Stuffed Zucchini? Stuffed Zucchini!
If you’ve never had a stuffed zucchini, you are in for a treat. It’s one of our favorite go-to recipes when we are craving comfort food, but don’t want to overload on carbs. Although this recipe is called “lasagna-stuffed zucchini”, we don’t mean that you should stuff hollowed-out zucchini with slices of lasagna. Rather, we mean that we’ve taken inspiration from classic lasagna filling flavors—all that cheesy, tomato sauce-y goodness—and applied it to this much healthier zucchini recipe. We especially love to make the stuffed zucchini in the summer, when zucchini is bountiful and you can always find a neighbor or friend who is giving them away by the (zucchini) boat-load.
What Is a Zucchini Boat?
Zucchini boats are the perfect use for medium-to-large zucchini. Those huge, honking, borderline-scary zucchini lurking in the garden? This recipe exists to use those over-achieving veggies up. We call these zucchini “boats” because they are made by halving the zucchini lengthwise, carefully scooping out all of the seeds, and then filling the concave area that results—the “boat”—full of rich, savory goodness.
What Should I Put Into My Zucchini Boat?
Stuffed zucchini walks an interesting line. It’s a little indulgent—we don’t skimp on the cheese—but it’s mostly a healthy dinner that celebrates summers’ bounty. With that in mind, our favorite zucchini boat ingredients are:
- Ground chicken
- Red bell pepper
- Jar marinara sauce
- Fresh spinach
- Garlic
- Egg
- Parsley
- Zucchinis
- Three kinds of cheese! Parmesan cheese, fresh mozzarella and ricotta.
How to Make Lasagna-Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Here’s what makes our recipe a little extra special:
- We use not one, but three kinds of cheese: Parmesan, mozzarella and ricotta.
- To keep things light and healthy, ground chicken is our meat of choice for these zucchini boats. Lean, filling, and protein-packed.
- Jarred marinara sauce! Because you’ve got to do all of that zucchini scooping and that’s plenty of work.
- Add a few more veggies—like bell peppers and spinach—for good measure.
Do Zucchini Boats Reheat Well?
Yes, they do! We speak from experience when we say that as long as you don’t bake the zucchini boats too long the first time around, they stay sturdy enough to have for lunch the next day, which is actually one of our favorite things about them. The filling makes enough to fill four zucchini, cut down the center. While baking, we make sure to take the zucchini boats out while they still have a bite to them. Then, the next day we reheat whatever is left in the oven to achieve a top with bubbly, crispy cheese. But, if you’re in a real hurry, a quick zap in the microwave does the trick for equally delicious results.
Tools You Will Need.
- Large skillet.
- Spoon and small bowl.
- Sharp knife.
- Baking sheet.
More Zucchini Recipes To Love.
Because when zucchini season hits, it hits hard.
Whatever Floats Your (Zucchini) Boat!
When you decide to give these Lasagna Stuffed Zucchini Boats a try, we’d love to hear about it! Be sure to snap a photo, add it to your Instagram feed or stories, and tag @themodernproper and #themodernproper.
