Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

If you have an excess of zucchini and want to prepare them in a delicious way, try these stuffed zucchini boats! Zucchini are scooped out and filled with a delicious Italian pork and fennel sausage and cheese. These are a delicious way to serve up this versatile vegetable for dinner and you can use this method to stuff all sizes of zucchini from small to huge!

Confession: I LOVE stuffed and roasted vegetables. They're such an easy way to serve up veggies in an appetising way and zucchini are particularly good for it as they are a milder tasting vegetable that can take on other flavours well. This was inspired by Yemista or Greek stuffed vegetables.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Tips for Making Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

1 - I have a really handy little zucchini corer that makes fast work of coring the zucchini. You can find these at Middle Eastern stores.

2 - If you don't have pork and fennel sausage, you can sub with your other favourite sausage or you can also use mince like chicken, turkey or beef mince. You may just add a bit more seasoning as sausages have seasoning added to them.

3 - I actually recommend doubling the quantity and doing this in two trays. The leftovers are really delicious the next day and they reheat very well.

4 - Some recipes call for you to scoop out the seeds in the centre and discard them. We use them in the stuffing, especially with smaller zucchinis where the seeds are tiny and cook down well in the filling mixture.

5 - I cover these with foil for the first part of the cooking so that they don't dry out.

6 - Only add the cheese in in the last 10 minutes once you have uncovered the zucchini otherwise the cheese will brown and dry out.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Other Delicious Zucchini Recipes that you might like to try!

Although zucchini aren't really my favourite vegetable and I wouldn't ever really buy them I get them in my vegetable box and every fortnight it's a mad scramble to use everything up. There are some vegetables that I love like salad leaves, tomatoes, broccolini and snow peas and there are some that I just want to use up. I don't think I've ever really thrown anything out because it has gone off because the vege box isn't cheap and I don't like to waste money or food.

I came across this phrase recently that I have started using. It's when someone is cheap they have "short arms". Like their hands can't reach to their pockets to pay for anything. Most of my friends don't have short arms. My friends and I are always giving each other things and we would honestly give the shirts off our own backs.

My friend Agatha (not her real name, she wants to stay anonymous on this in case her friend read this!) has a friend called April. Agatha is always doing things for April and April is not shy to ask for things.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

"Could you pick me up?" April will ask even though she lives in the opposite direction and has a car. Agatha always drives them and when it comes to parking Agatha always ends up paying (and parking in Sydney isn't cheap). April stands there with her hands in her pockets or dawdling when getting out of the car. And when it comes to paying for dinner April often forgets to pay Agatha for her portion of the bill and she has to hassle her to get the money. She is fond of April and she does of course have a good, fun side but her attitude towards money is annoying for Agatha.

Every time I see Agatha she tells me about another instance where April has cheaped out. "She has short arms!" I told Agatha. She laughed and pointed out that April's arm length was standard but I explained the saying of short arms to her. And from now on, we both use that phrase to describe someone that juuuust can't reach their pockets to pay for their share!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you know anyone with "short arms"? And do you try and use everything from your fridge if possible?

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

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An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Serves: 2-4 people with a side dish

  • 4x 170g/6oz zucchinis or courgettes
  • 2 teaspoons oil
  • 1 white or brown onion, peeled and diced
  • 200g/7ozs pork and fennel sausage, cases removed, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
  • 2 cups/500ml/1pint marinara or red pasta sauce, divided
  • 2 teaspoons Italian herb mix
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 50g/1.7ozs parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • 150g/5ozs mozzarella, grated

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Step 1 - Cut the zucchinis in half lengthways and trim the tops off. Scoop out the centre with a teaspoon or a zucchini corer - you want to dig out enough to fit in a lot of the flavoursome filling but don't go all the way to the edge, leave a border (as shown). Fit them snugly into a baking dish. Finely chop up the zucchini centres.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Step 2 -Preheat oven to 180C/350F fan forced. Add oil to a saucepan and sauté the onion on medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until soft and fragrant. Add the sausage meat and brown until almost completely cooked making sure to break it up with a wooden spoon. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Then add 1.5 cups pasta sauce, chopped zucchini centres and Italian herb mix and sauté for 10 minutes. Take off the heat. Spoon this mixture into the zucchini and then spoon the extra pasta sauce on top of this. Add 3 tablespoons of water to the dish and cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle the parmesan cheese and then the mozzarella on top and bake for another 10 minutes or until melted and starting to brown.

Stuffed Zucchini Boats

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