One of the bests things about summer are the fabulous vegetables from the garden, road-side stand or grocery store. Try these garden fresh zucchini boats stuffed with sausage, rice, tomatoes, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese for a tasty summer vegetable entrée.Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We will only recommend products we use, love or think are informative and helpful.
Recipe Variations
Ingredients all ready to begin making zucchini boats.
Cook rice according to package directions. I like to add a little butter to the water, like about 1 teaspoon but this is completely optional.
While rice is cooking, wash and trim just a bit of the end of the zucchini leaving stem end intact. Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp using a spoon. A melon-baller works well for this job. Chop the zucchini pulp and set aside.
Place the zucchini shells into a large baking dish. (I had to use an additional baking dish to hold all eight shells)
Heat a skillet pan to med-high heat. Add oil and sausage; cook until browned. Add chopped onions; cook until onion is softened. Add garlic and cook another minute.
Add a splash of wine, zucchini pulp, tomatoes, salt and pepper, thyme and snipped basil. 
Stir in Parmesan cheese and the cooked rice. Spoon filling into zucchini shells. Top with fresh mozzarella.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce on the side, if desired.Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
Zucchini Boats with Sausage & Rice
- 1 1/2 cups cooked brown Basmati rice
- 1 tsp. butter (optional)
- 4 large zucchini
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 6-oz sausage, casing removed (I used breakfast sausage; Sweet or hot Italian sausage or other favorite will work too)
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 tablespoon white wine
- 2 medium tomatoes, seeded, chopped and blotted dry
- salt ( 1 tsp) and pepper (1/2 tsp) or to taste
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoon fresh basil
- 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3-oz fresh Mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
- pasta tomato sauce for serving (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350F. degrees
Cook rice according to package directions (I add 1 tsp. butter to the water)
While rice is cooking, wash and trim just a bit of the end of the zucchini leaving stem end intact. Slice in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp. Chop pulp and set aside. Place shells into 9 x 13-inch baking dish. (I had to use an additional baking dish to hold all eight shells)
Heat pan to med-high heat. Add oil and sausage; cook until browned.
Add chopped onions; cook until onion is softened. Add garlic and cook another minute.
Add a splash of wine, zucchini pulp, tomatoes, salt and pepper, thyme and snipped basil. Cook a few minutes over med-high heat until most of the liquid is reduced. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
Stir in Parmesan cheese and the cooked rice.
Spoon filling into zucchini shells. Top with fresh mozzarella.
Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.
Serve with tomato sauce on the side, if desired.
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What a great idea. This would be good for Sunday dinner!
This is really lovely! What a wholesome and healthy summer meal. I've seen stuffed zucchinis all over foodblogs but for some reason I've never tried making them myself! Maybe it's about time.
Irina @ http://www.wander-crush.com
This is really lovely! What a wholesome and healthy summer meal. I've seen stuffed zucchinis all over foodblogs but for some reason I've never tried making them myself! Maybe it's about time.
Irina @ http://www.wander-crush.com
This looks good. Lots of squash around for this.
P.S. I gave your blog name to a woman from Land of Lakes. We were chatting about blogs with great food photos.
I try really hard to like zucchini.
This could be the day . . .
I have zucchini here in the fridge most of the time and made in many ways before…but just not into a boat! this is so fancy and cute!
We are still being given zucchinis from the neighbor's garden, so thank you for sharing this delicious looking recipe. You are so kind to share all the steps with pictures.
Wow, these look delicious. Pinning this one because I will definitely be trying them.
Sounds fantastic. I love the way your recipes have simple ingredients that are easy to come by, and that the end result always looks amazing.
We have lots of zucchini in the garden this year. Will be trying your boats out later in the week.
Oh my, your zucchini boats look wonderful!!! I'm always searching for new fresh sides for our meals!
Blessings,
Leslie
I pinned this one, it looks so good. I'm going to try it this weekend
Looks so yummy-would like to make a vegan version:-)
It is zucchini time and I am always looking for new recipes using them…this looks like a winner
Recipe is right up my alley! Looks beautiful, love your food styling and photos, Lorraine. xo
Oh these look wonderful! The stuffing sounds delicious! I've been making so much zucchini this summer too, it's one of my summer favorites!
Oh boy, all of my John's favs.
Oh this looks wonderful…I can almost taste it now! I will be trying these
That looks very good – and I've just been given a bag of zucchini!…..
What a great tutorial! These look yummy.
I love your recipe posts…I actually love all your posts
I seem to leave your blog …hungry!
These look very good. Your photos are so good too.
Blessings and love,
Debbie
Sounds like a great recipe! I've used stuffing before, the rice sounds like a lighter choice:@)
That looks delicious. I hope to get zucchini next season. This year, our garden was flooded out by rain.
Yummy!