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Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey Sausage

Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey Sausage

Just got back from the BlogHer conference to find a 3 pound zucchini in the garden! Fortunately I remembered this recipe from our recipe archive (originally posted in August 2007). Have a favorite stuffed zucchini recipe? Please let us know about it in the comments. ~Elise

If you grow zucchini in your garden, and you're the kind of wonderful person who brings your neighbors a share of your bounty, and such bounty includes foot-long several pound zucchinis, might I suggest that you include a recipe to accompany such a welcome gift? I'm not kidding! Seriously, we have such a wonderful neighbor, Pat, who not only brings over freshly picked, glorious produce, but tried and true recipes as well. The following stuffed zucchini recipe is adapted from one that Pat brought us last week, along with a 2-pound zucchini, and we loved it. It tastes like it is stuffed with Italian pork sausage, but the stuffing is actually lean ground turkey with garlic, herbs, and mushrooms. Enjoy.

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Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey Sausage Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 zucchini about 12 inches long, or 6 medium ones
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
  • 2 tablespoons dry white wine
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 2 diced tomatoes
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons pepper

Method

1 Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out insides, leaving shells about 1/4 inch thick. Reserve about half of the insides.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Sauté onion and garlic until soft. Add mushrooms and reserved zucchini insides, and sauté another 2 minutes.

3 In a separate skillet heat a Tbsp of olive oil on medium high heat. Add the ground turkey. Lightly brown the turkey, stirring only occasionally. After the turkey browns on one side, stir it so that it has a chance to brown on other sides. Cook until the ground turkey is lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Stir in the onion and mushroom mixture from the other pan. Add the wine. Stir in tomato, basil and rosemary and cook 1 minute longer. Drain any excess fat. Remove mixture from heat and set it aside.

4 When mixture has cooled, add cheese, egg, salt and pepper. Fill zucchini shells with mixture. Fill a baking pan with 1/4 inch of water. Place filled zucchini halves in pan and bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, until golden brown. Remove zucchini from pan and serve while hot.

Serves 4.

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52 Comments

What a wonderful neighbor, who brings you zucchini and recipes! I often trade herbs from my herb garden for tomatoes, asparagus, etc. from my friends' gardens. Now I think I'll type up some recipes to trade, also.

Posted by: lydia on August 25, 2007 3:37 AM

Am I reading the recipe correctly? When you bake the filled zucchini, do you place them directly in the 1/4 inch of water in the baking pan? I'm worried they'll become mushy during baking.

Other than this concern, this recipe sounds wonderfully flavorful!

Posted by: Krooie on August 25, 2007 5:03 AM

Hi Kroole - Yes, you are reading the recipe correctly. The water boils away, helps keep the zucchini from drying out in the oven. You can see slightly different way to make it in the stuffed zucchini with ham and mushrooms recipe.

Posted by: Elise on August 25, 2007 8:13 AM

This looks like a great meal. I was thinking that perhaps inlieu of water in the bottom of the pan, one might try a thin layer of spaghetti sauce(either homemade or jarred). It would still keep it moist and add another dimension to this receipe.

Posted by: Sunny on August 25, 2007 8:48 AM

Hi Sunny, I suspect that a thin layer of spaghetti sauce baked at 375°F for 40 minutes would dry out to a crisp and then start to burn. Water really is your best bet here.

Posted by: Elise on August 25, 2007 9:09 AM

The spaghetti sauce in the bottom would be a great addition, but to keep it from drying out or burning you will need to cover the dish with foil or place them in covered baking dish to keep the moisture in. This would be done the same way you would do stuffed peppers.

Posted by: Patricia on August 25, 2007 8:34 PM

This recipe is going in my Favorites folder. It's terrific. The flavor combinations are perfect and the little boats come out so tender and juicy. I added some good dry bread crumbs with dots of butter just before putting in the over. The filling ingredients augment those tasty end-of-summer zuccs perfectly. Thanks Elise for passing it on.

Posted by: Paula on August 27, 2007 3:35 AM

I tried this recipe last night, but I forgot about the water. It still turned out fine. Also I didn't have some of the ingredients so I substituted with what I had on hand (parsley, Mrs. Dash, garlic powder instead of garlic cloves, canola oil instead of olive oil, etc.). But it turned out great. It ended up filling two large and two small zucchinis, so I'll have some great leftovers for the next few days.

Posted by: Daryl Stephens on August 27, 2007 8:25 AM

Hi Elise - I made this last night and it was fantastic! My husband and 2 year old both liked it so well they had seconds!

I did substitute for the white wine, since I didn't have any on hand and used dried rosemary, but the dish was great.

I have only recently found your site, but I am cooking almost daily from it. Thank you so much for sharing!!

Posted by: Lauren on August 27, 2007 3:38 PM

Hi Elise, What a great idea to fill Zucchini with the ground meat stuffing and bake it. I will definitely try out this kind very soon. Keep going :-)

Posted by: Mona on August 28, 2007 6:36 AM

If you wanted to add some spaghetti sauce, you could put some in the bottom of the zuchinni boat before you put the meat mixture in.

Posted by: Anita on August 29, 2007 12:39 PM

Zucchini is one of my new favorite veggies and I've been trying lots of recipes with it to concinve my family of its greatness, too. We all liked this--even my picky brother! The only thing I did different was use dried herbs and a can of no-salt added diced tomatoes that I drained. Thanks for a great tasting recipe!

Posted by: Rebecca on August 29, 2007 4:11 PM

I made this last night and it was absolutely fabulous! I am growing zucchini in my garden for the first time this year and will be making this recipe all summer!!

Posted by: Andrea on July 23, 2009 4:14 AM

This is such a delicious meal!!!

Posted by: Cyn on July 27, 2009 2:23 AM

I found this recipe in Living a few years ago, for a Zucchini frittata.
First you sauté the zucchini with some onions and herbs (thyme and rosemary). Then you add 4 whisked eggs (I like to add some low fat cream) and you bake it in the oven. It's simple and healthy, so I made it quite often

Posted by: Mélanie on July 27, 2009 2:55 AM

I just made almost the same recipe, sans the mushrooms, and I used pork sausage.
The results were fantastic!
Great for a summer party!

Posted by: Stacey Snacks on July 27, 2009 5:26 AM

I like to make stuffed zucchini with the same stuff used in stuffed green peppers.

Posted by: mmc on July 27, 2009 8:29 AM

I have 16 zucchini sitting on my counter right now! Thanks for the recipe idea! :0)

Posted by: the ungourmet on July 27, 2009 11:53 AM

Wow, this brings back such warm memories. My mother (now deceased) made a similar recipe except w/sausage when I was a child, shall we just say over 40 years ago. I loved it but it was not in her recipe files. Now, I can't wait to try this dish, have a great meal and re-live great memories. Thanks so much

Posted by: Susan on July 27, 2009 1:53 PM

This sounds wonderful. I can't get my mom to eat ground turkey but I bet it would be great with ground beef. Thanks!

Posted by: Dee on July 27, 2009 4:30 PM

I don't drink or use wine in any way, shape or form. Since this recipe calls for some, what can I use in place of the dry white wine? Any other liquid or is it just flavoring of some sort?

Just skip the wine or give the mixture a squirt (half a teaspoon) of lemon juice. ~Elise

Posted by: Duane in West Michigan on July 27, 2009 5:05 PM

I just created one a few weeks back I'm pretty proud of... http://greenlitebites.com/2009/06/20/back-to-basics-quinoa-stuffed-zucchini/

Nice meeting you at BlogHer this year. I loved the foodie dinner! :)

Nice meeting you too! Love the quinoa. ~Elise

Posted by: Roni on July 27, 2009 8:22 PM

What a perfect way to use one of our giant zukes as well as the Gimme Lean "fake" sausage left by my sister-in-law! We have a crazy looking vine which we thought was producing zukes, but instead, we are getting huge globular pumpkin-like green zukes..what in the heck are these?

Posted by: Suzanne on July 28, 2009 6:55 AM

Tried the recipe and it was great. Wife thought I had used real sausage.
Did not use the wine and it was fine.

Posted by: Andrew L. Arruza on July 28, 2009 10:13 AM

I make Grilled Zucchini Boats stuffed with a feta, sun-dried tomato mixture. It is so delicious!

Cut full length zucchini and hollow out the middle a bit.

(Sorry don't have any measurements)

Mix together feta, sun-dried tomatoes chopped small, clove of garlic minced, sprinkle of italian seasoning, add olive oil as needed.

Mix together with a fork and fill hollowed out zucchini.

Place on a sheet of tin foil and grill for 20-25 min.

Posted by: Debbie on July 28, 2009 10:30 AM

Well not a huge fan of zucchini but I bought too much of zucchini in farmer's market this weekend because they were only 50 cent each and they were huge so will try this recipe. Thanks for posting.

Posted by: kitchen on July 28, 2009 1:49 PM

Just served this for dinner tonight. Didn't have any white wine so I used red and it was great. I will save the leftovers for another night. It is a great GF recipe, too.

Posted by: Vicky on July 28, 2009 4:15 PM

This looks and sounds fantastic. I have a fledgling zucchini in the garden, but I think this warrants a trip to the produce stand.

Posted by: Stephanie O'Dea on July 28, 2009 4:23 PM

I make a vegetarian version of this; stuffing my zucchinis with tomatoes eggplant and zucchini.

My boyfriend just love it (maybe because I got the recipe from his Mamman??). He even asked me to prepare this dish again, and voila, I will make it tonight :)

Your recipe (and that pic) looks amazing, I will try it without the meat and adding some of my recipe as well.

btw, I do also add water, but I also add a cup of uncooked rice (since the begining) so you have main dish done in just one baking dish, and the rice is *blessed* by the deli juices that comes from the zuchinni.

hugs

Posted by: heidi leon on July 28, 2009 8:18 PM

This looks delicious! Question, though -- the title says turkey sausage, but the ingredients only say ground turkey. Is this a typo? Should I use spicy or sweet sausage?

The farmers market I go to has a very nice turkey farmer, so I'm looking forward to trying this recipe!

Turkey sausage is nothing more than ground turkey with herbs and spices. ~Elise

Posted by: Ophelia on July 29, 2009 3:09 AM

I had all the ingredients except the wine (which I just omitted) I used big yellow courgettes, fresh onions and garlic which I bought on the way home from a local farmer. Everyone loved it! I usually make my stuffed vegetables with a meat/rice mixture, but this was much tastier.

Posted by: Ruth on July 29, 2009 5:21 AM

This looks delicious. My grandmother makes stuffed vegetables all the time, but somehow manages to keep them whole. My own attempt at stuffed zucchini was pretty close to hers, and it's easy to hollow out the zucchini with a corer. I stuffed them with lamb for some extra flavor. Here's the recipe:
http://purplesnack.blogspot.com/2009/06/stuffed-zucchini.html

What a great idea, I love ground lamb and wouldn't have thought to use it in a zucchini stuffing. ~Elise

Posted by: purplecook on July 29, 2009 9:36 AM

I so want to try this recipe,but since the recipe says it is Turkey sausage, but the recipe calls for just ground turkey, I would appreciate a verification.
Thank you, Jeanne

Turkey sausage is just ground turkey with herbs and seasoning. So we are using ground turkey with herbs in the recipe. You could substitute a favorite turkey sausage if you wanted to. ~Elise

Posted by: Jeanne S Tanner on July 29, 2009 10:13 AM

Elise, Thank you so much. I am heading to the store to try the recipe. Jeanne

Posted by: Jeanne S Tanner on July 29, 2009 11:00 AM

I will try it this weekend, one dish with the ground turkey, and one with the meatless ground crumble.(Boca). We are having a cook out this week end, this dish would include everyone.

Posted by: Barbara Julion on July 30, 2009 6:11 AM

Thanks for the great idea! I'm always looking for ways to use up zucchinis that have grown a little out of control. Although, since I've gotten chickens, I feel much less guilty about not being able to use all my produce as it makes them quite happy :)

Posted by: Susannah on July 30, 2009 7:20 AM

I made this recipe as written a couple of days ago...I ended up being the only one home for dinner so gave some to two friends of mine - and they - along with me - all loved it. It's prefect timing with zucchinis in abundance here and the flavor of the sausage stuffing is out of this world.

Thanks you.

Posted by: Stacy on July 30, 2009 1:55 PM

Made this last night and, as all your recipes, it was really good. Perhaps, next time, I would use less salt.

Posted by: Susan on July 30, 2009 2:34 PM

Loved it. I didn't use the things as in turkey, but lean beef, added diced tomatoes/chilies, many yummy spices and then at the end added cheese on top. Also added butter around the edges of the zucchini so it would get nice and brown. Thanks for the idea. Many more in my mind. Seems a person can take this stuffed veggie to the limits.

Posted by: jan on July 30, 2009 10:24 PM

Oh my goodness! I made this last night. Followed the recipe since it was the first time making it. It turned out AMAZING. Even my 8 year old son who doesn't eat tomatoes ate two servings. This is the second recipe I have tried from this site(wild rice salad was the first). Same results... FABULOUS!

Posted by: LORIE BONNETTE on July 31, 2009 11:06 AM

I have been referring to your site for tried and true recipes for my garden's summer bounty. This meal turned out wonderfully! It was a big hit with friends who dropped by during dinner. Thanks for giving us ideas on how to use up those large zucchinis!

Posted by: Rachel P. on August 2, 2009 7:32 PM

What a great recipe. I've got a meatless stuffed zucchini recipe I like, I can't have a stuffed zucchini without lots of cheese though! I call them Colorful Super Stuffed Zucchini Boats.
http://dianasaurdishes.com/07/colorful-super-stuffed-zucchini-boats/

Posted by: Diana on August 3, 2009 1:02 AM

Delicious meal. Next time I am going to cut the salt in half, if not cut it out all together.

Posted by: Lisa on August 3, 2009 5:28 PM

Awe -- some!! I did not have white wine so I substituted Sherry wine and it was still fabulous! Wow, I will make these again and again.

Posted by: suefoodie on August 3, 2009 5:59 PM

Made this for dinner last night per the recipe. It was delicious got rave reviews. One person thought it would make a great brunch dish.

Have you thought of stuffing acorn squash with this mixture? I have a stuffed acorn squash recipe that uses ground turkey. This mixture is much tastier. In the acorn squash recipe you cook split acorn squash in microwave in glass dish under plastic wrap, scoop out some of the squash and mix it with the turkey.

Will try it with the squash next--but love the zucchini just as is.

Sounds like a great idea! If you make it, please let us know how it turns out. ~Elise

Posted by: Char from Chicago on August 4, 2009 8:34 AM

I sent this off to a friends who came back from vacation to find a baseball bat sized zucchini in his backyard. He raved about this recipe. He said it was fantastic.

Posted by: Kristi on August 6, 2009 8:39 AM

This looks great...can't wait to try it.

Posted by: SChristian on August 6, 2009 10:35 AM

Made this tonight and it is fantastic! I subbed goat cheese for parmesan cheese because I was out of parmesan.

Posted by: AF on August 6, 2009 4:39 PM

I made this and used canned garlic roasted tomatoes, AWESOME!! I also used italian style ground turkey which gave it more flavor. The mixture didn't look all that appetizing initially but it tasted great!

Posted by: katie on August 10, 2009 10:59 AM

This recipe is ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! We're newlyweds with a first year garden and a bumper crop of zucchini. This is the most successful recipe I've made to date - I am just so pleased! I've handed it out once already with zucchini in hand (what a great idea!) and am making it again tonight for my in-laws anniversary!

Posted by: Samantha on August 14, 2009 2:54 PM

I made this over the weekend. Absolutely Delicious! A great way to get a kiddo past zucchini :) He / We all devoured it. I will definitely be making again!

Posted by: Damon on August 17, 2009 8:29 AM

So tasty! We made this last night and it turned out wonderful! I had leftover chicken stock so used it instead of wine. Also added red chili flakes for some added kick. This makes for a very satisfying low carb meal. I want to use this stuffing in everything! Thanks!

Posted by: Katie on September 30, 2009 6:17 AM

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