Stuffed zucchini is a delicious and nutritious meal that is perfect for grilling on a nice summer's day or great for eating on a cold winter's night. It's hearty enough to be enjoyed as a meal but light enough to not make you feel as full as you would after eating a lasagna or similar stuffed dish. The most common way to make stuffed zucchini is to use your oven, but you can also grill it or cook it in the skillet. You can use anything you want in the stuffing from veal to mushrooms, depending on what suits your fancy. If you want to know how to make stuffed zucchini, see Step 1 to get started today.
Ingredients
Oven-Baked Stuffed Zucchini [1] X Research source [2] X Research source
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1 large zucchini, ends trimmed
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 16-oz jar favorite spaghetti sauce
- ½ 6-oz can sliced black olives, drained
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Grilled Stuffed Zucchini [3] X Research source
- 6 zucchini (overgrown yet not woody being the best, but any zucchini will do), sliced in half lengthwise
- Olive oil
- Non-stick olive oil spray
- 1 cup diced white onion
- ½ cup cooked ham, diced
- 2 diced roma tomatoes
- 2¾ cups diced white button mushrooms
- 1 lightly beaten egg
- 3 tablespoons fresh or day-old bread crumbs
- â…” cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Pan-Cooked Stuffed Zucchini [4] X Research source
- 8 medium zucchini, ends trimmed
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 10 oz ground veal
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- â…” cup asiago cheese
- 1 small red onion, diced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 pound ripe roma tomatoes, peeled and seeded
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Steps
Method 1
Method 1 of 3:
Oven-Baked Stuffed Zucchini
-
Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC).
-
Cook the beef. In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and brown ground beef 10 minutes, breaking up beef as it crumbles, until it's completely cooked through. Drain fat then transfer browned ground beef, using a slotted spoon, to a mixing bowl. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.Advertisement
-
Prepare the zucchini. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, and, using a spoon, scoop out the flesh, leaving about ½ inch-thick boat. If zucchini is too tough to scoop out, boil it for a few minutes or soak it in cold water for 10 minutes first.
-
Prepare the stuffing. In the mixing bowl, combine zucchini pulp, bread crumbs, garlic, black olives, spaghetti sauce, and cheese in the bowl with the cooked ground beef until all are fully incorporated. Taste and season with salt and black pepper to taste.
-
Stuff the zucchini. Stuff each zucchini half with the stuffing mixture, packing it in pretty tightly.
-
Place the zucchini on a baking dish. Cover baking dish with foil.
-
Bake zucchini 40-45 minutes. They should be knife-tender, but not so tender that they fall apart at the touch or are mushy. When they are done, remove from oven and remove foil. Season with a few grinds of black pepper if desired.
-
Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over each zucchini half.
-
Broil zucchini 5 minutes. Place oven rack 6 inches (15.2 cm) from the broiler element, turn broiler on, and broil zucchini 5 minutes until the mozzarella is browned and bubbling. Remove zucchini from the oven and cool for at least 3-4 minutes.
-
Serve. Enjoy this hearty dish on its own or with a side of rice or pasta.Advertisement
Method 2
Method 2 of 3:
Grilled Stuffed Zucchini
-
Prepare zucchini. Trim and halve zucchini lengthwise. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil then cook zucchini 10 minutes. This will tenderize the zucchini, making it easier to scoop out the pulp.
-
Prepare stuffing ingredients. Dice white onion, ham, tomatoes, and mushrooms, reserving the trimmed ham fat. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
-
Drain and cool zucchini. Remove the zucchini from the pot and drain. Transfer the squash to a cutting board and pat dry. Cool zucchini a few minutes.
-
Remove the flesh from the zucchini. Using a small spoon, scoop out zucchini flesh and discard. (It should be pulpy and filled with seeds.)
-
Sauté onion and garlic. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté reserved trimmed ham fat trimmings and onion until onion is translucent. Stir in garlic and sauté until garlic is aromatic. Add tomatoes and simmer 1-2 minutes. Then add diced mushrooms and sauté until they are soft.
-
Transfer diced ingredients to a mixing bowl. Transfer vegetable mixture and diced ham to a bowl. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Add beaten egg, bread crumbs, and parmesan cheese and stir thoroughly until ingredients develop a creamy texture.
-
Spray a grill basket with non-stick olive oil spray. Alternately, you can use an oiled grill pizza pan instead.
-
Stuff zucchini boats. Place zucchini halves on a plate with skin side down and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Spoon equal amounts of stuffing into the zucchini boats.
-
Preheat grill to medium heat which is around 350°F-400ºF (176ºC-204ºC). Place stuffed zucchini on the grill and grill squash 30 minutes, making sure the zucchini doesn't burn. (It should be crispy on top, but it should not char.) When it is knife-tender, remove stuffed zucchini off the grill with grill tongs and let zucchini cool for a few minutes before serving.
-
Enjoy this tasty grilled stuffed zucchini on its own whenever you want. For extra creamy and richer taste, sprinkle more cheese on top before serving.Advertisement
Method 3
Method 3 of 3:
Pan-Cooked Stuffed Zucchini
-
Prepare zucchini. If using long zucchini, halve the squash crosswise. Soak zucchini 30 minutes in cold water to soften the squash. Using an apple corer or a special zucchini corer , hollow out the zucchini, trying to scoop out the centers so all you have left are zucchini "tubes" that will hold the meat stuffing.
- Don't throw out the zucchini flesh. Instead, chop it up and set it aside to use for the stuffing later.
-
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil until it almost shimmers.
-
Add ground veal to hot olive oil. Brown ground veal 4 minutes until it is golden brown and the oil has absorbed evenly. Using a slotted spoon, transfer browned ground veal to a bowl. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Leave the remaining fat in the skillet.
-
Heat olive oil and garlic in the skillet. In same skillet, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes until gold and fragrant. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon and discard it, leaving behind garlic-infused oil.
-
Cook the chopped zucchini flesh in the skillet. Add reserved chopped zucchini flesh to the skillet and sauté 5-6 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Then transfer sautéed zucchini flesh to the bowl containing the ground veal.
-
Make the stuffing. Mix zucchini flesh and ground veal to combine. Fill the zucchini tubes with the stuffing.
-
Cook stuffed zucchini in the skillet over medium-high heat. In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil 1-2 minutes over medium-high heat. Place as many stuffed zucchini tubes that can fit in a single layer in the skillet without overcrowding or dropping oil temperature too much. Sear zucchini 10 minutes total on all sides, turning stuffed squash when needed. Once zucchini has been seared, use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a platter. Repeat this with any remaining zucchini until they are all cooked, reserving cooking fat in skillet.
-
In the same skillet, add chopped onions and sauté 3 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until onion caramelizes to a golden brown.
-
Place stuffed zucchini tubes back in the skillet. Season stuffed squash with salt and black pepper then add dry white wine to the skillet, bringing it back to a boil. Add tomatoes to the skillet. (Alternately, you can used canned diced tomatoes if you wish to save time.)
-
Cover skillet, turn heat down to low, and simmer 30-40 minutes. Turn zucchini tubes from time to time, making sure that they cook evenly. When stuffed squash is fork-tender, remove skillet from heat. Wait at least 5 minutes for them to cool a bit before serving.
-
Enjoy these tasty pan-cooked zucchini on their own or serve with a few sides.Advertisement
Expert Q&A
Ask a Question
200 characters left
Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Submit
Advertisement
Video
References
About this article
Article Summary
X
To make oven-baked stuffed zucchini, start by frying ground beef for 10 minutes in olive oil. Then, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise, trim the ends, and scoop out the flesh. Next, combine the zucchini flesh, beef, spaghetti sauce, breadcrumbs, garlic, olives, and grated cheese in a bowl. Once the ingredients are mixed thoroughly, stuff the zucchini halves. To cook, bake the stuffed zucchini in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Finally, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and broil the zucchini for 5 minutes. For tips on how to grill the zucchini, read on!
Did this summary help you?
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 26,836 times.
Reader Success Stories
- "The simple instructions and pictures helped."
Advertisement
