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 we 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. We will say we rarely use our 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 beefthen use that. We prefer spicy ground sausage so that's what we used here. Want a vegetarian version, skip that and add your choice of cheeses to the middle. Need a quick leftover taco meat recipethat is a great option too

We used our 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 seasoningthat 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 similar! We 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. We 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 us. You can find dairy free shreds from Daiya but we will say they don't melt real well.

Swaps

Other add ins could be diced bell peppers, drained black beans, salt and pepper aren't necessary if you use suggested seasoning. The filling 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 the right size. Too small and there's not enough room to fill it. Too large and they don't taste good. We'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 leave the dark green skins or it won't taste good. You need enough of a boat to fill with goodness.

This is a fun way to jazz up a boring veg to serve 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.

Kitchen questions

Do you eat the skin on zucchini boats?

Absolutely, that is the only way it is going to stay together. You can slice the ends off if you want to but ensure that when you scoop insides out the ends stay in tact so filling doesn't escape.

How do you scoop out zucchini?

It's 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

By Zucchini taco boats in the oven topped with cheese are a great dinner idea packed with flavor! Ground beef or turkey stuffed inside your favorite summertime vegetable. Prep: 15 minutes minsCook: 15 minutes minsServings: 4 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

2-4 medium zucchini, medium to large size, sliced lengthwise with middle scraped out
1 lb ground beefor 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.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Entree, Main CourseCuisine: American Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

Can we freeze zucchini boats?

We wouldn't. If you do the veggie portion will be quite mushy upon thawing. BUT, you can 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!