Grilled Vegetarian Stuffed Zucchini

This delicious grilled vegetarian stuffed zucchini features an Italian-style filling of lemon basil quinoa with red pepper and mozzarella cheese.

I left the farmer’s market with a boat-load of zucchini this weekend. Unfortunately we didn’t grow any in our garden this year, so we had to pretend we had the late summer “drowning in zucchini” problem. We tried a few things that didn’t work out, even zucchini noodles with a spiralizer. But luckily one recipe did turn out: this grilled vegetarian stuffed zucchini. And it’s so darn good. Keep reading for the recipe!

Related: 10 Easy Quinoa Recipes

Making this vegetarian stuffed zucchini

This vegetarian stuffed zucchini was one of those ideas that Alex dreams up that I’m a little skeptical about until he convinces me otherwise. And looking back, I’m not so sure why I was so skeptical. Vegetarian stuffed zucchini is a genius way to make a filling vegetarian main dish out of zucchini. And adding the grill to that? It makes the zucchini boats charred and smoky, which adds an irresistible element.

For the vegetarian stuffed zucchini filling, we’ve been enjoying the lemon and basil flavor combination lately. Alex devised an Italian-style filling of lemon basil quinoa with red pepper and mozzarella cheese. It makes for an extraordinarily tasty grilled zucchini boats. They’re a fabulous vegetarian dinner idea for grilling season; a fitting late summer dinner on the patio! We’d serve this vegetarian stuffed zucchini with Strawberry Summer Salad and a glass of frose.

How to make quinoa

Outside of grilling the zucchini, the only special skill required for this vegetarian stuffed zucchini is cooking the quinoa! Cooking quinoa is a simple process, but it can be easy to mess up! Cook it too fast and it’s hard and crunchy, or overcook it and it’s mushy. Here are our two best methods for how to cook quinoa for this vegetarian stuffed zucchini:

Perfect Quinoa on the Stovetop This is our master recipe for cooking quinoa on the stovetop. It takes about 25 minutes, and it requires a little baby sitting to make sure the liquid is cooking out evenly, but it’s mostly hands off. Instant Pot Quinoa (Pressure Cooker) If you have a pressure cooker, you can use it to make quinoa! It takes about 16 minutes and is almost totally hands off! This is the method we’ve started to use more often, since we have an Instant Pot. (Here’s the Instant Pot we use)

Video: How to make quinoa

And, to show you how to do it: here’s a video of us making quinoa in our kitchen!

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Other ways to use zucchini

We’re all about creativity when it comes to using up zucchini. Zucchini bread and muffins are delicious and all, but we like thinking outside the box: like zucchini ribbon salad or chocolate cake! Here are some of our favorite ways to use up zucchini, outside of this zucchini ribbon salad:

Looking for more grilling ideas?

Outside of this grilled vegetarian stuffed zucchini, here are a few more recipes for your summer grilling game:

This vegetarian stuffed zucchini recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free.



clock clock icon cutlery cutlery icon flag flag icon folder folder icon instagram instagram icon pinterest pinterest icon print print icon squares squares icon Vegetarian Stuffed Zucchini (9 votes, average: 4.22 out of 5)

4.2 from 9 reviews Author: a Couple Cooks

a Couple Cooks Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1 x Print Recipe Pin Recipe Description This delicious grilled vegetarian stuffed zucchini features an Italian-style filling of lemon basil quinoa with red pepper and mozzarella cheese. Scale 1x 2x 3x Ingredients 1 cup quinoa (uncooked)

quinoa (uncooked) 1 red pepper

red pepper 1 shallot

shallot 1/4 cup basil leaves, loosely packed

basil leaves, loosely packed 2/3 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

shredded Mozzarella cheese 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

kosher salt, divided 1 lemon

lemon 4 medium zucchini

medium zucchini Olive oil

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese Instructions Preheat a grill to medium high. (Alternatively, you can bake at 425°F covered with foil for 15 minutes, then uncovered for 5 minutes.) Cook the quinoa (or use our Instant Pot quinoa method): Place 1 cup quinoa in a saucepan with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to very low. Cover the pot, and simmer where the water is just bubbling for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the water has been completely absorbed. (Check by pulling back the quinoa with a fork to see if water remains.) Turn off the heat and let sit covered to steam for about 5 minutes. Finely dice 1 red pepper, mince 1 shallot, and chop ¼ cup basil leaves. When the quinoa is done, mix the vegetables above with the quinoa, ⅔ cups mozzarella, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and the zest of 1 lemon. Cut off the ends of 4 zucchini, then cut them in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, remove the fleshy centers. Brush the zucchini lightly with olive oil and grill cut-side down for 3-5 minutes. Remove the zucchini from the grill and and sprinkle with kosher salt. Spoon in the quinoa stuffing, then top with grated Parmesan cheese (or Mozzarella cheese). Grill indirectly on a medium high grill for 8-10 minutes until tender. Category: Main Dish

Method: Grilled

Cuisine: Italian Inspired Keywords: Vegetarian stuffed zucchini, Grilled zucchini, Zucchini Recipes, Vegetarian Grill Recipes, Grilling Ideas

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