Zucchini Taco Boats are a healthier twist on traditional taco night! Mix taco seasoned ground beef with corn, black beans, and salsa, then fill zucchini shells and top with cheddar cheese. Serve the "zucchini tacos" with tomatoes, avocados, chopped romaine, and tortilla chips for a complete lunch or dinner that's light on calories and big on flavor! This zucchini boat recipe is loaded with simple, whole ingredients and fantastic flavor and nutrition. And it's ready to eat in just 35 minutes!
Turn traditional taco Tuesday into a healthier, lighter-on-calories night with this delicious and simple zucchini taco boat recipe.
These stuffed zucchini boats are a tasty way to use up summer farmer's market or garden produce, especially scrumptious zucchini, lettuce, and summer ripened tomatoes.
August is the perfect time to focus on meals centered around veggies and fruits, as it's the best time to catch summer produce at its peak ripeness.
I make it a point to take home as much fresh zucchini as my cart will allow to make flavorful chocolate zucchini muffins and zucchini bread.
This zucchini boat recipe is an excellent and easy way to take in a plethora of vitamins and minerals, thanks to the nutritious ingredient list.
Avocado.
Tomato.
Romaine.
Beans.
Corn.
Zucchini.
This meal is packed with a double punch of vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, folate, antioxidants, iron and protein.
It's super light on calories, so it's a perfect nutrient-dense lunch or dinner without that "heavy" feeling afterward.
Ingredients
To make zucchini taco boats you need fresh zucchini, preferably large zucchinis.
Small zucchinis work too, especially if serving to kids or whipping this up for meal prepping. Keep in mind that you'll have less meat stuffing in small zucchini, so large ones are better for dinner size portions.
To make the taco filling, you need:
- ground beef
- taco seasoning
- salsa (mild, spicy, chunky or not...it's up to you!)
- canned corn
- canned black beans
- cheddar cheese
To serve, you need:
- chopped romaine lettuce
- diced tomatoes
- avocado
- tortilla chips
The serving ingredients are optional, but strongly recommended for the best meal.
I recommend eating the zucchini boats first, and then using the tortilla chips to scoop up the lettuce, avocado, tomato and meat stuffing that fell out of the zucchini boats.
As if you were dipping the tortilla chip into salsa or nachos.
Step-By-Step Directions
First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then wash and cut the zucchini in half. Use a spoon to scoop the inner flesh out of the zucchini. This will mostly be seeds.
Then drizzle about ¼ cup of salsa and ½ of water into the bottom of a baking dish. Add the zucchini and cook for 20 minutes.
While the zucchini cooks, prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Cook the beef as the taco seasoning packet indicates. However, add corn, salsa, and black beans half way through.
Fill each zucchini shell with the beef mix and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.
Remove the zucchini boats and top with cheddar cheese.
Zucchini Taco Boats
Ingredients
- 4 large zucchini, sliced in half
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 taco seasoning packet
- 1 ½ cups salsa
- 1 can corn (15oz)
- 1 can black beans (15 oz)
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 avocados, sliced
- 2 cups diced tomatoes
- 1 head of Romaine lettuce, chopped
- tortilla chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Scoop out inner flesh of zucchini to create a "boat".
- Spread ½ of salsa plus ½ cup of water on the bottom of a baking dish. Add the zucchini and cook for 20 minutes.
- Brown beef and season with taco packet according to the instructions, halving the simmering time.
- Mix beef with corn, beans, and remaining salsa. Scoop into zucchini boats and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle zucchini boats with cheddar cheese.
- Serve with diced tomatoes, chopped Romaine, avocado slices and tortilla chips.
Nutrition
Serving
Serve with a side of lettuce, avocado, tomato, and tortilla chips.
These can also be used for meal prepping throughout the week.
Zucchini boats keep well for around 4 days. They should not be frozen.
Did you enjoy this taco stuffed zucchini boat recipe? Let me know what you thought in the comments below!
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