These Easy 30-Minute Zucchini Pizza Boats are a delicious low-carb dinner that will satisfy all your pizza cravings with your fave toppings!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Zucchini – you can try making these pizza boats using squash but the flavour will be different.
- Pizza sauce – make your own pizza sauce or mix things up by using pesto or alfredo sauce.
- Button mushrooms – use any mushroom variety of your choice.
- Red onion – white onion, yellow onion or shallots would also be good here.
- Green pepper – swap out for red or yellow pepper instead.
- Mozzarella cheese – use your favourite kind of cheese like cheddar, Tex Mex or even ricotta.
- Basil – leave this out altogether if you don’t have any on hand.
- Red chili flakes – leave these off altogether if you don’t like spice.
Homemade turkey sausage
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- Olive oil – or another neutral cooking oil like avocado or canola oil.
- Ground turkey – ground chicken or ground pork would also work for this recipe.
- Fennel seeds – anise or cumin would be the best substitutes here.
- Garlic powder – finely minced garlic will work in a pinch.
- Italian seasoning – use ½ tsp. of oregano and ½ tsp of basil instead.
- Salt – to taste.
How to make zucchini pizza boats
- Cook the turkey sausage.
- Scoop the flesh out of the zucchini.
- Add the pizza sauce and toppings.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
Topping options
I love these zucchini pizza boats because you can make the toppings very similar to how you would your fave pizza! I opted for a “Deluxe” style pizza with sausage, mushrooms, green pepper and red onions, but the flavour combos are limitless with this recipe! Here are some more delicious ideas:
- Meat lovers – sausage, pepperoni and bacon
- Veggie – mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, broccoli
- Pepperoni – just plain old pepperoni and cheese
- Mediterranean – olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers
- Hawaiian – ham and pineapple
Frequently Asked Questions
You can eat the zucchini skin, but it has a bitter taste so it might not go well with the pizza flavours. That being said, zucchini skin is full of nutritional benefits!
This recipe has 346 calories per zucchini boat. It’s a lot more calorie-friendly than a few slices from your favourite pizza spot!
You may want to cook your zucchini boats ahead of time before adding any pizza sauce, cheese or toppings. Personally, I don't like my zucchini overdone and I like a little bit of firmness to them, especially when they are loaded with toppings. However, I recognize that everyone has different tastes and likes their veggies cooked in a different way. If you want them to be softer, bake them in the oven for 10-15 minutes before adding on your toppings.
These zucchini pizza boats only need to bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, so they’re ready in the flash. If you want your zucchini boats to be a lot softer, pop them in the oven before adding on your toppings (see the instructions above).
Storing and reheating
This recipe makes for great leftovers! The only thing is that with the cheese, they won't last as long as traditional leftovers – you're looking at about 3 days before the cheese goes slimy.
To store the leftovers, add them in individual servings in glass meal prep containers, or store everything together in a casserole dish. You can reheat the casserole dish in the oven at 425° Fahrenheit for 10 minutes, or you can microwave the leftover individual portions for 1-2 minutes on high.
Can you freeze zucchini pizza boats?
I wish you could, but zucchini doesn't freeze very well! It would become super watery and inedible.
What you can do is cook and freeze the sausage ahead of time though, then when you go to make this recipe just defrost the sausage in the fridge for 24 hours and add to fresh zucchini.
You can also freeze grated cheese and it should require no defrosting time. I would add 5 more minutes of cook time to the recipe though if you are using frozen shredded cheese.
More low-carb pizza recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this recipe into leftovers.
- Rao's is a great option for a low-sugar pizza sauce.
- I get all my free-range ground turkey from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
Easy 30-Minute Zucchini Pizza Boats
Ingredients
- 4 zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
- 1 small can Pizza Sauce
- 1/2 8oz package button mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1/2 green pepper, diced
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil (optional topping)
- 1 tsp red chili flakes (optional topping)
Homemade quick turkey sausage (alternative option: use storebought turkey/pork sausage, remove casings and break up with spoon)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 lb ground turkey
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning (or 1/2 tsp oregano & 1/2 tsp basil)
Instructions
- Preheat olive oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add turkey and seasonings, crushing up with a crushing spoon and mixing well. Cook for 5-6 minutes until turkey is browned and fully cooked. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh. On a baking sheet or in a 9×13 casserole dish, spread each zucchini boat with pizza sauce, then top with sausage, mushrooms, red onion, green pepper and cheese.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and sprinkle with fresh basil and chili flakes. Serve and enjoy!
Talal says
I used eggplant instead of zucchini and it was really good too. My wife prefers vegetarian so I did tofu instead of meat for her. I tried it and it was also quite good! I’m definitely saving this to do again sometime soon!
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you enjoyed Talal 🙂
Kat says
What do you do with the scooped out bits?
Taylor Stinson says
You just throw them out, there’s not much use for them unfortunately!
Samantha says
Sounds delicious 🙂 I am just wondering I’d the nutrition facts are for one half of a zucchini?
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Samantha – the nutrition facts below are for 1 whole zucchini pizza. If you’re just eating one half divide the nutrition facts in half below. Hope that helps!
Nina says
I sent this recipe to my friend who made these for our families last night. Yummy! Very good! Would love to add some riced cauliflower & cream cheese in the middle too. Excellent recipe!
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks so much for sharing Nina, so happy you enjoyed 🙂
Christi says
Low carb, easy & yummy!😋
A winner dinner!
Thank you!
Emily Goodrich says
Oh my! Made them for dinner tonight , one will never make it to the table!
We love stuffed zucchini but never thought of pizza! Two people on Kati diet, perfect!
Amber says
This recipe is sooooooo good! I made it this week for dinner and OMG! I was amazed! I made my own pizza sauce to up the health factor since I couldn’t find any store bought options that didn’t have sugar or other ingredients I didn’t agree with in them. I think mine came out way better than anything store bought would have been anyway lol. I made the turkey sausage according to the recipe given above, only I added some fresh ground black pepper and cayenne pepper to give it a bit of a kick. These Pizza Boats were seriously delicious. I can’t wait to make it again!
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy to hear that Amber, thanks so much for sharing!!! I’m sure your pizza sauce turned out amazing, that’s such a great idea making it from scratch!!!
Lauren says
Gorgeous!! My kids would love these!