Stuffed Zucchini Boats

These stuffed zucchini boats are such a fun way to get more veggies in your diet! This recipe helps use up all those extra summer zucchinis that are always in abundance. Who’s kidding though, these are great in the middle of winter as a healthy, delicious meal to warm you up!

Zucchini boats are cheap, quick and incredibly easy to get on the table, even for a busy weeknight. They make a lot and are filling and perfect by themselves, as a light lunch or dinner.

What is stuffed zucchini boats?

Simply put, it is any filling of your choice, placed into hollowed-out zucchinis, then baked in the oven until deliciously tender and ready to serve. They can be made vegetarian, alternatively, they can have any protein cooked first, then added to the boats, then baked.

What can you serve stuffed zucchini boats with?

• Fried rice
• Potato chip chicken schnitzels
• Rissoles
• You can eat these as is, for a light lunch or dinner
• A simple, fresh salad
• Garlic bread
• Sauteed or roasted vegetables

Do you have to precook the zucchini before baking?

• No, you don’t need to pre-cook the zucchinis before adding the filling and cooking them in the oven. Especially if they are small to medium-sized zucchinis you are using.
• However, if you have big zucchinis, you will find they will naturally take longer to cook through, so in this case, if you have time, you could hollow out the zucchini (tips below) and place them in your baking dish and start to cook and soften them by adding to a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 10-15 minutes. Then pierce with a fork and check that they have started to soften a little. This will help get things cooking quicker.
• If you have the time, you can always keep the foil on the filled zucchini, skip the pre-cooking step, and simply cook longer before taking the foil off to brown the cheese up.

Can I freeze zucchini boats?

In short no. Zucchini contains a lot of water and will be quite mushy and watery if you try to freeze cooked zucchini boats. However, you can freeze the filling for the stuffed zucchini boats and simply thaw ready to fill the hollowed-out zucchini and bake for a quick weeknight meal or side dish.

Can I reheat this recipe?

Yes, absolutely. Just pop them into the microwave for 1.5 to 2 minutes, until hot. They taste delicious and reheat just fine. They’re great as leftovers for lunch or dinner.

Can you make these ahead of time?

Yes! You can cook the filling and add it to the hollowed-out zucchini. Then top it with cheese and wrap with glad wrap and place in an airtight container for up to two days.

Then when you’re ready, unwrap the zucchini boats, place them in an oiled baking dish, and bake as per the instructions. You may need to add a few extra minutes of cooking, as the zucchini and mixture will be cold.

Can I make these vegetarian?

Yes! Absolutely. Add any ingredients you like to these. Add extra veggies, beans, anything! Have a play around with different flavours and see what you love!

How long will these last?

They will last up to 3 days in the fridge. (If any are leftover that is!) Make sure to pop them in an airtight container or glad wrap over them before putting them in the fridge to keep them as fresh as possible.

Variations:

• Try parmesan or mozzarella cheese instead
• Ground beef or chicken
• Shredded chicken
• Beans- chickpeas, black beans
• Salsa
• Taco seasoning
• Corn
• Diced tomatoes
• Breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese, for a little extra crunch on top!
• Italian sausage

Tips:

• Use your favourite store-bought pasta sauce, for an even quicker dinner on the table.
• Try using parmesan or mozzarella cheese on top.
• Place foil over the top of the baking tray then put it in the oven to prevent the cheese from getting too brown and crunchy. Cook for 15 mins with foil on then take it off for the remaining 10 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium zucchini- Large zucchini can be used, however, it will take at least another 15 minutes to cook, depending on size.
• 1 tablespoon olive oil- Use any oil you have.
• 2 medium-sized portobello mushrooms- You can use any mushrooms you have, these give a beautiful depth of flavour, but again, any mushrooms will work just fine.
• 1 cup diced bacon- Use either store-bought diced bacon or dice into small pieces.
• 1 small onion- Diced.
• 1 teaspoon garlic- Freshly crushed or you can use a jar of crushed garlic if you like.
• 1/2 a red capsicum- Diced. You can use any colour you like. Green or yellow would be delicious too.
• 1/2 cup of diced zucchini flesh- If any more of the zucchini flesh is used, I find it can turn the filling watery. Feel free to use any left in another dish though!
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley- Washed and finely chopped.
• 1/2 cup of your favourite pasta sauce- Use any tomato pasta sauce you like.
• 3/4 cup shredded tasty cheese-Use any cheese you like. You could try parmesan or mozzarella cheese.

How to make this recipe:

Note: Full recipe down below!

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
• Wash zucchini well, then cut the ends off the top and bottom of each.
• Now cut in half down the length of the zucchini.
• TIP: It helps to score the zucchini roughly like this with a sharp knife. Then scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon, to leave a hollow place for the filling to go.

• Lightly oil the baking dish. You can either use a spray oil of your choice, or you could use 1 tbs olive oil and use a pastry brush to spread the oil over the dish.
• Place the zucchini into the baking dish.

• Dice the bacon, onion, capsicum, zucchini flesh, parsley and mushrooms.
• Crush the garlic cloves.

• In a frypan over medium-high heat, cook the onion and bacon for 3 minutes.
• Add capsicum, garlic, zucchini flesh and pepper to the pan and fry for another 2 minutes.
• Add pasta sauce and chopped parsley and cook for 3 minutes, continuing to stir with a wooden spoon, as it cooks.

• Scoop spoonfuls of mixture into the zucchini cases. It can be heaped a bit above the zucchini level.

• Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top of the stuffed zucchini boats.

• Place foil over the top of the baking dish and bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 15 minutes. Then take the foil off and cook 10 minutes, or until zucchini is soft, pierced with a fork.

NOTE: Cooking time will depend on how large your zucchinis are and how much zucchini flesh you have scooped out. Cook for a bit longer if zucchini is still firm when pierced with a fork. I have tried these with larger zucchinis and they have taken 25 minutes with foil on first, then another 15 minutes with foil off. They were delicious too!

Print