Scrumptious zucchini boats stuffed with ground beef sauteed with jalapenos, onions and taco seasoning and baked with pepper jack cheese. Each stuffed zucchini is topped with lettuce, tomatoes and Avocado Dressing.
TACO BOATS
Stuffed zucchini make a wonderful light dinner. I think it’s pretty much impossible to get overly full from one but you will definitely be happy and comfortable. My favorite part is that you can stuff zucchini with so many different things. Whether you want to pack it with meats or other veggies, it will all taste great paired with zucchini.
It’s one of mine and my little man’s favorite vegetable. I have to say “one of” because he will always choose potatoes as his favorite, but he hasn’t turned down zucchini or other squash since he was a baby.
I like making these taco beef zucchini boats because the beef holds so much flavor in it. This is a great combination of juicy zucchini with spicy beef filling, topped with gooey melted spicy cheese and then cooling lettuce, tomato and avocado dressing. The dressing is actually optional but I do recommend it because it’s so tasty. If you want to save yourself a little time and work, you can use sour cream on top.
**Note: if your zucchini is pretty round, chances are that the “boats” will start rocking. To avoid all your stuffing being spilled in the process of putting them in and taken them out of the oven, you can cut off a very small slice on the bottom of each zucchini boat to stabilize them. (As shown above.)**
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Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Ingredients
- 3 large zucchini
- 1 lb ground beef 85% lean so it's juicy
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 1 large tomato diced
- 1 large jalapeno seeded and diced
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1.25 oz packet of taco seasoning
- Salt to taste if needed
- __
- 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
- 1 medium tomato diced
- 1 cup lettuce finely cut
- 1/4 cup avocado ranch dressing
Instructions
- You can try to find extra large zucchini or just make a couple extra boats by using large or medium sized zucchini. Size will just determine the amount of stuffing that it will hold.
- Cut zucchini in half, lengthwise. Using a melon baller (or a spoon), scoop out the seeded flesh of each zucchini half, so there is space to stuff them. (Don't scoop out all the meat, just the part packed with seeds.)
- If zucchini halves are not stable, you can cut off a very thin slice at the bottom to stabilize it. (See image in the post.) Set them aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Preheat a cooking pan with vegetable oil.
- Saute diced onion, tomato and jalapeno until fragrant.
- Add ground beef and break it up as much as you can. Cover and cook covered, over medium heat, until about half way done.
- Stir well and add taco seasoning. Mix well and cook until beef is done. Taste to see if you need to add more salt.
- Place zucchini boats into lightly greased baking pan. Stuff each boat with cooked beef mixture.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the zucchini and if you like your zucchini a little crunch or not.
- Top each zucchini boat with shredded pepper jack cheese and bake until cheese is melted.
- Take them out of the oven and top off each boat with lettuce, tomato and avocado dressing right before serving.
Nutrition
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