I love everything that my friend Pamela Salzman creates – I just wish we lived closer so we could film more Instagram recipes together!
I also love anything that mimics the flavors of pizza without the loaded heaviness and carbs, so when Pamela posted this I knew I had to share it with you. These are basically vegetable and cheese stuffed halves of zucchini that are topped with sauce and cheese and then baked to absolute pizza-ish perfection. I’ve made some flexible changes to Pamela’s most amazing original recipe (as I encourage you to do, always). I pre-roasted the zucchini halves so they brown a tad to add deep flavor. I slightly tweaked the process and the veggie mixture to suit our tastes – feel free to modify to your liking as well. Also, the veggie mixture that’s stuffed inside should be dry and not too watery when you stuff so make sure that the veggies are cooked on a high enough heat to caramelize. I also love cheddar cheese so I used that instead of mozzarella. This is so fun and so yum, hope you try it.
My 11 year old devoured this before dinner was served so I suppose I’ll have to make something else for the rest of the family, but I can’t exactly complain about Liam filling up on vegetables before dinner! I also had some extra sautéed veggies so I added two eggs to those and made him a frittata. Never waste a single bite of goodness.
Pizza-ish baked zucchini boats
Ingredients
- 3-4 medium zucchini
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 1 tablespoon butter
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1/2 cup diced mushrooms
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1-2 small tomatoes
- handful of basil leaves
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup marinara sauce
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet with olive oil.
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Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise. Carefully scoop out the soft center flesh with a sharp small spoon and coarsely chop. Set aside in a small bowl.
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Place the zucchini halves on the baking dish; drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for around 8 minitutes then remove from oven.
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While the zucchini halves are roasting, heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion until lightly golden. Add chopped zucchini flesh, mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic until tender and water evaporated, 8-10 minutes. Add basil and season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and stir in the basil and parmesan cheese.
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Spoon the mixture evenly into each zucchini boat. Top with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. If you’re feeling cheesy, add some more parmesan on top.
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Bake for 15 min until cheese is melted and zucchini is tender.
More Zucchini recipes:
If you like my Pizza-ish baked zucchini boats recipe try:
