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Zucchini Boats

Zucchini Boats

The easiest, quickest and most delicious dinner recipe is here to rock your world. Stuffed zucchini boats are a dream and we are paring them with a flavourful and creamy tomato sauce, and a side of quinoa to make it a complete meal.

Whenever I can get a full meal to fit on a single plate I feel accomplished. I like making elaborated dishes and going all out in the kitchen everyone once in a while. But my true love is for the super practical recipes that are bound to make our lives easier. 

Zucchini Boats ingredients

Zucchini boats are beyond easy to make. And since we've paired them with a couple of other things you can make sure you'll be getting a complete meal. I don't know if this is the best part or the fact that everything is ready in just 30 minutes. Or maybe how flavourful they come out.

I don't want to pick one! 

It's all so good! 

But, what really brought these zucchini boats to the top of my list is how much my parents loved them. Mom and dad are not vegan, and we've established that when I visit I do all the cooking. 

stuffed Zucchini Boats

They appreciate the effort but I know they do miss their meat after a few days of eating vegan. So, whenever I'm home I bring with me as many 'meaty' recipes as I can. The last time I was visiting I whipped together these stuffed zucchini boats. They were an absolute hit! 

The filling is really delicious. And the combination of the textured soy, nutritional yeast, black beans will easily trick any carnivore. Even though mom and dad knew there was no actual meat in this recipe they did get their 'meat' fix. 

Especially dad was so pleased with this recipe. And he mentioned that having the zucchini boats served with the sauce on the side and a portion of grains remained him of traditional German recipes. I hadn't really noted that but after he mentioned it I thought so too. It's quite comforting. 

tomato peanut sauce

Most German food has those attributes. It's filling, comforting and super flavourful. Zucchini boats fill all of those categories with the added benefit that they are very light. So we have a meal that is low carb and high in protein that won't have you feeling all heavy once you're done stuffing your face. You can even go for second guilt-free. 

I usually serve two zucchini boats on one plate, that's two halves, or one zucchini…this is getting confusing, but you get the idea. You can always do more or less depending on the size of your zucchini and your appetite. 

Since zucchini always vary in size quite a bit you might want to add a bit of water to the filling so you make sure you have enough for everyone. I used to divide the stuffing evenly among all the zucchinis but now I customise a bit. Mine definitely have more filling than my son's and let's keep that as our little secret!

Zucchini Boats top down

Ingredients
12
Prep time
10 minutes
Total time
Category: Lunch, Dinner
Serves: 4
Allergens: Peanut, Quinoa, Tomatoes

Ingredients

US Metric

For the zucchini boats

  • 4 medium zucchini (cut in half, remove the inside and keep it.)

For the minced soy

  • 4 tsps almond flour (toasted)
  • 28 g minced textured soy protein
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 111 g vegetable broth

For the filling

  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 240 g black beans (rinsed)
  • 1 dash cumin
  • 1 dash dried smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • 2 tsps olive oil
  • 1 medium shallot (thinly sliced)
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 118 ml water

For the sauce

  • 2 tbsps creamy peanut butter
  • 1 tsp maple syrup (optional)
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 medium shallot (thinly sliced)
  • 245 g tomato sauce

For the quinoa

  • 255 g quinoa (rinsed)
  • 710 ml water

Directions

  1. Heat up the oven to 390 F (200 C).
  2. Cook the quinoa in water until soft for about 20 - 30 minutes.
  3. Boil the broth and add the textured soy protein and set aside.
  4. For the filling heat up the olive oil and saute the shallot for about 2-4 minutes.
  5. Keep half the amount of the black beans on the side and add the rest of the filling ingredients and bring to boil.
  6. Use an immersion blender and blend until smooth, after that add the rest of beans together with the minced soy ingredients and adjust taste.
  7. Place the zucchini boats on the baking tray and add the filling, bake for about 20 minutes.
  8. For the sauce, heat up the olive oil and saute the shallot for about 2-4 minutes.
  9. Add the inside from the zucchini and saute for about 5 minutes.
  10. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and blend everything until smooth with an immersion blender, adjust taste and heat the sauce up properly.
  11. Serve two zucchini boats (one zucchini) per serving with some quinoa and sauce, enjoy!
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