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This healthier take on pizza will have you reaching for seconds! Made in under 30 minutes, these Zucchini Pizza Boats are a delicious, low-carb dinner idea that is family-friendly and so easy to make.
Who isn’t a fan of pizza? Pizza is one of those meals that everyone in our household can agree on and will gladly eat daily if it was healthier! Well, today we are combining the best of both worlds — delicious and healthy zucchini and pizza. You can make these healthy zucchini pizza boats and satisfy that pizza craving while taking in your daily veggie requirements. It’s such a great low carb alternative to pizza.
Why You’ll Love This recipe
- A delicious, healthier alternative to pizza. If you’ve just started a low carb diet, this is a great way to satisfy those pizza cravings while being guilt-free with these low carb zucchini pizza boats!
- It’s quick to make. If you’ve got 30 minutes, you can make this low carb zucchini pizza recipe! It only takes a maximum of 18 minutes in the oven and preparing the zucchini doesn’t take long.
- It’s a kid-friendly recipe. Get your children involved by having them help prep the zucchini boats! They can scoop in the marinara sauce, top with cheese, and place on the pepperonis or whatever toppings they like.
Ingredients You’ll Need For this Low Carb pizza Recipe
- Zucchini: try to pick zucchinis that are similar in size so they bake evenly together.
- Olive oil
- Garlic salt: if you don’t have garlic salt, combine garlic powder with salt.
- Pepper
- Marinara or pizza sauce: if you want, you can make your own but any store brand should do. If you don’t have marinara sauce, low carb pizza sauce, or tomato sauce works great too.
- Shredded mozzarella cheese: I always recommend shredding your own cheese for the best results.
- Mini pepperoni: can’t find mini pepperoni in your store? Use regular pepperoni, just cut them into quarters first.
How to Make these Zucchini Pizza Boats
- First, preheat your oven: Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Next, prepare the zucchini: Cut zucchini into half lengthwise and scrape out the insides with a small spoon. Arrange the zucchini cut side up into the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic salt and pepper. Spoon marinara/pizza sauce into each zucchini then top with shredded mozzarella and pepperoni.
- Bake the zucchini boats: Bake the zucchini pizza boats for 15-18 minutes, or until zucchini are fork tender and cheese is bubbly.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley if desired and enjoy!
Recipe Notes and Tips
- If you can shred your own cheese even better.
- Don’t feel like you are bound to mozzarella cheese, you can use any type of cheese for your pizza boats.
- Dice some red or yellow bell pepper and sprinkle them on top of your zucchini pizza boats for more veggie goodness!
- Top with some fresh herbs like basil for extra herby flavors.
- These pizza boats don’t freeze well.
- Do not throw out the insides of the zucchini. You may use them in omelets or in some soup. Place them in a ziplock bag and freeze them for later use.
- Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheat in the microwave. The zucchini may get a bit on the soft side.
- Feel free to top with your favorite pizza toppings to change things up such as red onions, mushrooms, olives, sausage, pineapple, ham, and more.
FAQs
Zucchinis are definitely a great healthy vegetable to eat. Zucchini contains a number of vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals, such as vitamin A, manganese, soluble and insoluble fiber, and more.
Store any leftover zucchini boats in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. Sadly, this is not a freezer-friendly recipe so we suggest you avoid freezing leftovers. But since it’s so easy to make, you can always make a new batch whenever your craving hits.
You can definitely make these pizza boats ahead of time! You may cut, scoop out the zucchini, and place it in the fridge until you are ready to bake. Store leftover zucchini boats in an airtight container in the fridge then reheat them in the microwave or in a 350F oven until warmed through.
The skin of zucchini is perfectly safe to eat. Larger sized zucchinis that are waxed can taste a bit bitter so you might want to peel the skin if you like but not necessary. But most zucchinis tastes just fine with skin on, just make sure you wash the zucchini before using. We left the skin on for this Zucchini Pizza Boats recipe.
Green zucchini works best for zucchini boats, but you can go for yellow zucchinis if you’d like. When choosing zucchini, look for a smaller zucchini squash as it will be less watery than really large ones. You also want to buy zucchinis that feel firm and don’t have any dark marks on the skin.
More Zucchini Boat Ideas You’ll Love
More Low Carb Recipes You’ll Like
- Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breasts
- Lemon Garlic Salmon
- Keto Beef Chili
- Keto Taco Stuffed Peppers
- Roasted Turkey Breast with Maple Mustard Glaze
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Low Carb Zucchini Pizza Boats
Ingredients
- 4 small zucchini
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic salt, or more to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup marinara or pizza sauce
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 cup sliced mini pepperoni, or turkey pepperoni
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut zucchini into half lengthwise and scrape out the insides with a small spoon. Arrange the zucchini cut side up into the prepared baking sheet.
- Drizzle with olive oil and season with garlic salt and pepper.
- Spoon marinara/pizza sauce into each zucchini then top with shredded mozzarella and pepperoni.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until zucchini are fork tender and cheese is bubbly.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley if desired and enjoy!
Notes
- Shred your own cheese if you can
- Don’t feel like you are bound to mozzarella cheese, you can use any type of cheese for your pizza boats.
- Finely dice some red or yellow bell pepper and sprinkle them on top of your zucchini pizza boats for more veggie goodness!
- Top with some fresh herbs like basil for extra herby flavors.
- Feel free to top with your favorite pizza toppings to change things up such as red onions, mushrooms, olives, sausage, pineapple, ham, and more.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Do not freeze
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Total keeper! I added sliced cherry tomatoes to mine and some mushrooms and onions to hubby’s. Soooooo good!
Mushrooms sound so good! Yummy
Trying this tonight! Thank you so much.
Hope you like it.