These healthy zucchini boats are stuffed with a mixture of ground turkey, parmesan, and onions and topped with breadcrumbs.
Stuffed Zucchini
If you haven’t noticed, I am a huge zucchini fan. When my garden is overflowing with zucchini in the summer, I love to stuff them and serve them for dinner. They’re delicious, nutritious, and easy. You can even meal prep them to save time right before dinner. I have a ton of zucchini recipes, including these Sausage
Stuffed Zucchini Boats and Veggie Lasagna Zucchini Boats.
Turkey-Stuffed Zucchini Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need for this simple stuffed zucchini recipe.
- Zucchini: Try to buy zucchini that are about the same size so you can have equal-sized zucchini boats. Mine were all approximately 6 ounces. And don’t worry about wasting any vegetables—the scooped-out zucchini goes in the turkey stuffing.
- Butter: Sauté the onions, shallots, and garlic in butter.
- Onions: Finely dice half of an onion and a shallot. I used both for maximum onion flavor.
- Garlic: Crushing garlic cloves gives them a more robust flavor than mincing them.
- White Wine: When cooking with wine, choose any dry white wine that’s good enough for drinking.
- Ground Turkey: Buy 93% ground turkey for a lean protein without much fat that’s not dry.
- Egg White: The egg white binds the ground turkey and breadcrumbs while adding lean protein.
- Parmesan adds a nutty aroma and creaminess.
- Chicken Broth: Pour the broth into the bottom of the baking dish to help steam the zucchini.
- Breadcrumbs: Sprinkle seasoned breadcrumbs on the stuffing for a crispy topping.
- Spices: Salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning season the turkey and zucchini mixture.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Stuffed Zucchini
- Prep the Zucchini: Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh with a spoon or melon baller. Place the zucchini in a 9” x 13” baking dish and chop the scooped-out flesh into small pieces.
- Aromatics: Sauté the onion, shallot, and garlic in melted butter in a large skillet on medium-low for a few minutes.
- Zucchini and Turkey: Add the chopped zucchini, season with a pinch of salt, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the wine and cook until it reduces. Add the ground turkey, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the turkey’s cooked through. Sprinkle with paprika, garlic powder, and
Italian seasoning, and cook for another minute. Set aside to cool. - Parmesan and Egg: Mix the cheese and egg white into the turkey.
- Stuff the Zucchini: Spoon the turkey stuffing into the hollowed zucchini and top with breadcrumbs.
- Bake: Pour the chicken broth into the baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 35 minutes.
Variations and Tips
- Zucchini: Sub yellow squash.
- Stuffed Zucchini Boats with Ground Beef: Substitute 90% or 93% lean ground beef.
- Sausage: Replace ground turkey with Italian chicken or turkey sausage—Remove it from the casings, and don’t season it with salt.
- Onions: If you don’t have both an onion and a shallot, double the amount of the one you do have. You can also use a red onion.
- Cheese: Swap parmesan with Pecorino Romano or shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Can’t eat cheese? Skip it or use a dairy-free cheese.
- Breadcrumbs: I like 4C’s seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs, but you can use whatever kind you have. If you use unseasoned ones, add onion powder, garlic powder, and dried herbs to them.
- Gluten-Free: Buy gluten-free breadcrumbs or omit them.
- No onion powder? Replace it with garlic powder.
- No Italian seasoning? Use a mix of dried herbs to make your own.
- Herbs: Add fresh herbs, like rosemary or oregano.
- If the stuffing doesn’t brown, remove the foil and broil for 1 to 2 minutes.
What to Serve with Stuffed Zucchini
One serving of this healthy stuffed zucchini recipe contains almost 32 grams of protein, so it’s filling, to say the least! Below are some side dish ideas if you want to add a carb or a couple of easy salads if you want an extra veggie.
How to Meal Prep Stuffed Zucchini
You can do some of the prep ahead of time to make getting dinner on the table faster and easier.
- Prep the zucchini, make the stuffing, and assemble the boats the day before.
- The next day, bake the turkey zucchini boats in the oven before dinner.
- If you will be short on time the day you are serving them, bake the zucchini for 25 minutes the day before and finish baking them right before dinner to reheat them.
Storage
Store the stuffed zucchini in the refrigerator for 4 days or in the freezer for 3 months. To reheat, thaw them in the fridge and reheat in the oven or microwave.
Zucchini FAQ
If you grow zucchini in your garden and have ever harvested giant zucchini, you may wonder what to do with them. Any of my stuffed zucchini recipes would be a great way to use them. You can always reduce the portion size to one boat. I also have this Giant Zucchini Parmesan, which I created one summer when my brother had a lot of oversized zucchini in his garden.
Zucchini’s skin is thin, so there’s no need to peel it before cooking it. It gets more tender when cooked. Plus, it provides additional antioxidants.
Yes, zucchini softens as it bakes. It takes about 35 minutes to bake zucchini boats.
More Stuffed Zucchini Recipes You’ll Love
- Turkey Santa Fe Zucchini Boats
- Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Chicken Enchilada Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Colombian-Style Zucchini Rellenos
Turkey Stuffed Zucchini
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini, 6 oz each
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1/2 small onion, finely diced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 oz white wine
- 1.3 lb ground turkey, 20.8 oz
- 1 large egg white
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- Salt and fresh pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out flesh, leaving 1/4" thick. Arrange in a baking dish.
- Chop the scooped out flesh of the zucchini in small pieces.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter and add onion, shallot and garlic.
- Cook on a medium-low for about 2-3 minutes, until onions are translucent.
- Add chopped zucchini and season with a pinch of salt, cook about 2-3 minutes.
- Add wine and cook until it reduces.
- Add ground turkey and season with salt and pepper, cooking until turkey is cooked through, breaking up in smaller pieces, about 5 minutes.
- Add paprika, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
- Mix well and cook another minute. Set aside to cool.
- When cooled, add parmesan cheese and egg white, mix well.
- Using a spoon, fill hollowed zucchinis with stuffing, pressing firmly and top with bread crumbs.
- Place chicken broth in bottom of the baking dish and cover tightly with foil.
- Bake 35 minutes and serve right away.
