These Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats are an easy, healthy and low carb dish, filled with a delicious meat 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.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
- Ground turkey – you can also try making this recipe with ground beef, chicken or pork.
- Pasta sauce – I like using marinara sauce, but you can use any store-bought or homemade sauce of your choice.
- Mozzarella cheese – feel free to use another cheese like Swiss, provolone or cheddar cheese.
- Fresh basil – oregano will provide the same flavour profile.
How to make stuffed zucchini boats
Step 1: Slice the zucchini.
Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.
Step 2: Sauté the veggies.
Sauté the onions, carrots and celery in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Step 3: Add the ground turkey.
Add the ground turkey and garlic to the skillet with the veggies, and cook until lightly browned.
Step 4: Add the pasta sauce.
Bring the sauce to a boil, then remove from heat.
Step 5: Stuff the boats.
Add the meat mixture to the zucchini boats and top with cheese. Bake until the cheese is fully melted.
Step 6: Serve and enjoy!
Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve.
Tips for the best zucchini boats
Here are some tips and tricks for making the best stuffed zucchini boats:
- Scoop out the zucchini using a watermelon scooper or tablespoon.
- Make sure you don't over-scoop the zucchini! Leave about 1/2 inch of flesh to ensure the zucchini doesn't get soggy.
- Grate fresh pizza mozzarella for the best meltiness (the pre-shredded stuff won't melt as well).
- Use spicy Italian sausage or even chorizo for different flavors.
- Prep the filling a couple days in advance, then stuff and cook the boats when you're ready to enjoy.
- Use this recipe to make stuffed acorn squash instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nope! There's no need to pre-cook the zucchini. 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.
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 Bolognese sauce if you’d like, just let it simmer for a bit.
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.
You don’t really need a side dish for this stuffed zucchini recipe, but if you’re looking for ideas, you can't go wrong with a side salad made with homemade dressing, yummy garlic bread or brussel sprouts salad.
Storing and reheating
These stuffed zucchini boats are perfect for your weekly meal prep or an easy weeknight dinner! The recipe is 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.
Make healthy eating easy! Join our Dinner Prep Pro app.
- ZERO ADS on over 450 recipes
- Customizable weekly meal plans
- Grocery and meal prep checklists
- Bonus resource library and community
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**
Easy Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Ingredients
- 4 zucchini sliced in half lengthwise
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow onion finely diced
- 1 carrot finely diced
- 2 celery stalks finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 2 cups pasta sauce
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese grated
- 2 tbsp fresh basil optional garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds with a spoon. Add to a parchment-lined baking sheet 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 turkey and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add in pasta sauce. Bring to a boil then remove from heat.
- Add meat mixture to zucchini boats and top with cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is fully melted. Remove from oven and garnish with basil. Serve and enjoy!
Comments & Reviews
Dawne says
Absolutely delicious! I stuffed some peppers too! Just blanched for few minutes beforehand.
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you enjoyed 🙂
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!