Mediterranean Baked Stuffed Zucchini Boats
You know it’s summer when your Italian family starts sharing pictures of their Baked Stuffed Zucchini in the family group text! There are lots of ways to make this delicious dish, depending on what you have on hand. This week I used garden zucchini and stuffed it with ground turkey and a little bit of Italian chicken sausage. I also added onion, garlic, tomatoes, navy beans and fresh basil. Crushed red pepper added a little zip. I topped it with shaved asiago cheese and mozzarella cheese balls. The result was a protein and veggie filled dinner that celebrated our favorite flavors of summer.
This Baked Stuffed Zucchini recipe is versatile. If you are trying to reduce your carb intake, you can leave out the beans. If you are looking for a vegetarian option, ditch the ground turkey and sausage and double up on the beans. The addition of beans makes this recipe a great option for those who embrace a Mediterranean style of cooking as it adds both fiber and plant-based protein to the dish. I like navy beans in this recipe due to their petite size. If you want to reduce the fat, use less cheese. Some people add breadcrumbs to their stuffed zucchini, but I leave them out to keep it gluten free for my gluten sensitive family members.
Just like with stuffed peppers, you can choose to brown the meat and veggies prior to stuffing, or you can make a raw stuffing. Keep in mind, stuffing the zucchini with raw meat will take longer to bake. This week I chose to pre-cook my stuffing . I also gave my zucchini a head start by cooking them for a few minutes while I was preparing the stuffing. This isn’t necessary if you are using very small zucchini. It also isn’t needed if you are stuffing them with raw meat and baking for a longer period of time.
Baked Stuffed Zucchini
Ingredients
- 3 small zucchini
- 2 tbsp olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes more to taste
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 pound ground turkey, beef, italian sausage or a combination of these meats I like a combo of ground turkey and chicken sausage
- 4-6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup navy beans about half of a 15 oz can (rinsed and drained)
- 1 cup diced tomatoes fresh or canned
- 1 handful basil chopped
- salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
- 12 small mozzarella balls or half of a large one, chopped can also use shredded mozzerella
- handful shredded parmesean, romano or asiago cheese
Instructions
- Slice the zucchini the long way and scoop out the seeds. If you have larger zucchini a have a lot of zucchini flesh, you can scoop that out and dice it up, Add it into the stuffing mixture while cooking.
- Place the zucchini boats upside down in your sprayed/oiled baking dish and precook for a few (3-5) minutes in the microwave or in the oven at 350° for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the zucchini. Since we are filling this with a cooked stuffing, you want to start to cook the zucchini before you stuff them to ensure they are not tough.
- While the zucchini is cooking, saute your onions and ground meat in olive oil in a large pan. Season with crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. If you have any extra diced zucchini, add it now.
- When the meat is most of the way cooked, add the minced garlic. Add more oil if needed. Cook for just a couple of minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
- Toss in the tomatoes and beans. Cook for another few minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat and toss in the basil.
- At this point the stuffing is cooked, so taste it! Add more seasonings to adjust to your liking.
- Take the zucchini out of the oven or microwave. Turn the temperature of the oven up to 425°.
- Fill the partially cooked zucchini boats with the stuffing. It's OK if it spills over the top and sides.
- Top with mozzarella and parmesan/romano/asiago cheese
- Drizzle the entire dish with more olive oil
- Bake at 425° for another 10-15 minutes until all the cheese is melted.