Healthy zucchini pizza boats with sausage will totally satisfy your pizza craving! Loaded with meat, pizza sauce, and cheese, and baked for 30 minutes for a low-carb spin on pizza. The whole family will love them! Gluten-free, keto, and low carb.
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When zucchini season and pizza night come together and join forces, you get zucchini pizza boats! In all seriousness, pizza night is probably one of our favorite nights in our house, especially for Michael. We usually go out for pizza (Little Deli is one of our favorites), but sometimes I like to make a healthier spin on pizza at home.
And since I have no idea how to bake/make a crust, I’m usually using veggies. I’ve done eggplant pizzas, sweet potato pizzas, and now we have these zucchini pizza boats with sausage! I used my Italian beef zucchini boat recipe, changed up a few of the ingredients, added some cheese, and voila – a low-carb and healthy pizza option!
I figured this recipe would be perfect for this time of year too. People’s gardens are overflowing with zucchini and they don’t know what to do with them! Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for me, but I’m more than happy to make all the zucchini recipes!
We tried to grow zucchini last year and were unsuccessful, so this year I decided to keep it a little more simple. We did get some tomatoes and peppers this year though! And then the heat of Texas rolled in and everything pretty much died (along with my lack of watering..whoops). At least we got some produce though!
Y’all know my husband loves pizza and he loved this recipe! I packed them in his lunch one day and he texted me asking when they were going to up on ETG because they were so good! For a classic pizza-loving guy (aka all the bread), I’ll take that as a huge compliment.
So if you are trying to keep it clean, but craving some pizza, these sausage zucchini boats are a great substitute. They are 100% not the real deal (I mean there is no crust!) but make a healthy and delicious option. I like making them for an easy weeknight dinner and they also work great for meal prep! Just bake and then store in the fridge and heat them up when you are ready to eat.
Healthy Zucchini Pizza Boats Recipe
7 ingredients (plus some toppings!) and 40 minutes to make these low-carb and keto zucchini pizza boats. Loaded with pizza flavor, topped with melted cheese, and super easy to throw together! I promise your pizza-loving family/friends and even kids will enjoy them! Here is what you need:
- zucchinis
- ground pork
- pizza sauce
- mozzarella cheese
- dried parsley
- dried oregano
- red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper
- any other toppings you like – we did fresh basil, parmesan cheese, and more red pepper flakes
How to make Zucchini Boats
These pizza stuffed zucchinis take a little prep work, but once you get the zucchinis cut and hollowed out, it’s smooth sailing.
First, you need to make your zucchini boats. To do this, cut off the ends and then cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. Take a spoon and scoop out the center/seedy part, making a ‘boat’ to hold the pizza filling. Make sure you don’t throw away the insides though! You can chop it up and use it in a stir fry or omelets, freeze and throw in smoothies, and my favorite way – give them to your pup!
Next, make the pizza filling. Heat up a large sauté pan over medium-low heat and let it get hot. Add ground pork and sauté for 4-5 minutes until browned. Stir in pizza sauce, spices, and salt and pepper and mix to combine. Once the meat and sauce is combined and cooked through, you need to add it to your zucchini boats.
Pour half a cup of pizza sauce to line the bottom of a glass baking dish. Place the zucchini boats flesh side up in glass baking dish and evenly distribute the sausage mixture. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and cover pan with foil. Place it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes until zucchini is cooked through and cheese is melted.
Top with some fresh basil, parmesan cheese, and more red pepper flakes, and enjoy!
A quick note about the zucchini – I looked for smaller one’s uniform in size. That way they fit into my pan. If you can’t find small ones or are using garden ones that won’t fit in a pan, you can also just bake on a baking sheet.
Zucchini Pizza Boats Substitutions
The best thing about these zucchini pizza boats is they are totally customizable, just like any other pizza. I added sausage to ours for some protein, but you can use whatever you like. Here are some good substitutions to make:
- ground meat – if you don’t want sausage, feel free to use ground turkey, chicken, or beef. You could also use a vegan/vegetarian meat substitute if you prefer those!
- no meat – if you are more of a cheese pizza-only kind of person (like my husband), or just aren’t feeling the meat, feel free to leave it off. You would just need to cover the boats with sauce and then top with cheese. You could also add pepperoni on top too!
- veggies – the more toppings on pizza, the better for me! Add some chopped green peppers, mushrooms, onions, black olives, or whatever you like on your pizza. Just add it to the meat halfway through when you are sauteing it so they can cook down some.
- cheese – I don’t really think it’s pizza without cheese, but if you don’t want cheese or can’t tolerate it, feel free to leave it off! Or you could substitute goat cheese (it’s easier to digest for some people) or a dairy free cheese if you can’t handle dairy.
More Healthy Pizza Recipes
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Zucchini Pizza Boats
ingredients
- 1 15-ounce can pizza sauce, divided (about 1 3/4 cups)
- 3 medium zucchinis (650 grams)
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- optional toppings: fresh basil, grated parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes...
instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour 1/2 cup pizza sauce in a large glass baking dish.
- Make the zucchini boats. Cut bottom and top off the zucchini and then cut in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, hollow out the center of the zucchini halves, leaving about 1/4-1/2 inch shell. Place flesh side up in the glass baking dish. Set aside.
- Place a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Once it gets hot, about 30 seconds, add in ground pork, breaking it up with a spoon. Sauté 4-5 minutes until browned. Add in reamining pizza sauce (1 1/4 cup), dried parsley, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine and remove from heat once incorporated.
- Stuff the zucchini boats with the sausage mixture, dividing it up evenly (make sure to get all the sauce). Sprikle with mozzarella cheese, evenly distributing. Cover pan with foil and bake for 30-35 minutes until zucchini is cooked through, but still has some firmness. Top with optional toppings and enjoy!
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Loved these! So much flavor, even my kids loved it!! We also used yellow squash for some of them and they worked just as well! Thank you for the recipe!
So happy to hear they are a hit! Thank you Danielle!
I loved this recipe! Super easy, not too many ingredients and you can easily switch it up with this recipe. Definitely adding this to my rotation!
So glad you liked it Julia and I agree, it’s easy to switch up the ingredients. Thanks for trying them!
I made these with chicken sausage and they were SO yummy. Great sub for pizza flavor without all of the bread-y carbs. I used the Whole Foods brand pizza sauce and it was delicious. I am definitely going to try these boats with a buffalo chicken filling for football season. Thank you for the inspiration!
Love that you used chicken sausage! Glad you liked them and thanks for trying them! Let me know how the buffalo chicken goes!
these are so good. Who knew zucchinis would be replacing pizza night!
I bet you never would have thought it haha!