We’ve all seen keto stuffed peppers and stuffed jalapenos (of course, making one of my favorites – jalapeño poppers). Now it’s time for a stuffed zucchini! The texture of the zucchini after being roasted will still have a nice bite that stands up to the cheesy gooey filling inside. It’s a perfect lunch for you to have when you want something a little out of the ordinary.
The filling on the inside is just perfect and really comes together with all of the flavors. It’s almost a chicken vegetable medley with cheese and sour cream holding everything together. If your macros can fit, I certainly advise to add bacon as it’s a perfect addition to this. Aside from adding extra sour cream, you could do a light drizzle of ranch on top just to make the flavors pop that much more!
Yields 2 servings of Broccoli Chicken Zucchini Boats
The Preparation
- 2 large zucchini
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 6 ounces rotisserie chicken, shredded
- 1 cup broccoli
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 3 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
- 15 grams green onion, sliced
The Execution
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and cut the zucchini you’re using in half lengthwise. The longer the zucchini the better for this recipe.
2. Using a spoon, scoop out most of the zucchini until you’re left with a shell about ½ – 1 cm thick.
3. Pour 1 tbsp. of melted butter into each zucchini boat, season with salt/pepper and place them in the oven. This allows the zucchini to cook down a little while you prepare the filling. This should take about 20 minutes.
4. Shred your rotisserie chicken using two forks to pull the meat apart. Measure out 6 oz. and put the rest in the refrigerator for another meal. A chicken, bacon, and ranch salad is perfect for lunch!
5. Cut up your broccoli florets until they’re bite sized.
6. Combine the chicken and broccoli with sour cream to keep them moist and creamy. Season in this step as well.
7. Once the zucchini has had a chance to cook, take them out and add your chicken and broccoli filling.
8. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top of your chicken and broccoli and pop them back into the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and browning.
9. Garnish with chopped green onion and enjoy with more sour cream or mayo!
This makes a total of 2 servings of Chicken & Broccoli Zucchini Boats. Each serving comes out to be 515 calories, 36.5g fats, 8.4g net carbs, and 37.7g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 2 large zucchini | 74 | 1.8 | 13.2 | 4.9 | 8.3 | 5.6 |
| 2 tablespoon butter | 203 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 ounce rotisserie chicken | 313 | 13.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46.7 |
| 1 cup broccoli | 35 | 0.4 | 7.2 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 2.4 |
| 2 tablespoon sour cream | 57 | 5.6 | 1.3 | 0 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| 3 ounce cheddar cheese | 344 | 28.3 | 2.6 | 0 | 2.6 | 19.5 |
| 15 gram green onion | 5 | 0 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| Totals | 1030 | 73 | 25.5 | 8.6 | 16.9 | 75.4 |
| Per Serving (/2) | 515 | 36.5 | 12.7 | 4.3 | 8.4 | 37.7 |
Chicken & Broccoli Zucchini Boats
Ingredients
- 2 large zucchini
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 ounce rotisserie chicken shredded
- 1 cup broccoli
- 2 tablespoon sour cream
- 3 ounce cheddar cheese shredded
- 15 gram green onion sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Cut the zucchinis in half lengthwise. For this recipe, the longer the zucchini, the better!
- Use a spoon to scoop out the zucchini flesh, leaving you with a thin shell (less than 1/2").
- Pour the melted butter into the zucchini boats and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for around 20 minutes while you prepare the filling.
- Use two forks to pull and shred the rotisserie chicken.
- Cut up the broccoli into bite-sized pieces.
- Combine the chicken and broccoli with the sour cream to keep them moist and creamy. Season to taste.
- Once the zucchini boats have had a chance to cook, take them out and add the chicken and broccoli filling.
- Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top and place the boats back in the oven for an additional 10–15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browning.
- Garnish with chopped green onion and enjoy with additional sour cream or ranch dressing!
These are delicious! But maybe I’m dense. It states that it makes 2 servings. But the macros are for each serving. Is the serving size 1/2 of the zucchini filled or the whole zucchini? Please advise. Thanks.
Thanks! The serving is one half of the zucchini, so 1 full boat for a serving.
After I read it again, I figured it out, but thanks so much for getting back to me. My son told me about this eating plan and said it would make my mind more alert, but I guess I’m not on it long enough for that benefit! hahaha. Thanks again.
No problem at all!
Are the broccoli florets supposed to be pre-cooked?
They shouldn’t need to be. You cut them relatively small so they should easily cook during the baking process.
I added a tbsp of chives, about a quarter cup of kerryf mushrooms to the mix. Also, I did not have any sour cream so I mixed together a tbsp of cream chease, tbsp of blue cheese ranch, tbsp of ranch, and a tsp of mayo for my mix. Lastly, I added white onion beneath the cheese before I melted it down. It ended up tasting quite well!
A note: I am on the keto diet as an athlete trying to become dependent on fats to benefit my endurance running instead of as a weight loss diet. So I was also trying to load on as many fats as I could into the dish.
That sounds awesome for sure. You can pretty much add anything to these little boats and they’ll taste great!
Was a good tip the white onion beneath the cheese!! 😋
Making this tonight, and using the leftover zucchini “meat” to make a side salad, along with tomato and spinach.
Sounds delicious – hope you liked it!
It was fantastic!
We made these a few nights ago – but we dropped the broccoli for more chicken that was seasoned differently and grilled. It was the best thing I’ve eaten in quite awhile!
Glad to hear it – grilled chicken sounds delicious in it!
I have made this multiple times and love it! The first time I cut both ends causing the boats to loose there shape. The filling is good enough to eat by itself or on a bed of greens. Thanks Craig!
I made this 2 nights ago–delicious! This will be my first “go to” lunch/dinner. Easy! Simple–as long as I have appropriate ingredients! I figure this can be made with any meat/vegetable as long as I have the zucchini on hand. Just need to refigure counts if/when changes are made. Thank you for such simple, easy recipe.
It’s so great that you’ve got a new keto fav!
Hey! What can be substituted for the sour cream? I want my mom to try this but she can’t stand sour cream (communist, I know! haha). Would ranch or mayo work and still have the same consistency? And then would 2Tbsp work with either of those? Thanks!
Hi Nicole! I think mayo would work great consistency wise, but ranch would be really delicious – especially if you have a low carb ranch. 2TBSP should work fine for either. Everything’s held together by the boats though, so don’t worry too much. 🙂
This is a great recipe and so easy. Delicious!
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
When you scoop out the zuchinni, it doesn’t tell you what to do with it. I thought it would have been incorporated into the filling…i don’t think I missed a step or did I?
You could incorporate it back into the filling if you’d like. You can discard it, or save it for another recipe. It’s really up to you. We don’t use the scooped out part in the recipe.
Is a serving one half of one of the zucchinis or one whole zucchini (2 halves)?
One whole zucchini, that is two halves.
There are two zucchinis, which are divided into four pieces.
There are two servings, so you eat two pieces.
Each serving is a full zucchini, or two of the halves.
Does that make more sense?
Yes… thank you! ?
Yay!
What do you do with the zucchini that is scooped from the shell?
You can cook it into another recipe or make a sauce from it 🙂
I mixed the flesh in with my filling of garlic mushrooms then topped with cheddar cheese. Delicious. 🙂
Great idea, Jan! Glad you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
This looks delicious! Question – Does the zucchini become overcooked
soft vs. al dente if put in in the oven for 20 min then 10-15 (which is
30-35 total)? I would imagine zucchini cooks at 400 in 15-20 minutes,
and wondering if best to shorten the pre-cook step to 10 min? I usually
cook small/medium sized cut vegetables at 400 for 10 min and they are
done, but this is a full shell so may take longer. Asking those who have
made this beautiful dish for your experience. Thanks.
can you use mayo instead of sour cream?. NM. I just read you can. Tks
I use Ciobani Greek No Fat Yogurt
Why no fat yogurt on keto? It’s higher carb and less fat – the opposite of what you want 🙁
sugar
I started with this but didn’t buy a rotisserie chicken. Seasoned up some chicken and baked it. Added a couple of chilis, cream cheese, salt and pepper, and some cooked bacon. Delicious!
Your version sounds absolutely delicious – I’m glad this recipe could be used to give you an idea!
recipes using eggplant?
Hey Ramona,
Browse through this link to find our keto-friendly eggplant recipes:
https://ruled.me/?s=eggplant
can you use sausage instead of chickken?
You definitely could – you can use any meat in this recipe. Just keep in mind that the sausage will have a lot more fat that comes off of it so you may need to reserve some of the excess fat for another recipe.
Hello, This was amazing. Do you subtract the protein 39.23 from the carbs 10.74. Or two boats which is one zucchini cut in half equals equal 10.74 carbs? I’m new to Keto sounds high.
Thank you,
This should help you: https://www.ruled.me/faq/ho…
Each serving in the macros I made was 1/2 a zucchini.