Who is overwhelmed with zucchini right now? Late summer/early fall is the absolute best time in our area to grab a ton of zucchini. While we weren’t super successful growing it this year, we can pick it up so cheap at the farmer’s market, making these taco-stuffed zucchini boats super budget-friendly to make!
If you need some fresh ideas on how to use up all that zucchini, we’ll show you how in this post.
Today is all about the taco-stuffed zucchini boat recipe. We LOVE, love LOVE Taco Tuesday, but also love to change it up. These taco-stuffed zucchini are simple, healthy, hearty, and delicious. They are perfectly filling without being tooooo much.
Taco-Stuffed Zucchini Boats Step-by-Step
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out zucchini flesh with a spoon and set aside. You’ll be adding this back into the mix in a few steps.
Next, brush the zucchini halves with a bit of oil or give them a spray or spritz. I place them on a sheet pan lined with a silicone mat, but you could use a large glass baking dish if they’ll fit in that. We’re baking the halves for about 10-15 minutes, depending on size. If you’re using zucchini on the smaller size, they won’t need as much baking time. You want them to be slightly softened and easily pierced with a fork.
While the halves are baking, brown your ground beef. (If you don’t have a tool like this to break up your ground meat get one like now. I use it ALL the time. It’s a great stress reliever.) You can also use ground turkey or chicken here. Add in the onions and peppers and let those cook about 3-4 minutes. Then we’re adding in the drained black beans, corn, zucchini insides, and salsa.
Get that moving. The zucchini will probably release some water, so we want to let that evaporate as much as possible.
When the halves are done baking, remove them and scoop the beef mixture inside the cavities.
Top with a bit of cheese and return to oven for about 10 minutes. You just want to melt the cheese here.
That’s it! Easy-peasy extra cheesy taco-stuffed zucchini boats!
One more thing… before you go…
Could you pin this recipe to your favorite Pinterest board? Thanks a bunch!
Taco-Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Equipment
- Large Skillet
- Sheet pan/ baking dish
Ingredients
- 3-4 large zucchini
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 15- ounce can of black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 small green pepper diced
- ½ onion diced
- ½ cup corn optional
- 1 cup of salsa
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup of cheese Mexican blend, Colby jack, pepper jack, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out zucchini flesh with a spoon and set aside.
- Brush a bit of oil on zucchini halves and bake for about 10-15 minutes, depending on size.
- While zucchini are baking, brown your ground beef. Add spices, pepper and onions and cook another 3-4 minutes. Add black beans, corn, additional zucchini, and salsa and heat through, until most of the water evaporates.
- Remove zucchini from oven and scoop mixture into the “boats”. Add cheese and return to oven for about 8-10 minutes, until cheese has melted.
- Serve with additional salsa and avocado!