Italian Sausage Zucchini Boats

Easy and delicious Italian sausage zucchini boats – this low carb, healthy meal is filling, quick, and absolutely delicious!

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Honeysuckle White. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

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Italian Zucchini Boats

Yield: 4 -8 boats

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients

• 2 large zucchini, or 4 smaller ones
• 1/2 pound Honeysuckle Sweet Italian turkey sausage**
• 1/2 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• About 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut ends off of zucchini and then cut the zucchini in half. Spoon out the fleshy seed part of the zucchini. If there is a part that doesn't have to be scooped out (so no place to put the meat sauce), then cut that portion off.
3. Cook and crumble turkey sausage in a pan with Italian seasoning and garlic.
4. Add spaghetti sauce and cook until warm.
5. Add meat mixture to each zucchini "boat." Top with mozzarella cheese.
6. Bake for about 15 minutes in a baking dish with sides. If the cheese isn't browned after 15 minutes, turn to broil for 1-2 minutes (watching carefully!)

Notes

**Always cook turkey to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my recent post about how we’ve been trying to eat healthier and cleaner – starting with dinner. While I don’t think I’ll ever give up Oreos and M&Ms (let’s be real), I’ve felt a real urge to make healthier meals with more vegetables and less processed ingredients. I was especially inspired after buying an eBook from Bless this Mess Please with clean eating recipes and her philosophy that you don’t have to spend tons of money to eat healthier!

We haven’t ate super unhealthy or anything, but there’s always room for improvement. Since I’ve been making dinners a little bit healthier, I’ve found myself feeling so much better at nighttime. It’s been great!

The other night I decided to make my own rendition of a recipe I often see floating around – zucchini boats. I’ve made a few recipes with zucchini in the past (such as this yummy zucchini lasagna recipe), and I always love how it tastes as a lower carb option in main dishes. I decided to make Italian Zucchini boats, and they turned out great.

Instead of using a more processed and less healthy pork sausage, I opted to use some Honeysuckle White sweet Italian turkey sausage. We often use turkey in place of beef, as it’s a lean and yummy substitute, but this was one of the first times I had used turkey sausage. It was SO flavorful, and I never would have guessed that it wasn’t pork sausage. I used 1/2 a pound in this recipe, and then I used the rest in breakfast burritos I made the next day! Honyesuckle White turkeys are raised without growth-promoting antibiotics, and they have ground turkey, sausage, tenderloins, and burgers! They work with over 700 independent farmers to produce these turkeys, and they are available at a very affordable price.

I also found a great spaghetti sauce at the store that was the same price as most of the other brand (just under $2), but it was organic and had a lot less sugar (4 g of sugar) than most jars. I topped it with a little bit of low-fat mozzarella cheese, and it was done in less than 30 minutes. Forrest told me at the end, “Can you tell how much I liked these?!” It always makes me feel good when he’s really enthusiastic about what I made!

I am ALWAYS seeing cash back rebates for Honeysuckle White turkey products on Ibotta. Honeysuckle White turkey products are only available in select states. For those on the East Coast (ME, NH, VT, NY, NJ, MA, VA, RI, CT, PA, MD, DE, WV, NC, SC, GA, and FL), look for Honeysuckle White’s sister brand, Shady Brook Farms!