Sausage and Orzo Stuffed Zucchini

Coming at ya today with a brand new zucchini recipe! I personally get really sick of doing the same old thing with my garden zucchinis, aka sauteing them in a pan or making zucchini bread. So I decided to create a recipe that used zucchini as the main element of the meal instead of just as a side dish. I am constantly coming up with new ways to use zucchini and this recipe might be my new go to when it comes to summer dinners.

You’ll start by cutting the ends of the zucchinis off and then scooping out the center of each zucchini so that you are creating a little “boat”. You then take the inside “pulp” of the zucchinis and saute them in a pan with some chopped onions and garlic which then gets mixed with cooked sausage, orzo and some Parmesan cheese. After sauting your zucchini boats, you’ll stuff them with the filling and bake them. The end result is so flavorful and light but still extremely filling. Give these a try next time you need something to do with your zucchini!

Tips & Tricks:

• You can substitute the breakfast sausage for Italian sausage if you prefer.
• If you grow your own zucchini and have some overgrown zucchinis, you can use them for this recipe but reduce the amount of zucchinis according to how large your overgrown garden zucchinis are.
• Make sure to not scrape too much of the flesh out of the zucchinis, otherwise they will be not hold the filling and will fall apart.

Sausage and Orzo Stuffed Zucchini

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• Author: shaemakes
• Prep Time: 45 minutes
• Cook Time: 35 minutes
• Total Time: 80 minutes
• Yield: 4–6 1x

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Description

Fresh zucchini stuffed with Parmesan, sausage, orzo and even more zucchini and then baked until golden brown. The perfect “light” summertime meal that’s full of flavor

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 medium sized zucchinis
• 2 tbsp olive oil + 2 tbsp reserved
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup Parmesan + 1/4 cup, grated
• 1/2 lb ground breakfast sausage
• 1/4 cup orzo, dry
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Wash zucchini, cut ends off and discard. Using a small spoon or teaspoon, scoop out the white flesh from the inside of the zucchinis. Reserve the white flesh from the zucchinis in a small bowl. You want to create a big enough crater in each zucchini that you can stuff the them but still leave enough zucchini to be able to have enough integrity to hold the filling.
3. In a medium sized skillet add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add diced onion and flesh from the zucchinis.
4. Cook the zucchini and onion for 10-15 minutes stirring and smashing down the zucchini flesh occasionally until the mixture is cooked down and for lack of better terms, mushy.
5. Add minced garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat and add the mixture to a medium sized bowl and set aside.
7. Cook the sausage in a skillet until crumbled and cooked through and set aside.
8. Boil the orzo according to package directions and then drain and set aside.
9. To the onion/zucchini mixture add egg, Parmesan, cooked orzo, cooked sausage, salt, pepper, basil and bread crumbs and stir to combine.
10. In another large skillet add remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and heat over medium/high heat. Saute each zucchini “boat” for 3-5 minutes on each side until slightly browned.
11. Carefully remove the zucchinis from the skillet and put them in a 9×13 pan sprayed with cooking spray.
12. Fill each zucchini with the filling until all the filling has been used.
13. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan evenly over the top of the zucchinis.
14. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

Keywords: zucchini, zucchini recipe, garden recipe, stuffed zucchini, sausage stuffed zucchini