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These Easy Stuffed Zucchini Boats are a healthy and fresh dinner option to enjoy all summer long! Piled high with ground beef or an optional vegetarian filling, this customizable meal will please everyone around your dinner table — even the picky little kids!
Table of Contents
- Tips for Making Family-Friendly Stuffed Zucchini Boats:
- Ingredients for Easy Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- How to Make Fresh Zucchini Boats
- Stuffed Zucchini Boats Easy Prep Tips & Tricks
- Storage: Can You Freeze Zucchini Boats?
- Fresh Zucchini Boats Recipe Variations
- More Delicious Zucchini Recipes
- Easy Stuffed Zucchini Boats Recipe
Before you run off and assume that your finicky offspring (or husband) would NEVER enjoy this stuffed zucchini, hear me out! The vegetables are mild, and the familiar Italian flavors appeal to just about every palate. Plus, if you tell a kid that he’s eating a “boat,” it’s sure to pique his interest!
Tips for Making Family-Friendly Stuffed Zucchini Boats:
- Pick your filling! I have included a recipe that uses ground beef, but you can substitute with ground chicken or ground turkey. I have also included notes on how to make both vegetarian and vegan zucchini boats, so be sure to keep reading for those tips! There’s a way to adapt this meal for almost anyone.
- Serve it with another familiar side dish. For instance, I pair the stuffed zucchini boats with a side of pasta and marinara sauce. That way, I know that the boys can fill up on pasta, even if they don’t devour the zucchini boats. Since there’s less pressure and less focus on the zucchini, I find that it makes the kids more adventurous. They can taste one bite without fear that it’s their only option for dinner. Even though they were skeptical at first, all 3 of my boys ended up eating a decent amount of their zucchini…in addition to the pasta. You never know how they’ll react until you offer it, right?
Ingredients for Easy Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Here is an overview of the fresh, easy ingredients I use to make easy stuffed zucchini boats for dinner. As always, the complete ingredients are included in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Fresh Zucchini: medium zucchini are the perfect size for this recipe. If you use large zucchini, you can make more servings (serve one half instead of two halves for a full serving).
- Tomato Sauce: tangy and hearty base for the zucchini boat filling.
- Ground Beef: my protein of choice for this recipe. It can be subbed out for another protein to add some variety to the recipe.
- Sweet Bell Peppers & Tomatoes: these vegetables add freshness to the filling.
- Onions & Garlic: aromatics that infuse flavor into the meaty, hearty zucchini boat filling.
- Salt & Pepper: to enhance the flavors of the dish.
- Fresh Basil: the perfect fresh herb for a garnish.
- Parmesan Cheese & Breadcrumbs: combined, this mixture makes a perfect crispy, golden-brown topping.
Vegetarian or Vegan Stuffed Zucchini Boats Recipe Variations
If you’re a vegan, vegetarian, or just trying to work more meatless meals into the rotation, this zucchini boats recipe is a great way to work more veggies into a meal and can be easily altered to fit a meatless diet. Here are some great ways to adjust the recipe.
- You can use just about any type of bean that you enjoy. I stuffed my zucchini boats with chickpeas, but white beans or black beans would also be delicious.
- Tofu or impossible meat can be substituted for the ground beef.
- For vegetarian zucchini boats without beans, make a diced vegetable medley for the filling. Fresh veggies like red bell pepper, red onion or sweet onion, or yellow squash pair perfectly with fresh tomatoes for a hearty, veggie-packed filling.
- If you want a vegan meal, just omit the Parmesan cheese.
How to Make Fresh Zucchini Boats
This easy zucchini boats recipe is one of the best ways to use up fresh zucchini — we don’t even let the zucchini pulp go to waste! Talk about a plate full of colorful veggies! Here’s how to make this easy recipe that the whole family will love.
- Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, then hollow out the inside of each half.
- Pour tomato sauce into a baking dish, then arrange the zucchini boats in the sauce.
- Prepare the zucchini boat mixture on the stovetop.
- Fill the zucchini boats with the cooked mixture.
- Bake for 20 minutes in a 400-degree oven.
Stuffed Zucchini Boats Easy Prep Tips & Tricks
If you’re intimidated by the prep time involved in stuffing a zucchini, let me assure you: this is not difficult! I resisted homemade zucchini boats for years because I just assumed that they were way too time-consuming for my kitchen. Wrong! As usual, I’ve managed to make this process as quick and easy as possible.
- While some stuffed zucchini recipes call for roasting the hollow zucchini shells before stuffing, I find that pre-baking is not necessary at all. The vegetable becomes nice and tender (but not too soft) with just 20 minutes in the oven, so you can cut out that extra step!
- For quick prep, I also suggest using a melon baller to scoop out the inside of the zucchini. If you don’t have one, it’s fine — just use a sharp teaspoon. However, the small end of an inexpensive melon baller makes the process so fast — with just one swipe down the center, you can remove all of the zucchini pulp!
- To avoid the last-minute dinner rush, try preparing the zucchini boat filling in advance. If you have time on the weekend or the night before, you can sauté the meat and vegetables ahead of time.
- You can even prepare the entire dish in advance, cover it with plastic wrap, and bake it in the oven when you’re ready to eat. Work ahead to eliminate the stress!
How do you keep zucchini from getting soggy in the oven?
Zucchinis are one of those vegetables that have a higher water content. Because of this — like other roasted vegetables — they can become soggy when roasted. First, use the freshest summer zucchini you can find. If it’s not zucchini season when you’re making this recipe, avoid any zucchini that are soft, rubbery, or slimy to the touch. When you’re ready to bake the zucchini boats make sure to not overcrowd the casserole dish or baking sheet. Leave a little bit of room between each boat.
What is a good side dish for zucchini boats?
There are plenty of great side dish options to serve with zucchini boats! Here are some great pairings:
- Garlic bread, crusty no-knead bread, crescent rolls, homemade breadsticks, or a crusty baguette.
- Couscous salad, summer corn salad, three bean salad, or marinated vegetable salad.
- Classic Caesar salad, a wedge salad, house salad with candied pecans, or a mixed green salad with a red wine vinaigrette.
- Roasted rosemary potatoes, roasted dill potatoes, roasted carrots, or roasted green beans and bacon.
Storage: Can You Freeze Zucchini Boats?
Frozen zucchini tends to get mushy once thawed, so I would not recommend freezing fully assembled or cooked zucchini boats. However, if you have leftover filling (and you likely will, since you’ll only need about half the meat mixture to stuff four medium-sized zucchini), you can easily freeze it and keep it on-hand for other recipes. The filling can be frozen in an airtight container for up to three months and is perfect to have on hand for other recipes.
Fresh Zucchini Boats Recipe Variations
- Instead of ground beef, switch up the flavors with a different meat option — ground turkey, ground chicken, ground Italian sausage, or even shredded rotisserie chicken can be used.
- For a cheesy zucchini filling, add shredded cheese! Mozzarella cheese, provolone cheese, or a shredded Italian blend would be delicious. You could also try cheddar cheese or Monterrey Jack cheese.
- Season the zucchini boats with salt, pepper, and fresh herbs or Italian seasoning before adding the filling. While you don’t need to pre-bake the zucchini shells, seasoning every aspect of this recipe makes sure there’s flavor in every bite.
- For a heartier filling, stir in some of the tomato sauce or use 1/4-1/2 of a cup of your favorite marinara sauce.
Whether you serve Stuffed Zucchini with ground beef or opt for a light and fresh vegan or vegetarian stuffed zucchini dinner, I hope that this simple recipe offers a new way to enjoy summer’s fresh vegetables — with as little effort as possible!
More Delicious Zucchini Recipes
Easy Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini
- 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
- 1 lb. ground beef (I used 96% extra lean)
- 1 sweet bell pepper, diced
- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Halve the zucchini lengthwise. Hollow out the zucchini by scooping out the pulp, reserving the shells. I like to use the small end of a melon baller for this, but a teaspoon also works fine. Finely chop the pulp and set it aside to use later.4 medium zucchini
- Pour tomato sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish (or a similar size large dish). Arrange zucchini shells in the dish. Set aside.1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add reserved zucchini pulp, beef, bell pepper, tomatoes, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until beef is no longer pink (about 8 minutes). Drain skillet. Stir in basil.1 lb. ground beef (I used 96% extra lean), 1 sweet bell pepper, diced, 2 medium tomatoes, chopped, 1 onion, finely chopped, 2 teaspoons minced garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper
- In a separate bowl, combine Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs.¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, ¼ cup breadcrumbs
- Pile the beef mixture into the zucchini shells in the prepared dish.*
- Sprinkle the top of each zucchini half with about 2 teaspoons of the breadcrumb mixture.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until heated through and golden brown on top. Garnish with fresh basil, serve, and enjoy!2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
This was a good, basic recipe I used as a guide before tweaking to personalize to my tastes. First, after halving the zucchini I microwaved them for a few minutes to pre-cook them a bit. I browned the sausage, using Italian sausage I had removed from the casings. To that I added chopped red and yellow bell pepper, onion and the garlic, more than called for, and some fresh herbs. I did chop the zucchini pulp and added that too. I used no bread crumbs or other filler. I mixed up the mozzarella and Parmesan, added some to the sausage mixture and reserved some to sprinkle over the top. Rather than spaghetti sauce I used a good quality marinara, much less than 32 ounces, as I didn’t want the zucchini swimming in sauce. I baked this, uncovered, for just over half an hour. I served Hubs his over a bed of rice and left my low-carb version as is. Delicious.
Awesome! So glad that you were able to make it your own! 🙂
Yummm! These look so perfect – and I can’t believe I’ve never thought of cooking them with sauce like this! I need to try them soon
Yes, you definitely need to try it this way! 🙂
I made these for dinner a few nights ago and they were a hit with the whole family! I followed your recipe exactly but omitted the bread crumbs and they were still delicious. This was my first time making zucchini boats and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy they were. We also thought they make for the perfect summer meal – hearty enough to fill you up after a day spent playing in the sun yet not too heavy to eat in the evening heat. Thanks for another great recipe!
p.s. the leftover meat mixture worked great the next morning in an egg scramble!
Awesome! I’m so glad that you enjoyed them, Lauren! And I love the idea of using the extra meat in an egg scramble. Thanks so much for that suggestion!
I love this idea, and how healthy it is compared to other recipes! You have a great suggestion of pairing it with other familiar foods, a trick that I will start implementing! Can’t wait to make.
Do you have any ideas for the scooped out zucchini? I was thinking of mashing it and using it for zucchini bread, but would love other ideas.
Hi, Brie! Hmmm…I would maybe saute the zucchini and add it to a pasta sauce, or just dice it and cook it with butter, garlic and salt in a skillet and use it as a side dish! 🙂
Can you make this the nite be for and bake them the next day?
Hi, Aracelis! Yes, I think that should work fine! 🙂
Can we eat the zucchini boats, too? LOVE Your recipes
Thank you! Yes, the whole dish is meant to eaten – zucchini and all!