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A baking sheet with Middle Eastern ground beef stuffed zucchini.

Ground Beef Stuffed Zucchini Recipe (low carb)

This easy Middle Eastern ground beef stuffed zucchini is a family recipe that I just love. For a low carb dinner eat it  as is or serve with rice. It's a great dish for using garden zucchini. Each stuffed zucchini boat has only 4.5g net carbs, 16.7g protein and 201 calories.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Middle Eastern
Keyword ground beef, stuffed zucchini
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 201 kcal
Author Denise Wright

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ cup onion, minced
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 4 medium zucchinis ***
  • 6 tablespoons tomato paste or tomato sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. First clean the zucchini by cutting in two length-wise. Using a melon baller or a spoon, clean out the zucchini so that there is about a ⅛ inch thickness to the skin left.

  3. Spray both sides of zucchini with cooking spray or use olive oil and place on a baking sheet.

  4. Broil for about 5-7 minutes on both sides. Watch so they don't burn!
  5. In the meantime heat up a large skillet to medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and the minced onions. Saute for a few minute and add the ground beef and spices.

  6. When mixture is almost completely done turn off the heat and let cool a few minutes.

  7. Spoon the meat mixture into the zucchini halves.

  8. Top with tomato sauce. I use a can of tomato paste mixed with a can of water because that is what my grandmother used to do. It has a sweeter taste and I like that but you can just use a can of regular tomato sauce if you prefer.

  9. Place in a 350°F oven and cook for 25-30 minutes. Check that you can put a fork through the zucchini then you know they are done.

  10. Eat as is for a low carb dinner or serve with rice on the side.

  11. **Note: This recipe is for 4 medium sized zucchini. I have recently used 1 huge zucchini and stuffed both halves which is shown in many of the new pictures as I'm updating this post. Please note that I think it tastes better with the 4 medium zucchinis but if you only have a huge one, that will work too. In that case you will want to bake the cleaned out zucchini instead of broiling and this might take up to 20 minutes. Then stuff it and follow the rest of the directions.

Recipe Notes

The nutritional information for 1 serving (based on 8 medium sized zucchini halves making 8 servings) is: 201 calories / 12.2g fat / 6.6g carbs / 2.1g fiber / 16.7g protein = 4.5g net carbs.