These Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats are an easy, healthy and low carb dish, filled with a delicious Bolognese sauce and mozzarella cheese.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Zucchini – squash is the best substitute when it comes to stuffed boats.
- Olive oil – use another neutral cooking oil like avocado or canola oil.
- Onion – you can use white, yellow or even red onion for this recipe.
- Carrot – swap out for another veggie of your choice like red peppers or parsnips.
- Celery stalks – substitute for another veggie or leave this out altogether.
- Garlic – freshly minced garlic is best but jarred minced garlic will work in a pinch.
- Italian seasoning – make your own using a blend of basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley and thyme.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
- Extra-lean ground beef – you can also try making this recipe with ground turkey, chicken or pork.
- Spaghetti sauce – swap out for your favourite kind of pasta sauce or even a homemade pasta sauce.
- Mozzarella cheese – feel free to use another cheese like Swiss, provolone or cheddar.
- Chopped basil – oregano will provide the same flavour profile.
- Cherry tomatoes – substitute for another kind of tomato or leave this out altogether.
How to make stuffed zucchini boats
- Scoop out the zucchini.
- Sauté the veggies.
- Add in the ground beef.
- Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
- Scoop the mixture into the zucchini boats.
- Top with cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Garnish and serve!
What to serve with zucchini boats
You don’t really need a side dish for this stuffed zucchini recipe, but if you’re looking for ideas, here are some of my favourites:
- Cauliflower rice (if you want to keep the meal low-carb)
- Side salad using one of these healthy salad dressings
- Garlic bread
Frequently Asked Questions
They’re called stuffed zucchini boats because the hollowed-out halved zucchinis essentially act as a ‘boat’ for all the yummy fillings.
Nope! You just make the sauce, spoon it into the zucchini boats, add cheese and bake for 20 minutes. Zucchini cooks really quickly in the oven so unlike stuffed peppers, you don't need to bake the zucchini ahead of time while you're making the sauce.
You can easily make these Italian zucchini boats vegetarian. Just swap out the ground beef for extra veggies like mushrooms and bell peppers, or even your favourite non-meat alternative like tofu or Beyond Meat.
I typically use a regular spoon to scoop the flesh out of the zucchini, but a tablespoon or watermelon scoop spoon would also work well.
To eliminate food waste, you can use the scooped-out zucchini flesh to make zucchini muffins or zucchini bread! You could also add it to the sauce mixture if you’d like, just let it simmer for a bit.
Storing and reheating
This stuffed zucchini recipe is perfect for your weekly meal prep or an easy weeknight dinner! It's low carb so it's a great alternative to heavier pasta dishes with all the same yummy flavours. You can store any leftovers in the fridge for 3 to 4 days – anything past that, and the cheese will start to get slimy. To reheat, pop the zucchini boats in the oven for 10 minutes at 400° Fahrenheit or microwave for 1 to 2 minutes until warmed through.
Can you freeze stuffed zucchini boats?
Unfortunately, zucchini doesn’t freeze very well – but you can freeze the Bolognese sauce! I like to cook and freeze the Bolognese sauce ahead of time for easy meal prep later. This allows me to get the zucchini into the oven earlier and get dinner on the table faster! You can store the sauce in glass bowls in the freezer for up to 3 months.
When you're ready to make your stuffed zucchini boats, let the sauce thaw in the fridge overnight then follow the recipe instructions as normal.
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Meal Prep Tools
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning the stuffed zucchini boats into your weekly lunches.
- I get all my grass-fed ground beef from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months.
- **Get my full list of tools here**
The Best Ever Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats {Easy!}
Ingredients
- 4 zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- 2 cups spaghetti sauce
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped basil (optional garnish)
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced (optional garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds with a spoon. Add to a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add onions, carrots and celery, sauteeing for 1-2 minutes. Add ground beef and cook for 4-5 minutes until lightly browned. Add in garlic, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper and spaghetti sauce. Bring to a boil then remove from heat.
- Add meat mixture to zucchini boats and top with cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is fully melted.
- Remove from oven and garnish with basil and cherry tomatoes. Serve and enjoy!
Comments & Reviews
Becca says
These are AMAZING! I substituted the celery for mushrooms (since I’m not a celery fan) and they turned out absolutely delicious!
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so glad you enjoyed!
Cindi says
Very much looking forward to making this tonight! Picked up some fresh zucchini from the local farm stand and can’t wait to enjoy your recipe! I love Turkey Bolognese and stuffing it into zucchini sounds amazing! Thank you for your recipe!
Gregorrio says
These were the best. We used our own garden onion, garlic, zucchini, tomatoes, basil and small local butcher sausage out of their casings. 4 year aged Reggiano. Very yummy. Our girls said 10 out of 10!
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed 🙂
Tommee Walker says
Hi, this looks delicious! I look forward to making it and a few others I’ve found on here. Definitely a bookmark site! 😉 But I do have a question about this recipe and some others, why is the sodium content so high? The calories and carbs are great, but 1500 mg per serving seems like ALOT. Is there something I could substitute to reduce it? Perhaps the parmesan?
Taylor Stinson says
This may be due to the specific tomato sauce being used or cheese or other canned items. Any ingredient that would contain salt naturally or where salt could be added, as well as adding salt itself. What you could try doing is cutting the salt in half and then adding more to taste if needed. Also, the nutritional figures are a best estimate so you may want to double check using something like Myfitnesspal.
Louise Forest says
Hello,
Sorry for my English, I’m french speaking, but I just take the time to say to you that I love your recipes, my son loves your Taï soup and me either. Thank’s for all the time you take to explain the recipe and also all the Infos you add. I know we are all stress with the life and you take the time for that it’s appreciate.
Thank you
Taylor Stinson says
Aww thank you so much Louise you are so sweet! Your comment has made my day!