This low-carb, Italian-inspired dish has so much going for it! The filling for these Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats has lean ground turkey and fresh veggies, all topped with melted cheese and toasted bread crumbs. Less guilt but tons of flavor.
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These Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats have changed my feelings when it comes to Italian food. And, I have some pretty serious feelings on the subject. That’s kind of a big deal, isn’t it?
When I crave Italian I immediately think of rigatoni, spaghetti, penne, or how about ravioli in a tomato cream sauce sprinkled with plenty of fresh basil and shaved Parmesan. I mean, come on!
I never thought I could get the same level of serious contentment and satisfaction with a dish that doesn’t involve pasta.
That changed when I tried stuffing zucchini with a delicious mixture of lean ground turkey, onion, garlic, red bell pepper, cremini mushrooms, all simmered with a simple jarred marinara. Okay, so there is cheese on top, but I went with part-skim mozzarella and just enough Parmesan to add a sharp, salty bite.
Loaded with nutrition and all in all, pretty darn good for ya!
Be sure to watch the quick how-to video in the recipe card below for my tips on how to cleanly and easily scoop the zucchini and prepare the filling.
Another great aspect of this tasty stuffed zucchini – there’s really no need to prepare a separate veggie side dish. By all means, you can, but this dish is a vegetable and entrée all in one. Add a simple side like rice and a glass of big, bold red wine and I’m a happy girl.
If you like these, you’re going to love my Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats!
Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Video
Ingredients
- 3 medium, uniformly-sized zucchini
- 24 to 26 ounce jar tomato basil marinara, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground turkey or beef
- ⅓ cup diced onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ⅓ cup chopped red bell pepper
- ½ cup chopped brown button (cremini) mushrooms
- ¼ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 ½ cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup shaved or shredded Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons Italian style panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Measure out 1 cup of the marinara sauce and set aside.
- Trim ends from zucchini and slice in half, lengthwise. Use the tip of a spoon to scrape out the zucchini flesh (see recipe note), chop it and set it aside. Place the scooped out zucchini boats into a 13- x 9-inch baking dish and add about 1-inch of water. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until just slightly fork-tender. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, add olive oil to a 12-inch skillet and place over MEDIUM heat. Add turkey (or beef), onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet. Cook, stirring to break up the ground meat as it cooks. Continue to cook and stir until meat is thoroughly cooked and veggies have softened. Drain off as much grease as possible and return the skillet to the heat.
- Add the chopped zucchini flesh, mushrooms, remaining marinara in jar (reserve 1 cup for later), parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, fresh ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and allow to simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.
- Remove partially cooked zucchini from baking dish and pour off water. Pour the 1 cup of reserved marinara sauce into the empty baking dish and place zucchini boats on top of the sauce.
- Divide the filling between the zucchini boats. If you have extra filling, spoon it into the dish around the zucchini boats. Cover the dish with foil, and bake for 20 minutes, or until zucchini is fork tender. Remove dish from oven and set oven to BROIL.
- Remove foil and sprinkle zucchini boats with mozzarella, Parmesan and the panko bread crumbs. Place dish in oven, watching closely, and cook for just a couple of minutes until cheese has melted and bread crumbs are golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
Like this? Please rate & comment below!
The zucchini boats were delicious! I used lean ground turkey and added 2 cooked links spicy chicken sausage(out of casing) to the mix. I didn’t bake the zucchini prior either. I baked boats at 400 degrees for 20 minutes covered and 10 more minutes uncovered to make sure zucchini was cooked through and it worked perfectly!
Delicious! I added a little more seasoning because it seemed a little bland. I omitted the bread crumbs and they still came out delicious! My family enjoyed them. This recipe is going in my recipe book. Thanks for sharing!
Trying this out for the first time tonight. I’m using ground turkey Italian sausage instead of just ground turkey and I’ll try, as suggested above, adding some melted butter to the bread crumbs! Can’t wait to try it!
This is a wonderful recipe and so delicious! I make this when zucchini season is upon us. For an easier version, I use Hot Italian Sausage in place of the turkey thus eliminating some of the spices called for. Calorie/carb count? For goodness sake, unless you are pairing this with a double loaded cheeseburger and fries, it’s a great healthy meal! Or instead of the meat, use Stove Top stuffing.
We’ve got tons of zucchini and other veggies in our garden. Just picked up some ground lamb and will be trying this tonight! I plan on cooking some quinoa and adding that to my filling, too. Thanks for the recipe! Yum!
YUM. I was trying to find more reasons to eat the gigantic squash that my garden has been producing and this was the perfect recipe. I have been leaving cheese out of my diet, but I couldn’t resist for this recipe and I’m SO glad I didn’t! The cheese topping was delicious. The only part of the recipe that I changed was that I replaced the mushrooms for olives, seeing as I’m not a mushroom person. Thanks for posting Valerie, I will definitely be using this recipe again.
You are so welcome! I love olives and think they’d be really delicious in this. Thanks so much, Alexa 🙂
Hi There! I had to “smile”, reading this, as “i too”, could never imagine life “without pasta”….Then, one day, having dinner with our friends, talking food at an Italian restrurant…Her husband just “blurted out”…Think about it, “pasta HAS NO FLAVOR…It’s “what you put ON IT”….I’m a real italian, my parents from Italy….But “it did “make sense”…So when I get the URGE , for that lovely tomato sauce, but trying to “cut down the carbs….I’ll either make this recipe or “sometimes “just pour the sauce over an egg and POUCH it!(medium well, a little running) Yum!
We just finished a pan of this and it was SUPER!! Wife and kids loved it too. I did make a couple changes that kinda reflect our personal tastes though. We all hate turkey, so I ground chicken thigh fillets with a good handful of fresh basil leaves from the garden. I also tripled the garlic because, well, we love garlic! lol Seriously this is one awesome recipe to add to our many reasons to grow lots of zucchini every year. The only downside is I won’t have as much to make pickles with if I keep cooking it in recipes this good!
Thank you Valerie! This is truly one for the books!
So glad to hear this, Ray! Your changes sound fabulous. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Hubs and I added slices of pepperoni before the cheese and skipped the breadcrumbs sincecwere doing low carb. Added that extra Italian flavor Never seen a man polish off a veggie dish so fast !!
Sounds delicious, Kelley!
Has anyone tried making this without precooking the zucchini!? Wondered if you just stuffed and baked if it would turn out?
when you do that, stuff it without softening the zuch, the boat itself stays hard and, in my home, lots of people don’t eat it … so, soften it and be careful of the steam as you pull off the foil and don’t overcook as the zuch breaks apart …
DELICIOUS! Terrific recipe. My 9 year old wanted it for her birthday dinner as she loved it during regular meal time. TIP: Do NOT over-cook….as I did the second time. Nobody likes mushy zucchini 🙁 My fault, not the recipe…but I do have to figure out what the right temp/time for MY oven is!
I’ve been thrilled to hear how much kids are enjoying this recipe. And, yes, you really need to watch that zucchini on the first bake to be sure it gets just slightly tender so it doesn’t go too far on the 2nd round in the oven. Thanks, Marie!
This recipe is delicious. I added some baby spinach and chicago steak seasoning (because i used turkey). Also i tossed the breadcrumbs with alittle melted butter. Added marsala wine to the sauce. AMAZING!!!!!
Hi Tenna. I’m really loving hearing about all the different things people have done with this recipe. Your modifications sound wonderful and I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂