Italian Style Stuffed Zucchini Boats
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Recipe type: Lunch, Dinner
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
These Italian Style Stuffed Zucchini Boats are filled with lean ground turkey and veggies, flavored with marinara sauce and Italian spices and topped with cheese and toasted breadcrumbs… you will definitely have seconds without the guilt.
Ingredients
  • 4 medium, uniformly-sized zucchini
  • 1 jar tomato basil sauce
  • 2 T. olive oil
  • 1 pound lean ground turkey or ground chicken
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ⅓ cup red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
  • ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper, or to taste
  • 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • ¼ cup shaved or shredded Parmesan
  • 2 T. Italian style bread crumbs
  • ¼ cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped for garnish (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Trim ends from zucchini and slice in half, lengthwise. Use a knife to cut an outline of the area you want to scoop out being very careful not to cut through then use the tip of a spoon to scrape the flesh out and on to a cutting board. Pour marinara sauce to coat bottom of 9" x 13" baking dish. Place the scooped out zucchini boats into baking dish.
  3. Meanwhile, add olive oil to skillet and place over medium heat, add onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet and season with Italian seasoning, cook until softened. In a separate skillet add ground turkey and cook, stirring to break up the ground meat as it cooks. Season meat with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper flakes and continue to cook until meat is cooked through, no longer pink. Combine cooked vegetable mixture with cooked ground turkey, stir to combine then add roughly 1 cup of marinara, stir well to combine.
  4. Divide the filling between the zucchini boats.
  5. Cover the dish with foil, and bake for 25 minutes, or until zucchini is tender to poke with fork. Remove dish from oven and set oven to broil. Sprinkle zucchini boats with mozzarella, bread crumbs, and Parmesan. Place back in oven and cook for only a couple of minutes until cheese has melted and bread crumbs are golden brown. *NOTE* Keep a close eye on boats to not burn top, it only requires a few minutes on broil.
  6. If you have extra filling, store in air-tight container in your refrigerator for a healthy lunch.
Recipe by The Well Dressed Kitchen at https://www.thewelldressedkitchen.com/uncategorized/italian-style-stuffed-zucchini-boats/