Who is ready for a recipe that SCREAMS summer?! These Mexican stuffed zucchini boats are a real crowd pleaser! If you grow summer squash in your garden, this is the perfect dish to use up ALL THE SQUASH! We usually have squash coming out our ears and lets be honest, zoodling all of them for meals can get a bit boring. So instead make those suckers into “boats!”
These are fairly simple to make; the most time consuming part is scooping out the flesh of the zucchini. If you have someone that you can put to work (i.e. kids) have them scoop the stuff out for you! Pay them a quarter for every zucchini they do! It’s a win win for everyone. One less task for you to do and they get money for their work! Make sure whoever is helping you puts the zucchini flesh in a bowl to use later in the recipe!
Ingredients
- 8 zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
- 1 tbl oil
- 1/4 c water
- 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
- 1/4 c diced raw red onion
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 tbl cilantro
- OPTIONAL: chopped fresh jalapeno, avocado
- TACO SEASONING MIX
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tbl cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tbl chili powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Make your taco seasoning and set aside.
- Slice your zucchini in half lengthwise, then scoop out flesh. Make sure to leave a bit on the sides. You don't want just the skin of the zucchini. Place in a casserole dish.
- While oven is preheating, heat up your 1 tbl of oil in a skillet. Once hot add in your ground beef.
- Cook ground beef for about 5 minutes. (It doesn't need to be fully cooked, it will finish in the oven) Remove half the fat from the pan
- Combine 1/2 the zucchini pieces that you had scooped out earlier and add in your seasonings. Mix well.
- Spoon meat into your zucchini, and pour 1/4 c of water into the bottom of the dish around the zucchini.
- Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes. With 5 min left, remove foil from zucchini.
- Top with diced tomatoes and onion, squeeze some lime all over and garnish with cilantro!
These are also great to take to a summer bbq as they are good hot or cold! Feel free to add some chopped fresh jalapeno for an extra kick or even some salsa! And of course avocado, because duh!! The meat freezes well, so if you have leftover meat, just stick it in a bag and throw it in the freezer until a later date. I don’t suggest freezing the zucchini. It will be mushy. And we all know mush is no bueno!
Whole30: yes
Paleo: yes
