If you love the combination of flavors that make twice baked potatoes so good, then you know that it’s really the filling ingredients that you enjoy so much. The potato itself is just a conduit for getting goodies like sour cream, butter, bacon bits, and cheese into our mouths in a single bite.
With a ketogenic diet, it’s OK to have it all as long as you don’t stuff it into a potato. Zucchini makes the perfect low-carb vessel for this heavenly filling. First, crisp up a few strips of bacon. While those are cooling down and draining on paper towels, scoop out the zucchini and mix up the filling. By the time that’s done the bacon will be ready to crumble and add. Then it’s on to filling and baking. That’s it!
The best part about these stuffed zucchini is the balance of rich cheese and cream with the onion and zesty jalapeno pepper. If you don’t eat jalapenos you can just omit them and know that this will still be a dish you want to make again and again.
Serve this with grilled meats as a side, it can be the potato to your grilled steak! Or put a few of these together and have a couple as a meal.
Store leftovers up to 2 days in the refrigerator. You can even make these one day ahead if you like.
Yields 4 servings of Twice-Baked Zucchini Boats
The Preparation
- 2 medium zucchini
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup onion, minced
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, diced
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 medium jalapeno pepper, sliced, for garnish
- 4 slices cooked bacon
The Execution
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Wash and dry the zucchini, cut it in half, and then slice each half in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out most of the insides. Chop up the scooped flesh and add it to a bowl. Place the zucchini boats in a baking dish.
2. Add the cheddar, cream cheese, onion, sour cream, butter, and diced jalapeño to the bowl with zucchini flesh and mash together to combine.
3. Divide the mixture evenly between the zucchini boats, filling them completely. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with the sliced jalapeño and crumbled bacon.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the zucchini is becoming tender. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
This makes a total of 4 servings of Twice-Baked Zucchini Boats. Each serving comes out to be 274 calories, 23.5g fats, 4.5g net carbs, and 10.8g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 2 medium zucchini | 65 | 1.6 | 11.7 | 4.3 | 7.3 | 5 |
| 1/2 cup cheddar cheese | 247 | 20.4 | 1.9 | 0 | 1.9 | 14 |
| 2 ounce cream cheese | 194 | 19.3 | 2.3 | 0 | 2.3 | 3.5 |
| 1/4 cup onion | 16 | 0 | 3.7 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 0.5 |
| 1/4 cup sour cream | 114 | 11.1 | 2.7 | 0 | 2.7 | 1.4 |
| 2 tablespoon butter | 203 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| 1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper | 2 | 0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 medium jalapeno pepper | 4 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 |
| 4 slice cooked bacon | 307 | 24.2 | 0.8 | 0 | 0.8 | 20 |
| Totals | 1153 | 99.7 | 24.4 | 5.6 | 18.8 | 44.8 |
| Per Serving (/4) | 288 | 24.9 | 6.1 | 1.4 | 4.7 | 11.2 |
Twice-Baked Zucchini Boats
Ingredients
- 2 medium zucchini
- ½ cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 2 ounce cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup onion minced
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
- 1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper diced
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 medium jalapeno pepper sliced, for garnish
- 4 slice cooked bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Wash and dry the zucchini, cut it in half, and then slice each half in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop out most of the insides. Chop up the scooped flesh and add it to a bowl. Place the zucchini boats in a baking dish.
- Add the cheddar, cream cheese, onion, sour cream, butter, and diced jalapeño to the bowl with zucchini flesh and mash together to combine.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the zucchini boats, filling them completely. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with the sliced jalapeño and crumbled bacon.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the zucchini is becoming tender. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Potato dishes have always been a staple in my house, and to finally find something that resembles that warm, yummy comforting food, was a pure delight. Tried ricing cauliflower once and that was a disaster! So was afraid to try any other vegetable variations, and ireally wasn’t sure how zucchini would go in this dish, but it was awesome, and it has now given me the confidence to try other variations. Thank you so much for a simple, but very tasty recipe.
Thank you Cazza! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I made these tonight and they were great. I would recommend these to other ketoers.
Thank you!
I am confused by the numbers on this. it says “This makes a total of 4 servings Twice Baked Potato Style Zucchini. Each 2 piece serving comes out to be 259.25 Calories, 19.64g Fats, 6.08g Net Carbs, and 7.31g Protein” but based on the number breakdown it would be each piece not each 2 piece serving right?
Sorry Licia! I’ve fixed that, thank you for letting me know.
So are there 4 servings or 8 in this recipe. I’m still confused.
There are 8 total pieces of zucchini, but a serving is 2 of them. The serving sizes we suggest are just suggestions, though – you should be making your serving sizes based on your macros.
Had to create a disqus acct just to comment. These are AMAZING! I think we could eat these every single day. Thanks!
Really happy to hear that you like it. Thank you so much for the comment!
Did this using dairy free cheese and sour cream (family member has sensitivities). This was delicious! Thank you.