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A great recipe to use up all the zucchini from your garden!
Recipe details
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 6 small-medium zucchini
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 pound ground beef OR ground beef and pork
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder OR 2 cloves freshly minced
- ½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 (15oz) can tomato sauce
- 1.5 cups shredded cheese I used mozzarella; cheddar or Gouda work, too
Instructions
- Prep zucchini:Wash zucchini well, then slice in half lengthwise. Scoop out flesh with a small spoon and set aside. Place zucchini halves on baking sheet.
- Brown beef and season:Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, then add ground beef and cook until well browned. Stir in tomato paste, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
- Finish filling:Stir in tomato sauce and scooped out zucchini flesh (chop if desired for more even filling), then simmer, covered, on low heat for 10 minutes. Remove the lid, stir well and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Fill and bake:Heat oven to 360°F. Spoon filling in prepared zucchini halves. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 20-25 minutes until bubbly.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it turned out!
NOTES
Cooking tips
- make sure to brown the beef well; more color = more flavor! No need to drain if using lean ground beef, but feel free to drain if using a fattier meat.
- if filling seems dry, stir in a few tablespoons of wate or beef broth. But careful – it needs to be quite thick for filling the zucchini, so don’t add too much liquid.
- if filling seems too watery, simmer for longer without a lid on (depends a lot on thickness of tomato sauce used)
Ingredient notes
- ground meat: can use any ground meat in place of the beef – pork, a mix of beef and pork or ground turkey
- zucchini: if you have a giant zucchini from the garden vs smaller ones, slice into thick rounds, scoop out (make sure to leave a substantial bottom!) and fill that way.
- seasoning: feel free to switch up the seasoning to taste – Italian seasoning, ground paprika, taco seasoning… All wonderful!
- cheese: for a lighter version, skip the cheese and only sprinkle lightly with grated parmesan.
Leftovers
Store leftovers in the fridge, well covered, for up to 2 days. Reheat in the oven until piping hot all the way through.Nutrition
Calories: 289kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 26gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 865mgPotassium: 610mgFiber: 2gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 722IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 268mgIron: 3mg
To be honest, I usually get my load of garden zucchini from my neighbor – I have yet to successfully grow them myself (you can see a giant summer squash I once got from her in this recipe)! But no matter who grows my zucchini, one of my favorite ways to use them up are these zucchini boats.
The filling is super easy to make and the kids L-O-V-E them. My mom used to make a version with rice and ricotta growing up and I refused to eat those 🙈 so I’m very happy we found a version everybody enjoys!
Debbie says
Delicious!! I added brown rice like my mom used to with stuff peppers, so yummy
Nora says
That sounds so delicious, Debbie!
Kim says
I love this recipe!! it is simple quick and uses items everyone has in thier fridge and pantry.
Nora says
I’m so glad, Kim!
Patricia Moccia says
So I changed the recipe up a bit. I added taco seasoning to the ground beef and cooked according to directions. I then added a jar of salsa and fresh corn (not cooked but you could) topped with the cheese and then baked according to the recipe. Overstuffing is not a bad idea. Delicious!
Nora says
That sounds absolutely delicious, Patricia!
Carolyn Keefe says
What a great basic recipe! I made a middle eastern version, with ground lamb and Trader Joe’s Zhoug sauce and feta cheese on the top. I had rice, cucumbers and mint yogurt on the side. It was delicious! I also want to add that this is very Weight Watchers friendly. I think you could add mushrooms and peppers to the ground beef for an Italian version (with just a sprinkling of cheese), or beans, jalapeño peppers and taco seasoning for a Mexican version. Thanks for the great recipe!
Nora says
That sounds amazing, Carolyn! Thanks for all of your ideas, I appreciate your time.
Cherie says
So easy and soooo delicious!!
Nora says
I’m so glad, Cherie!
Patti says
I used Rotel tomatoes in place of tomato sauce and they turned out delicious!
Nora says
Sounds delicious, Patti!
Ann Quinn says
It turned out better than I expected!
Subbed ground turkey added lots of fresh garlic.
Next time I’ll try Mexican and use enchilada sauce and taco seasoning.
Nora says
I’m so glad, Ann!
Christine says
Very good!I added more salt and half cheddar,half mozzarella.
Nora says
I’m glad it turned out well for you, Christine!
Michelle says
Used leftover ingredients – breakfast sausage (drained), sauteed chopped carrots, onion & garlic, 1/2 c of leftover rice pilaf, c leftover spaghetti sauce w/hamburger, sm can of tomato sauce & celery salt. Dried Italian seasoning instead of just oregano SO GOOD.
Nora says
I’m so glad, Michelle!
Audrey Lebowitz says
I made this and I made a couple adjustments 1. Put whole zucchini in Pyrex with water In microwave at first to soften before cutting in half and scooping out pulp.
2. Squeezed water out of chopped zucchini pulp in cheesecloth
3. Added sweet sausage to chopped beef
Helen says
What do you do with the seeds? When I scoop the middle out all I get is seeds.
Nora says
Do you have very large zucchini? In that case, the seeds can be huge and not very pleasant to eat, so I discard them. I never have to discard the middle from small-medium zucchini because the seeds are small and in soft zucchini flesh.
Gail says
Thank you for sharing. This is such an awesome zucchini recipe. One of my favorite veggies.
Barbara says
Delicious, THANK You for the recipe.
I have my own zucchini in the garden.