These stuffed zucchini boats are filled with a hearty sausage mixture, then topped with plenty of cheese and baked to perfection. An easy low carb meal option that the whole family will enjoy!
There are so many different ways to eat zucchini, I often serve side dishes such as parmesan zucchini and zucchini gratin. But my favorite way to make zucchini is to stuff it and serve it as a main course.
Stuffed zucchini boats is a classic dish that never goes out of style. It’s an especially good choice during the summer when everyone’s gardens are overflowing with squash. What I love about this dish is that it’s easy to customize the flavors to your liking and is naturally low in carbs!
How do you make stuffed zucchini boats?
This recipe starts with zucchini, which are hollowed out, seasoned, then placed in a baking dish. A simple meat sauce is made with Italian sausage, marinara sauce, garlic and onions. The sauce gets piled into the zucchini shells, then everything is topped with cheese and baked until gooey and browned.
Tips for stuffed zucchini boats
- You can use mild or hot Italian sausage, pork or turkey sausage, or even ground beef for this recipe.
- Use your favorite brand of marinara sauce. I typically use Newman’s Own or Classico.
- You can also make this recipe with yellow squash, or even hollowed out small eggplants!
- While I typically use mozzarella cheese in this dish, other great choices would be parmesan, fontina or provolone.
- Dried Italian seasoning can be found in the spice aisle of most grocery stores, or you can use my Italian seasoning recipe to make your own.
Can you freeze zucchini boats?
I don’t recommend freezing zucchini boats, simply because the zucchini will be quite mushy upon thawing. That being said, you can absolutely freeze the meat filling for these boats for up to 2 months. Simply thaw the filling, spoon it into fresh zucchinis, then add cheese and bake.
Stuffed Zucchini Boat Variations
This is an Italian style stuffed zucchini, but there are so many other great ways to fill your squash!
- Mexican: Make a filling with 1 lb ground beef, 16 ounces tomato sauce, 4 ounces diced green chiles, 3/4 cup black beans and 1/2 cup corn, then top with cheddar cheese and bake.
- Asian: Make the filling for my chicken lettuce wraps, spoon it into the zucchini, then bake.
- Vegetarian: Make a filling with sauteed onion, 2 cups cooked grains such as rice or quinoa, 1 diced red bell pepper, salt, pepper, 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, and fresh herbs.
Is zucchini healthy?
Zucchini is packed with nutrients such as folate, Vitamin B6, potassium, manganese, Vitamin C and and Vitamin K. Zucchini is low calorie, low in carbohydrates and high in fiber. Zucchini also protects against inflammation, aids in digestion, improves thyroid function and is beneficial for your eyes.
This recipe is a great way to get some veggies into your kids. You can even assemble your zucchini boats earlier in the day, then store them covered in the fridge until you’re ready to bake them. I make this recipe all the time and it always gets rave reviews!
More great Italian recipes
Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini
- 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 pound mild Italian sausage casings removed
- 1/2 cup onion finely diced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a large rectangular baking with with cooking spray.
- Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, then trim off the stem ends. Use a spoon to carefully scoop the flesh out of the zucchinis.
- Sprinkle the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper over the zucchini shells. Arrange the zucchini in the baking dish.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the sausage and cook for 4-5 minutes, breaking up the meat with a spatula.
- Add the onion and cook for an additional 4 minutes or until onion is softened. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Season the sausage and vegetable mixture with salt and pepper.
- Pour the marinara sauce into the pan and bring to a simmer; cook for 5 minutes.
- Spoon the meat mixture evenly into the zucchini shells, then top with the shredded cheese.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until zucchini is tender and cheese is melted and golden brown.
- Sprinkle with parsley, then serve.
Question: I love this receipt and have used it three times for my stuffed zucchini. However, I always have a lot of left over sausage stuffing…probably at least half of it. Any suggestions on how to use the rest of the meat mixture?
You could serve it with pasta or zucchini noodles, or mix it with rice and stuff it into peppers!
I placed a thin layer of the marinara sauce on the bottom of the pan prior to placing the stuffed zucchini in the pan. Shredded parmesan cheese on top a few minutes prior to removing from the oven. Very good.
Do you just throw away the zucchini insides?
Yes you discard the inside! Or if you prefer you could chop it up and add it to the filling.
I added it to the filling and it worked out well, as long as you are aware the the zucchini core contains lots of water and will need to be cooked with the vegetable mixture until most of the excess water has evaporated, took 15 to 20 minutes.
I suggest another step: Blanche the zucchini for two or three minutes, plunge in an ice bath. This will allow you to freeze them. I recommend reheating them from frozen in a hot toaster oven. I came here for cooking time, as I fail to write it down. I base mine off of my Italian family’s version.
Yum ! This is a family favorite. We add bread crumbs with the cheese on top. We also mix Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.
I usually make it vegan with plant based cheese and meat.
I use this recipe often. Just made today with spinach and mushrooms.
Stuffed zucchini is one of my summer mainstays. So versatile and yummy, it can be adapted to Italian, Mexican, and even Mediterranean flavors. One extra hint: The flesh scooped from the boats can be ground up and used to replace some of the liquid in any muffin or cornbread recipe. No waste!
added the zucchini that was scrapped out and saute with onions and added it to the sauce. Yummy. No need to waste the inside of the zucchini.
Yes Brenda, That’s similar to what I do. I add the scraped insides to the meat sauce giving it more bulk.
What did you do with the scooped out zucchini? Thank you!
You can discard it, or you can try chopping it up and cooking it to put into the sauce.
Just made this and it was absolutely delicious! Just wondering; does the nutrition value cover one boat or one portion (aka two boats) in the nutrition section?
It’s one portion, 2 boats!
Delicious!! I will make this again in a heartbeat!
We have a family member who is vegetarian. Suggestions on what to substitute for the sausage that would be equally tasty and supply some protein?
You could try a meat substitute like Beyond, or possibly use lentils, but I haven’t tested the recipe this way so I can’t say for sure!
Portobello mushrooms! They are a harte substitute for meat.
Quinoa
I am a vegetarian and instead of the sausage, I chop up mushrooms and saute them with the onions and the insides of the zucchini. Delicious!
Very tasty and a good way to use up surplus zucchini, You can never go wrong with more cheese, I used a combo of mozzarella Asiago and Parmesan! Also I just used a combo of beef and pork for the meat mixture as that is what I had in the freezer 🙂
This recipe is wonderful! My husband is a very selective eater, so I was surprised when he raved over dish. I make it often as it is delicious and easy to prepare.
It was so delicious …best ever
This was very good. I used ground chicken with Italian seasoning. I chopped up the scooped-out zucchini and added it to the meat mixture to cook down. I was able to fill 5 halved zucchini’s so plenty of leftovers.
I’d like to try this recipe using your Chicken Lettuce Wrap filling. If using the lettuce wrap filling, what changes do you recommend? Bake off the zucchini before filling? Ship the cheese?
Thank you.
I’d bake the zucchini first and add the lettuce wrap filling after the zucchini is cooked. You could add something else on top like herbs or chopped peanuts, but the cheese in the original recipe wouldn’t pair well with the lettuce wrap filling!
My family adores this recipe. It’s extremely versatile – I usually sub ground beef or turkey for the sausage. I’ve done it with chicken sausage too. And – my go-to cheese for the top is an Asiago salad blend. Really you can’t go wrong!
OMG, so good. I used fresh tomatoes instead of sauce, which I threw in and then cooked down. I also used a mix of Asiago and mozzarella cheese.