discovered I could cook a whole one — seriously, even not halved or trimmed — in my electric pressure cooker, and I will never cook a spaghetti squash the same way again.

Spaghetti squash in the electric pressure cooker requires zero prep and comes out tender so that it’s easy to cut open and remove the seeds. It makes eating spaghetti squash even more enjoyable.

The electric pressure cooker can steam a whole two-pound squash in about 15 minutes. Remember that most electric pressure cookers need time to come up to pressure and release pressure post-cooking, so this technique takes about 35 minutes from start to finish depending on your cooker.

Add one cup of water to the cooker and then set its steamer basket or a metal trivet inside the pot as well. Pierce the squash all over with a paring knife, making about a dozen 1/2-inch vents for the steam to penetrate the squash’s skin.

Then add the squash to the electric pressure cooker, set for 15 minutes on high pressure, and cook away. When your 15 minutes is up, release the pressure and remove the squash. Give the squash at least 10 minutes to cool before halving and shredding.

By cutting the squash in half across its width (rather than length), you can get longer strands of the squash, better for mimicking our favorite pasta staple.

Read more: An Easy Hack for Getting Longer Strands of Spaghetti Squash

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