I have been craving an old recipe of mine that I no longer can have due to my tomato allergies, but created this one as a substitute. There a ton of variations to this recipe which is great because you’ll never tire of it. You can either keep it vegan or add meat, cheese, etc. You can use traditional shaped zucchini or round ones if you can get a hold of some. The one I used in the photo below is from my garden.
Vegan and Gluten Free Stuffed Zucchini Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 zucchini
- water for boiling
- Vegan Basil Rice Pilaf
- parmesan and/or romano cheese for topping or Gluten Free Seasoned Bread Crumbs or if dairy-free use nutritional yeast (optional)
- various optional add-ins
Directions
- Make the rice and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cut the ends off of the zucchini.
- If using traditional shaped zucchini, cut them in half length-wise. Also shave a little off the bottom so that they will stand straight without rolling once placed on the baking pan and plate. A potato peeler may do the trick; just one or two scrapes off.
- Add zucchini to a pot of water and bring to a boil.
- Boil regular zucchini for about 5 minutes and 4″ round ones for about 7 – 8 minutes or until tender.
- Scoop out the inside, leaving a shell about 1/4″ – 1/3″ and set aside.
- Chop finely or run pulsate in a food processor the zucchini meat.
- Add the chopped or pureed zucchini to the rice and stir.
- Add the vegan basil rice pilaf to the hallow zucchini shells.
- Top with cheese or gluten-free bread crumbs.
- Spritz or spray top with olive oil. If you don’t have a spritzer or spray can drizzle a tiny bit on top.
- Bake for about 15 minutes.
- If the tops are not brown enough you can stick it under the broiler for a minute or so.
Additional Add-Ins
- Adding a bit of spaghetti sauce to the rice is wonderful! In this case skip the oil when sauteing the rice.
- prosciutto, chopped
- bacon, chopped
- ground beef, browned and scrambled
- Get creative and add any of your favorites!
Tips
- The longer you boil the zucchini, the less you will need to bake them.
- If you are on a dairy free or casein free diet, skip the cheese in the bread crumbs, if using.
- If you end up using the broiler to brown them, keep a close eye to not overcook them, as I just did. Tasted great anyway!
Allergens will depend up if you use bread crumbs and what their ingredients are. Soy and corn may be listed.
