Zucchini boats baked and stuffed with lamb, feta, pine nuts, tomatoes, and other Mediterranean flavors are a delectable solution to the issue of those too-big zucchinis ballooning in your garden at the end of the summer.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 50 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 extra large zucchini, halved lengthwise
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 pound ground lamb
- coarse salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- ¾ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ½ cup pine nuts
- ¼ cup mint leaves
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup mint leaves
- ¾ cup seasoned bread crumbs
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
- Use a melon baller to separate and remove seeds and pulp separately from the zucchini, carving out each half and leaving about a half-inch shell. Chop zucchini pulp into pieces about 1/4 inch in diameter. Discard seeds.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion and garlic in hot oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Add ground lamb; continue to cook and stir until lamb is lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir chopped zucchini into the lamb mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer mixture until the zucchini is hot, about 3 minutes. Drain excess grease. Season lamb mixture with coarse salt and black pepper.
- Remove skillet from heat. Stir tomato sauce, tomatoes, feta cheese, pine nuts, and 1/4 cup mint leaves through the lamb mixture; spoon into the zucchini halves. Put stuffed zucchini halves into a large baking dish. Pour water into the baking dish.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Mix bread crumbs and mozzarella cheese in a bowl. Sprinkle 1/4 cup mint leaves over the zucchini and top with the bread crumb mixture. Continue baking until the top is crusty and browned, about 10 minutes more.
- You can use basil in place of the mint. Using mint or basil will send the flavor either in a Middle-Eastern or Italian direction. If you use basil, consider changing the meat to ground beef, the nuts to walnuts, and the cheese to all mozzarella.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 649 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 39 g |
| Cholesterol | 115 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 41 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Sodium | 1523 mg |
| Sugars | 14 g |
| Fat | 39 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I think the fact that the zucchini stays in water the entire time, although new for me, helps the zucchini cook through very well. Be sure to create half inch zucchini walls and no less. If thinner the zucchini will get mushy.
Opa! I had to sub a few ingredients that were not on hand. Didn’t matter though as this is one terrific recipe. Used gr. beef for the lamb, left out pine nuts, used cheddar for the mozzarella. Would serve to company!
We really enjoyed this dish not being the standard style of stuffed zucchini. For our taste palettes I’d lightly salt the the zucchini next time before stuffing it.
Good recipe! I followed it almost exactly, except I used crumbled vegan sausage instead of lamb and slivered almonds instead of pine nuts. I only had regular-size zucchini, so I used 3 of them but still had a lot of filling leftover after stuffing the six “boats.” That’s okay! I will use it to stuff bell peppers for tomorrow’s supper.
I made this for my parents as a part of a five-course meal. Paired very well with a Sangiovese. They absolutely loved it! We used ground turkey instead of lamb which turned out great. I 100% recommended this recipe, especially if you are doing a Mediterranean meal!
I didn’t have a melon corer to take the zucchini flesh out but it worked perfectly fine. I had a giant zucchini (about 15in) so I cut it into 4 sections and held them together using toothpicks. I precooked it in the oven at 230°C for 15 minutes before putting the stuffing in. I then put it back in the oven for 20 minutes then sprinkled cheese & mint on top then cooked for further 5 minutes.
This was super yummy!! I forgot pine nuts at the store so just left them out. Our room mate is vegan so divided the recipe in half, put griller crumbles in her half and used Daiya mozzarella cheese for the top. I felt more spices were in order so added a tiny bit of fennel, fresh rosemary & thyme. Definitely keeping this in our favorites!
I had two giant zucchini, and a pound of ground lamb, I didn’t weigh and measure as I went along, I threw all the pine-nuts I had on the fridge into it, and that seemed ok. I used the last of a carton of panko breadcrumbs to use them up. I’m moving next week, hence the urge to use up what I have. I didn’t have a lot of feta, so I diced some herby Halloumi to add to it. I love it. My husband ate it, but will likely have meatloaf from now on while I eat the leftovers.
Very good! I did throw in a few extras however, peppers, carrots and olives. While the presentation in the shell is attractive, the excess stuffing I cooked in a casserole dish tasted the same. In the future I’d probably just cook it that way instead of searching for oversized zucchini.
My husband ate it. Yea!! Not a big zucchini fan! I on the other hand love zucchini!!some work but not too difficult or too much work. Well worth the try for a great new recipe!!
Larry, this is DELICIOUS! You knocked this one out of the park. We literally sat at the table and were “mmmm, MMMMM, MMMM!!!”-ing throughout the meal . Made it exactly as written, no changes needed.
I’ve made this twice and I think next time I’ll skip stuffing the zucchini and slice 2-4 of them, cook all of the ingredients and pour into a casserole dish adding the bread crumbs and cheese to the whole thing. This can be made with a Mexican, Greek or Italian bent by changing spices and cheeses. Also mine was watery so maybe some tomato paste rather than the sauce to thicken it a little.
Fantastic!!! This one is going in my keeper folder! I was looking for a recipe to use up some ground lamb I had purchased. I didn’t have access to any extra large zucchinis, so I bought 3 medium sized ones, about 8″-10″ long. I only ended up using about half the meat mixture, so I definitely could have used a few more zucchinis, probably 6 total. The only suggestion I’d make is to lower the heat to 400F, as the meat mixture started burning towards the end. Also, the bread crumbs and mozzarella weren’t really combining well, so I’d just put them on separately. The mint really makes this dish. I’m looking forward to making this for company! Thanks, another great recipe, Larry!
My husband and I loved this recipe. We’re not fond of lamb, so I substituted ground beef. Instead of one large zucchini, I stuffed a small zucchini, a green pepper, and a small eggplant all sliced lengthwise. I scooped the eggplant as well as the zucchini to add to the stuffing. I added about a cup of cooked brown rice as well. I didn’t add the mozzarella at the end, just sprinkled the breadcrumbs on for the last few minutes of baking. What a gorgeous presentation, and delicious meal! The fresh mint, pine nuts and feta were a great change from the traditional Italian style stuffed veggies.
This was the stuffing I have been looking for years! I used the excess in a green pepper. The only addition I made was a tiny amount of cinnamon for that middle eastern mystique.
Average. Too much zucchini and not enough “other stuff”. It sounded so good, that is why I tried the recipe. I guess my hope of liking cooked zuchini is not going to happen (except in baked good items such as muffins or bread). We had too many leftovers that did not get eaten.
I have made stuffed zucchini many times – this was the best!
This was excellent! I went the Italian direction, based on the ingredients I had available. Used chopped pecans (no walnuts on hand), parmesan instead of feta, and fresh basil. Also used ground turkey. Next time I hope to try it with ground lamb and original ingredients!
This was so good!! I didn’t have many of the ingredients, but simple subs. Pork instead of lamb, no mint, canned tomatoes instead of fresh because it is winter and they are out of season. Figured canned was better than fresh at this time of the year. With the leftovers I added a little extra zucchini chopped up, some more tomatoes, and served it over rice. It was delicious and my no-veggie kids ate it up!
This was outstanding. The flavors blended together for that Mediterranean taste. The mint and feta! I am going to try this in stuffed red peppers.
Yummy! Used ground turkey and slivered almonds.