These easy vegan zucchini boats are low in calories, great for a summer meal and pack a lot of flavor! You will love how quick this comes together.
Zucchini is green so that means that most kids will immediately turn up their nose. However, we guarantee that if include them in making these vegan zucchini boats, that it may just be a hit!
For us, even as vegans that are trying to get used to make vegetables that we never really thought we liked before, love these!
While our kids aren’t very picky, even something like this gets some confusing looks at first. However, at the end of the day, they devoured it and even asked for more.
That’s a win in our book and a guaranteed remake and post for all of you to see!
This recipe is super easy, very cheap when it’s zucchini season, low in calories, and can also make a great meal on the grill.
VEGAN ZUCCHINI BOATS INGREDIENTS:
Below are notes about the ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make this vegan zucchini boat recipe:
- zucchini – This is the star of this particular dish. You want to use medium or small zucchini and not the 3-4 pound ones that you sometimes get when you grow them yourself.
- garlic and onions – act of the base of the dish and aromatics. It helps to start building the flavor profile along with the seasonings that we add
- marinara sauce – you can use your favorite marinara or spaghetti sauce. Make your own vegan spaghetti sauce from scratch or store bought. If using start bought one of ours favorites is Prego’s Farmer Market Marinara.
- vegan parmesan – we use this for flavor. Most have a saltier taste so we add less salt overall to the dish so taste and season as you go. We usually go with Violife, but for this we used the new Trader Joe’s and we really liked it.
- vegan meatless crumbles – We use frozen meatless crumbles for this recipe. Our go to is the Gardein brand.
- panko breadcrumbs – most breadcrumbs have dairy so we just use panko in most of our recipes. We like the added crunch it gives as well!
SUBSTITUTIONS AND VARIATIONS:
- zucchini – switch up the squash! Maybe try yellow squash, acorn or butternut! Depending on the variety you may need to cook longer.
- marinara sauce – try switching it up with other sauces to make even more creative dishes!
- vegan parmesan – try switch up the parmesan for vegan mozzarella or cheddar
- vegan meatless crumbles – if needed, try subbing different roasted vegetables, beans, seasoned and hydrated TVP, tofu crumbles, seitan, mushrooms, and more
- panko breadcrumbs – you can use regular breadcrumbs if you can find vegan ones
Frequently Asked Questions:
You can! Find a safe for you vegan meat crumble. You can use vegan ground meat if needed since it’s easier to find allergy friendly versions than frozen.
Some vegan parmesan cheese has coconut oil in it, but Follow Your Heart does not so you could use that or make some our of sunflower parmesan from scratch.
And finally use a gluten free panko breadcrumb!
You can prep them a few hours ahead of time, but we wouldn’t recommend that you make them days in advance or freeze them.
You can reheat in the microwave for 45-90 seconds or until desired temperature. These will give a softer texture. Or you can place in an air fryer or oven at 350 degrees F for 5-10 minutes or until heated through.
When you freeze and then thaw zucchini it can take on too much water and then doesn’t thaw well. For that reason, we do not recommend freezing this recipe.
Try subbing different roasted vegetables, beans, seasoned and hydrated TVP, tofu crumbles, seitan, mushrooms, and more. Feel free to get creative!
Yes! Try this same idea with yellow squash, spaghetti squash, or even acorn squash.
Yes! Just do them on a grill mat! We’d recommend 350 degrees F on your grill for 15-20 minutes. Check around 12 minutes though.
What other vegan zucchini recipes could I make?
If you love zucchini, then you will love a few more zucchini recipes that we have for you today!
- Creamy Vegan Zucchini Pasta with Sweet Corn
- Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Vegan Zucchini Bread
- Maple Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Vegan Zucchini Muffins
- Vegan Zucchini Fritters
- Vegan Zucchini Brownies
Pin these vegan zucchini boats for later!
🥳 Get the Full Recipe
Vegan Zucchini Boats
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
- ¼ teaspoon salt, more or less to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, more or less to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 12-16 oz vegan meat crumbles
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, chopped (about ⅓-1/2 cup)
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¾ cup vegan shredded parmesan
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- With a teaspoon, scoop out the flesh from the interior of the zucchini, so they resemble boats. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on each shell and place into the baking dish.
- With the zucchini flesh that was removed, roughly chop and set aside.
- In a medium pan over medium heat, add oil. Add in onions cook until translucent about 3-4 minutes.Add in garlic and cook for 1 more minute, careful not to burn.
- Add in meatless crumbles and cook for 4 minutes. Add zucchini flesh and Italian seasoning. Cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes.
- Pour the marinara sauce into the pan and bring to a simmer; cook for 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has dissolved.
- In a medium bowl, combine the vegan parmesan and breadcrumbs.
- Spoon in and mound the meatless mixture into the zucchini boats. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over top.
- Place in oven and bake until golden on top, 20-25 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
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Excellent! Great use for zucchini. I used TVP and made my own marinara and parmesan.
nice!
Made this with pre-cooked lentils like in your video, but I’m was not sure of the measurement. It was liked by all and I would definitely make it again. Thanks.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! I used about 2-3 cups cooked lentils depending on how “meaty” you want it