Italian Chicken Zucchini Boats

With ingredients you already have on hand, these flavorful Italian Chicken Zucchini Boats are simple to make and a dinner win for the whole family.

I know how to use three seasonings. 

Basil, oregano, and thyme. 

It is one of the reasons I make a mean pasta sauce. That and the slow, half a day simmer all the vegetables take in a Le Creuset. Instant Pot sauces do not even compare.

Back to zucchini boats.

This post contains affiliate links.

Want to add Italian Chicken Zucchini Boats to your dinners for the week, but not sure where they would fit in? Snag your Healthy Meal Plans, Confident Meal Prep Course and learn exactly how to plan nutritious plates while saving money on your food budget and avoiding food waste.

My use of these seasonings has to stem from my Italian roots. My grandfather was 100% Italian, my grandmother made an incredible lasagna, and the foods I used to be most excited about as a kid involved pasta and red sauces. 

Thankfully, these Italian Chicken Zucchini Boats let my knowledge and love for those three seasonings shine through in a simple and low carb meal. Even though I have branched out my variety of seasonings considerably, there is something relaxing about going back to my limited-cooking-knowledge roots and using an abundance of basil, oregano, and thyme. 

While experimenting with different foods that would not spike my blood sugar during gestational diabetes, these Italian Chicken Zucchini Boats came to be. Once I realized that they would keep my sugars in range and that Rob and the kids all liked them, we ended up eating them about once a week. 

Zoey and William even got in on the process of making them. What child would not love to paint their food with oil?

Sure this meal does not have that many ingredients, but it does take a few more steps than a busy night that needs to have dinner on the table “right now” will allow. Just keep that in mind as you do your meal planning for the week. 

If you want to meal prep a bit of this dinner, you could prepare the turkey ahead of time and just fill your zucchini boats the night of. The zucchini might sweat too much if you scrap them early, so I recommend waiting until you have it on the meal plan to work with them. 

The benefit of this meal is that you only have to make one thing. There is no argument about how much vegetable has to go on a plate, or how big a portion of rice to serve. Instead, you just have to decide how many zucchini boats you can actually eat without being overly full. 

Another reason I love these Italian Chicken Zucchini Boats?

I can get all of the main ingredients at Costco, my favorite store. A bag of zucchinis, a chicken breast, a pack of mozzarella, and a box of canned tomato sauce. The only thing I actually need to buy the week of is the bag of zucchinis. Everything else is either already in the pantry or the freezer. 

Once those summer gardens start producing, we can just use our own, homegrown zucchinis. Even better.

You can easily substitute the chicken in this main recipe for ground turkey. I have done that before, using the same cooking instructions, and the results were still a delicious, kids-are-a-mess-afterwards meal. 

I have also played around with adding finely chopped vegetables to the meat sauce with good results. Really, you can use what you have on hand, but I have tried it with onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Just add them to the sauce once the meat is cooked through.

Regardless of what specific ingredients you use to make this meal, take it from me that it is an easy one to put together if you are just learning how to cook, or are looking for a way to expand your cooking repertoire beyond your favorite seasonings in pasta sauce.

Italian Chicken Zucchini Boats

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, bite-size chunks
• 4 large zucchini
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1/2 tablespoon thyme
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• Avocado Oil
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Optional: 1 cup diced vegetables like bell pepper, onion, or mushroom

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat avocado oil in a skillet.
3. Add chicken, 1/2 tablespoon basil, 1/2 tablespoon oregano, 1/2 tablespoon thyme, and 2 tablespoons minced garlic. Cook until chicken is no longer pink.
4. While chicken is cooking, slice zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out insides with a spoon. Cover each zucchini slice in avocado oil.
5. Spread 1/2 cup of tomato sauce in bottom of 9×13 baking dish and lay zucchini on top, scooped side up.
6. Add optional vegetables to skillet with chicken and let soften (about 3-4 minutes).
7. Add rest of tomato sauce and spices to sauce.
8. Scoop sauce into zucchini boats.
9. Top with mozzarella cheese.
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, or until you can easily stick a fork through the zucchini.
11. Serve warm.

The Healthy Meal Plans, Confident Meal Prep Course will make sure this recipe gets on your dinner rotation for the week. Plus, it will prevent you from overspending at the grocery store all while saving time in the kitchen.