You’re going to love this Sausage Stuffed Zucchini. It’s a great way to use up summer fresh zucchini from your garden. These are the best stuffed zucchini boats that the whole family will enjoy. Zucchini can be prepared so many ways- as a soup, as a side dish or even baked into bread. But this sausage stuffed zucchini is my favorite way to enjoy zucchini!
Watch the video above the recipe card at the bottom of the post. It shows you how to make this recipe, and then you can print out the recipe so you can make it at home.
My son Brooks acquired a new hobby one summer while we were on vacation: fishing. He hooked up with his East Coast cousins and their fishing neighbor named Eric. Eric had all kinds of gear that he let the kids use, and he taught them how to catch fish off the docks and the jetty of Boston’s South Shore. Brooks spent a lot of time with Eric and those fishing poles that summer. He was on a mission to catch the biggest fish around, and I think he’d have fished all day every day if we’d let him.
Brooks came home from fishing one day and told us he’d already eaten dinner- Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats- at Eric’s house. “Did you say, Zucchini Boats??” I asked him. “Yep,” he said.
Now, you have to understand that my boy would no sooner eat a small piece of zucchini floating in a bowl of soup… let alone an ENTIRE ZUCCHINI stuffed with stuff. Yet, he came home from fishing and happily told me how much he looooooved Eric’s Stuffed Zucchini Boats. Surely he was just being polite, right??
I decided that I simply must re-create this zucchini dish that Brooks loved so much. I asked him a bunch of questions about what could have been in that magical zucchini boat he ate, and he gave me some tips. And this is the recipe I came up with. I could hardly believe my eyes when I observed Brooks eating bite after bite of my zucchini boats. The kiddo said he loved them and gobbled up more than one. I can safely say that these sausage stuffed zucchini boats are a kid-friendly, family friendly kind of dinner.
Ingredients Needed:
- Zucchini: Use medium-sized zucchini for your recipe.
- Sweet Italian Sausage: This is our sausage of choice, but you can certainly use Italian chicken sausage or pork sausage. You can even use a vegan sausage substitute.
- Cheese: You’ll need a combination of mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese for this recipe.
- Marinara Sauce: Use your favorite brand (ours is Classico Tomato Basil). Or make your own homemade marinara sauce.
- Flavor: Use chopped onion, minced garlic, fresh basil and salt/pepper.
How to make Sausage Stuffed Zucchini:
The complete, printable recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here is a brief overview.
Scrape out the insides of the zucchini and save them to sauté with a little bit of onion and garlic and sweet Italian sausage. Drain the mixture after that since the zucchini brings a lot of moisture into the mix. Then mix it all with fresh basil, marinara sauce and cheese. That’s it. Salt and pepper the zucchini. Then stuff the zucchini boats. Sprinkle cheese on top, and bake.
Recipe Tips:
- Two sausage stuffed zucchini halves is super filling. So that’s the perfect serving size.
- I serve these Sausage Stuffed Zucchini boats over rice pilaf. But they’d also be great served with orzo pasta or a hunk of bread. Or to keep things light, serve them with a green salad.
- Don’t try to freeze the leftovers. It’s okay to freeze the filling to be used later, but fresh zucchini turns mushy when frozen.
Variations and Substitutions:
- Use ground beef in place of sausage, but jazz up the spices by adding some Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes.
- Use hollowed-out yellow squash or hollowed out small eggplant in place of zucchini.
- Add chopped red bell pepper into the filling.
- Mix in some ricotta cheese or use shredded Provolone cheese.
- To bulk up the filling with carbs, stir in some bread crumbs or cooked rice.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe:
- It’s a great use for the bounty of summer zucchini.
- You can feel good about making something on the healthier side for dinner that still tastes amazing.
- It’s a low carb, gluten-free recipe, so it meets the needs of some of the dietary restrictions that people may need.
If you’re looking for more recipes using zucchini, you might also enjoy my Zucchini- Beef Enchiladas or this Roasted Zucchini with Garlic. Pineapple Zucchini Bread and Baked Parmesan Zucchini Fries are also good choices.
Sausage Stuffed Zucchini
Ingredients
- 3 medium (8-inch) zucchini, end trimmed
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
- ¾ pound lean turkey sweet Italian sausage
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ cup tomato- basil marinara sauce
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- additional cheese to sprinkle on top
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Spray a 13×9-inch baking pan with nonstick spray.
- Use a small spoon to scrape out the insides of each zucchini half – the pulp. Don't scrape the zucchini all the way to the skin. Just make a deep pocket where you'll be able to put the stuffing. Save the pulp and chop it.
- Heat a large skillet to medium heat and spray with nonstick spray. Add the zucchini pulp, onion, garlic and sausage. Cook together 4 to 6 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are softened and the sausage is cooked through. Pour the mixture through a fine sieve to drain the excess moisture. Transfer the meat mixture to a medium bowl.
- In a small bowl, mix the cheeses together. Remove two tablespoons of the cheese and set aside. Add the rest of the cheese to the meat mixture, along with the marinara sauce and basil. Add salt and pepper, as desired.
- Salt and pepper the hollowed out zucchini. Divide the meat mixture between the hollowed out zucchini, filling and mounding into each one. Set the stuffed zucchini into the prepared pan and sprinkle the reserved cheese on top.
- Bake 30 minutes, or until baked through and tender.
Notes
- These are delicious on their own, but they’re also good served over herbed rice.
- If you are preparing this recipe as gluten-free, just be sure to use sausage and marinara sauce that are known to be GF.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I have made these for years,only do this way,starts out the same, then cook shells in microwave 2/3 minuets, finely chop zuchinni, add green onions, mushrooms, both finely chopped, to this add a bunch of parmesean cheese and a bunch of seasoned croutons, mix really well, then add at least 1 medium tomato finely diced and drained, mix well again, now stuff boats with mixture add some sliced mozzarlla and some sliced ‘old’ cheddar on top, do all on microwavable tray, nuke for 3-5 min on med-high or until cheeses are melted, allow to sit a few min., and enjoy ! Very good with chicken or pork steak
Omg, this looks incredible!! I love the idea of making vegetables enjoyable for kids (and adults)! 🙂
These look awesome. I feel like if you stuffed it into an eggplant it would almost taste like eggplant parm!
Doesn’t it drive you crazy when someone else gets your kid to eat something that you never could? On a good note, it sounds like you figured it out and it looks AMAZING!!!
The boats look awesome and way to go, Mom, for “capitalizing” on a situation where Brooks’ idol served up some veggie-centric food, and it was an automatic winner in his eyes.
Oh. Muh. Gush.
If this will get a kiddo to eat something green, I’m all for it! Great idea!
What a delicious recipe!
Zucchini boats are a fav of mine!
Fishing is such a great sport for kids to learn and get into – how fun! I wonder if he ate these to be polite and then he discovered that they were pretty good? Funny how that works. Although anything stuffed with Italian sausage and cheese sounds good to me:-)…these sound fabulous though and a great way to get some veggies in there.