Zucchini taco boats with ground beef topped with cheese in the oven are a great dinner idea packed with flavor! Use sausage or turkey too inside your favorite summertime vegetable.
Have a bunch of these green veggies in your garden? Make these stuffed babies for dinner, they’re packed with tons of flavor and even your kids will think they are super fun to eat! If you loved our air fryer zucchini boats but want them baked, this is a winner for dinner I tell you.
We started this by making these fun air fryer zucchini fries. Those didn’t have any filling at all, instead were sliced into 6 pieces or so each and baked in the basket as spears until crispy on the outsides. Plain without breading they made a great side with dinner for sure.
Still had more than we could eat in a batch of mixed air fryer vegetables so we went on to continue brainstorming. I will say I rarely use my oven in the summertime because UM….it’s hot! But decided to this time.
Ingredient Notes
There is a huge range in what you can make stuffed zucchini of sorts. If you like ground beef, then use that. I prefer spicy ground sausage so that’s what I used here. Want a vegetarian version, skip that and just add your choice of cheeses to the middle. Need a quick leftover taco meat recipe, that is a great option too
I used my stainless steel frying pan to get started. You’ll need to pre cook the meat with any diced onions and/or bell peppers you want too. Soften these and brown meat.
To add the whopping flavor you’ll want taco seasoning, that is key! You can buy it already made or make your own which we occasionally do with our taco cornbread casserole but they both taste very similar! I seriously use this stuff for everything.
You will want to add some Olive oil or avocado oil to brown these 3 items together to soften and become fragrant with the meat no longer looking pink.
Zucchini pieces should be a medium size with the center scooped out. I do not like super huge as they have a high water content which actually gives them less flavor than smaller varieties.
And for us Cheese is a must, Mexican blend is the best if you ask me. You can find dairy free shreds from Daiya but I will say they don’t melt real well.
Variations
Other add ins could be diced bell peppers, drained black beans, salt and pepper aren’t really necessary if you use suggested seasoning. The filling really could use anything like spicy sausage will give it heat or meat-free mixture.
Want to mix it up??? There are a ton of other filling options you could do once you try these like: Zucchini pizza boats would be fun stuffed with a bit of spaghetti sauce mixed into the meat. Add pepperoni and cheese on top! Chicken zucchini boats could use leftover chicken breasts. Use the same steps and seasoning to coat, stuff, and bake.
Tips
Whenever using this green vegetable, try to pick just the right size. Too small and there’s not enough room to fill it. Too large and they don’t really taste good. I’d choose ones the size of your hand from tip of finger to wrist.
You can see the basic steps above in the photographs. Don’t want to scoop out all of the flesh and just leave the dark green skins or it won’t taste very good. You just need enough of a boat to fill with goodness.
This is a fun way to jazz up a boring veg to serve really as a main dish. Mixing it up is always great like we do with our roasted zucchini and squash together. Give it a whirl and let us know how you might tweak yours.
FAQ
Absolutely, that is the only way it is going to really stay together. You can slice the ends off if you really want to but ensure that when you scoop insides out the ends stay in tact so filling doesn’t escape.
It’s really easy, even a child can do this part. Once you slice them in half, hold it with the flesh up and use a small spoon to scrape out the middle. leave 1/4″ or so left on the sides.
Zucchini Taco Boats Recipe
Equipment
- 1 sheet pan
- 1 pan
Ingredients
- 2-4 medium zucchini, medium to large size, sliced lengthwise with middle scraped out
- 1 lb ground beef, or ground sausage browned
- 2.5 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 2 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 cup cheese
Instructions
- In a pan add your olive oil, ground sausage and diced onions. Add taco seasoning halfway through. Cook until sausage is no longer pink.
- Could add 3/4 c drained petite diced tomatoes into mix as well if desired.
- Slice zucchini lengthwise and use a spoon to scrape out middle where seeds are so they become "boats" and there is room to fill with meat mixture.
- Put foil on a baking sheet and set oven to 375 degrees.
- Put zucchini on sheet and rub outside edges with olive oil with a brush or your finger.
- Fill insides with taco meat mixture. Then sprinkle with cheese on top and bake for approx 15 minutes in oven or until cheese has melted and zucchini becomes tender.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can I freeze zucchini boats?
I wouldn’t. If you do the veggie portion will be quite mushy upon thawing. BUT, you can absolutely freeze the taco meat filling for up to 2 months. It’s great thing if you’re batch cooking for sure.
Once you try our baked zucchini boats and STILL have more to use up, then shred it and make our famous pumpkin zucchini muffins!
