These sausage and mushroom zucchini boats are a delicious way to use one of summer's favorite vegetable. Filled with savory italian sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes, it is a quick and easy meal your family will love.
How to choose the best zucchini?
It is easy to pick fresh zucchini when our gardens and farmer's markets are overflowing with them. They can get huge, so try to pick zucchini that aren't oversize since it will be very full of seeds.
Since these zucchini boats are so quick and delicious, you will want to eat them year round. So if you no longer have that abundance from your garden, the grocery store will be your only option.
Try to select dark green, medium sized, firm zucchinis, approximately 6-8 inches long. They will have smaller seeds. Depending on the variety, fresh zucchini flesh should be slightly yellow and not too soft.
Some people choose to scrape out all the seeds of their zucchini. But I just scrape out a light layer of seeds and use a metal spoon to scrape out the flesh to cook for the recipe.
How to make the filling for sausage and mushroom zucchini boats?
- Cut zucchini in half, scrape out flesh and set that aside. Cook the zucchini halves for 10 minutes in preheated 350°F oven. Pour out any liquid.
- Fry the sausage in olive oil until no longer pink.
- Saute the onion, garlic, mushrooms and zucchini flesh in the olive oil. Add tomatoes and cook until they are softened. Mix in the parmasean cheese.
- Fill the zucchini with the sausage mixture and top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake on a parchments lined baking sheet for approximately 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.
Any leftover sausage and mushroom zucchini boats will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 days. We reheated ours in the microwave, but you could also pop them in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Cover with foil if they are browning too much.
I have never frozen the entire stuffed zucchini, but we did have leftover filling which I froze. I added it to hollowed out peppers and baked them for a new version of stuffed peppers and they were delicious!
Here are some other delicious dinners to try:
Skillet Pepper Steak and Onions
Print
Sausage and Mushroom Zucchini Boats
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
One of summer's favorite vegetables, these zucchini boats are filled with more fresh vegetables and sweet italian sausage. A cheesy topping adds to the delicious and savory flavors. This is a quick and easy meal that reheats perfectly, if there are any leftovers.
Ingredients
- 3 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
- 1 lb. sweet italian sausage, links or ground*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms ( I used cremini)**
- 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes***
- salt and pepper
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Lightly scrape top layer of seeds from zucchini. I toss the seeds, you can choose to keep in the recipe.
- Using a melon baller, cookie scoop or a spoon, scrape the flesh from the zucchini. Leave about ¼ " layer in the zucchini.
- Place the (6) zucchini halves on a parchment lined cookie sheet or casserole.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Pour out any liquid that collected inside the zucchini boats.
- In a large fry pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and saute the sausage until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Set aside in a bowl.
- Saute the onion, garlic, mushrooms and zucchini flesh with a tablespoon of oil and cook for about 4- 5 more minutes.
- Add in the cherry tomatoes to pan and cook until they are very soft and begin to split and burst.
- Stir the sausage back into pan and combine with the vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix in the parmesean cheese.
- Fill each zucchini half with the filling, and sprinkle mozzarella on top. ****
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until cheese has melted and is lightly browned.
Notes
*If you use the links, just remove the casing and then saute the ground sausage.
**You can use white button, shiitake or portobello mushrooms.
***If you would prefer to use whole tomatoes, just chop them in small pieces and cook as recipe states.
****You may have some leftover filling that doesn't fit in the zucchini boats. You can cook it as a side dish another night or freeze for a future meal.
Keywords: Sausage and Mushroom Zucchini Boats
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