Beef Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boat
Is it a taco, is it a boat, I don’t know but these Beef Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats are delicious! A great way to get your daily serving of veggies! These boats are amazing and easily adjustable. You can use any type of ground meat: Turkey, Chicken, Beef, or pork, use your imagination and see how many different variations you can come up with!
Ingredients to make Beef Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boat:
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ½ Yellow Onion diced, (about 150 grams)
- 3 cloves Fresh Garlic diced, (about 15 grams)
- 16 oz Ground Beef 90% Lean
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- ? tsp Ground Oregano
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 can Tomato Sauce, no salt added (about 1, 15 oz can)
- 1 can Reduced Sodium Black Beans (about 1, 15 oz can)
- 4 Zucchini (about 1200 grams, or 4 large zucchini)
- 8 Cherry Tomatoes sliced, (about 110 grams)
- 1 Serrano Pepper sliced, (about 15 grams)
- 1 cup Mild Cheddar Cheese freshly shredded, (about 100 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°
- Heat a large saute pan to medium heat.
- Once the pan is hot add the oil, onion, and garlic to the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring often to prevent burning.
- Once the onions begin to get soft add the ground beef to the pan. Using a heavy spatula break up the ground beef into pebble-sized pieces.
- Once you have broken up the ground beef, season with black pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano, and Italian seasoning. Then add your tomato sauce and black beans. Stir everything together until well combined, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the meat is mostly cooked through.
- While your meat is cooking slice your zucchini long ways, from the stem to the end. Then using a spoon scrape out the center of your zucchini, created a well for you to add the ground beef.
- Prepare a baking dish, lined with parchment paper or tin foil.
- Once the beef is mostly cooked, use a spoon to scoop the meat mixture into your zucchini boats. Pack them as full as possible. Then set them on your baking dish.
- After you have stuffed each zucchini, sprinkle your cheese, sliced tomatoes, and serrano peppers over top.
- Place your baking dish into the oven and cook your zucchini boats for approximately 20 minutes at 375°
- Cook until the cheese has melted and your zucchinis have softened some. Serve and enjoy!
Beef taco Stuffed Zucchini Boat
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ½ Yellow Onion diced, (about 150 grams)
- 3 cloves Fresh Garlic diced, (about 15 grams)
- 16 oz Ground Beef 90% Lean
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- ? tsp Ground Oregano
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 can Tomato Sauce, no salt added (about 1, 15 oz can)
- 1 can Reduced Sodium Black Beans (about 1, 15 oz can)
- 4 Zucchini (about 1200 grams, or 4 large zucchini)
- 8 Cherry Tomatoes sliced, (about 110 grams)
- 1 Serrano Pepper sliced, (about 15 grams)
- 1 cup Mild Cheddar Cheese freshly shredded, (about 100 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°
- Heat a large saute pan to medium heat.
- Once the pan is hot add the oil, onion, and garlic to the pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring often to prevent burning.
- Once the onions begin to get soft add the ground beef to the pan. Using a heavy spatula break up the ground beef into pebble-sized pieces.
- Once you have broken up the ground beef, season with the black pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano, and italian seasoning. Then add your tomato sauce and black beans. Stir everything together until well combined, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the meat is mostly cooked through.
- While your meat is cooking slice your zucchini long ways, from the stem to the end. Then using a spoon scrape out the center of your zucchini, created a well for you to add the ground beef.
- Prepare a baking dish, lined with parchment paper or tin foil.
- Once the beef is mostly cooked, use a spoon to scoop the meat mixture into your zucchini boats. Pack them as full as possible. Then set them on your baking dish.
- After you have stuffed each zucchini, sprinkle your cheese, sliced tomatoes, and serrano peppers over top.
- Place your baking dish into the oven and cook your zucchini boats for approximately 20 minutes at 375°
- Cook until the cheese has melted and your zucchinis have softened some. Serve and enjoy!
Macro Nutrition
Macro Adjustments:
Below outlines the items in each macro group that are easily adjustable to meet your specific macros.
Fat:
The fat in this recipe comes from the beef, oil, and cheese. Adjusting the fat in this recipe is as simple as choosing the right ground beef. If you are looking for a lower-fat recipe choose a ground beef the 90% or higher lean. If you are looking to increase the fat choose a beef that is 85% or lower lean. For this recipe, I was gifted several pounds of grass-fed ground beef, but the packaging did not indicate the leanness of the meat. I estimated this meat to be around 90% lean as most grass-feed cows are leaner.
Carbohydrates:
The carbs in this recipe come from the zucchini and the black beans. Adjusting the zucchini is as simple as changing the size of your zucchini boats. For this recipe, I got the largest zucchini at the grocery store. You could easily decrease the amount of carbs by picking smaller zucchinis. Or you could increase the carbs by adding more beans.
Protein:
The beef is the protein. Which is very easily increased or decreased. Although you will want to keep an eye on the amount of fat. By making changes to the amount of beef you will also be adjusting the protein.