These Zucchini Pizza Boats are an easy, nutritious, and low carb way to get pizza on the table tonight! We load fresh zucchini with pizza sauce, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and plenty of cheese, making these a hit with the whole family!
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When it comes to take out, there are generally always a few safe bets for staying low carb. (We actually have a whole email series with loads of ideas for a variety of restaurants. It’s free to sign up here!)
Burgers without buns, steak, fajitas with a fork instead of a tortilla, salad without croutons, and pizza – toppings only!
Oh yes. I’ve totally been the person at the pizza buffet eating the toppings off a plate full of pizza and leaving the crust behind for the trash.
It embarrasses the heck out of my family, but it’s actually super good and it really feels indulgent. Pair with a salad and you’ve got a tasty dinner that doesn’t feel diet-y. In fact, it’s pretty dang decadent!
Of course, I do hate wasting the crust. I mean – it’s garbage in your body, so it’s better to just put it right in the trash, but still. Wasteful.
So, at home, I either make fathead dough, pizza chaffles, or these zucchini pizza boats. You can’t go wrong with any of these recipes but let’s talk more about the zucchini – arguably the healthiest option of the bunch.
Oh, and check out our enchilada zucchini boats too!
Ingredient Notes:
Zucchini – This will be replacing the crust that you’d usually have with a pizza. A whole lot healthier and not so many carbs!
Sausage – Italian sausage makes the perfect filling for this recipe when it is mixed with some mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce.
Pepperoni – A couple of pepperoni slices are a great topping for these zucchini boats! Mini pepperoni or turkey pepperoni works here too!
Cheese – I’m using a mix of shredded mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese for topping this pizza but you can switch that up with different varieties of cheese if you have another preference.
Marinara Sauce – You can use any sugar-free marinara sauce you’d like here. We love Rao’s Marinara!
“This was great. I love all the ingredients, particularly Italian sausage, which is what I used. I also added sliced black olives and used 4 slices of pepperoni per zucchini. Very tasty!” – Aron
Keto Pizza Toppings:
You don’t have to stick to just pepperoni! The nice thing about pizza toppings is that nearly all of them are low carb. Even pineapple is okay if you restrict it to just a few chunks. Other favorite pizza toppings include:
- Mushrooms
- Black Olives
- Green Olives
- Bell Peppers
- Onion
- Ham
- Bacon
- Sausage
- Sliced Tomatoes
How To Make Zucchini Pizza Boats:
Zucchini – Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise and use a spoon to scrape out all of the seeds. This will create an area for all of your pizza toppings and sauce to live. Place on a prepared baking sheet.
Sausage – Brown your sausage to get it ready for filling the zucchini. Combine the sauce with your marinara and mozzarella.
Fill the Zucchini – Spoon the sausage mixture into the zucchini, sprinkle on a little more cheese, and top it off with pepperoni.
Bake –Pop these in a hot oven for about 30 minutes to get the zucchini soft and cheese melty.
What To Serve With Pizza Stuffed Zucchini:
This low carb pizza recipe can be served up with pretty much any low carb side that you’d normally serve with pizza. Just about any kind of salad would be a good choice here but especially this keto grinder salad.
My cauliflower breadsticks would also make an excellent side. They’re cheesy too and perfect for dipping in marinara sauce if you’ve got extra!
These keto jalapeno poppers are another cheesy (and spicy!) side that you can serve with this recipe.
And don’t forget the soup! This creamy Tuscan chicken soup is perfect.
FAQ’s:
There are 3 net carbs in each zucchini pizza boat or 6 net carbs per serving (2 boats).
Absolutely – this should work great in air fryer! Cook at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, test the zucchini to see if it’s soft enough, and continue cooking until it’s as soft as you’d like.
You can keep any leftovers stored in an airtight container in your fridge for about 2 to 3 days. You can reheat these in the microwave or the oven!
More Keto Pizza Recipes:
- Pizza Stuffed Chicken
- Keto Taco Pizza
- Keto Breakfast Pizza
- Philly Cheese Steak Pizza
- Keto Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Pizza Stuffed Zucchini
Ingredients
- ½ pound sausage
- ½ cup marinara
- 2 cups mozzarella divided
- ¼ cup parmesan
- 4 medium zucchini
- 16 pepperoni slices
- 1 teaspoon chopped basil
- Red pepper flakes for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray.
- Brown the sausage in a medium skillet over medium heat, crumbling as it cooks. Drain the grease and place sausage in a small mixing bowl.
- Add the marinara and 1 ½ cups of mozzarella to the bowl. Stir to combine.
- Slice the zucchini in half length-wise and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds.
- Fill the hollowed space in the zucchini with the meat mixture.
- Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and the Parmesan on the zucchini.
- Place 2 pepperoni on each zucchini.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the zucchini is as tender as you’d prefer.
- Sprinkle with basil and red pepper flakes, if desired, before serving.
CarolG says
In the recipe it has “marinara”. What is this? is it a ready-to-use sauce or do you have a recipe for it?
Karly Campbell says
You could make your own, but we generally just buy it. It’s similar to spaghetti sauce. We like Rao’s brand. 🙂
Jeri Gracia says
Made this for dinner tonight! I don’t like Italian sausage so I nixed that and opted to put 3 slices of pepperoni, some onions and bell peppers. served with a fresh spinach salad and it was the perfect dinner! I’m hoping it’s still good tomorrow for lunch.
Wanda Ivette Figueroa says
can they be stored and eaten over a few days? or would they go soffy-
Karly Campbell says
I haven’t tried reheating these. I do think the zucchini would get a bit softer after reheating, but I think it’d probably be fine!
Kathy H says
We really enjoyed this recipe! My husband wasn’t sure but he quickly agreed they were tasty. I added a couple finely diced mushrooms but other than that made them as written. I have printed about 90% of your recipes & now have an endless supply of dinner, breakfast & snack ideas! Thanks so much for all the work you put in. Low carb never looked so good!
Karly Campbell says
So glad you’re enjoying the recipes! 🙂
Aron says
This was great. I love all the ingredients, particularly Italian sausage, which is what I used. I also added sliced black olives and used 4 slices of pepperoni per zucchini. Very tasty!
Teresa says
Someday I’m going to remember to buy zucchini to try this. I like the idea of putting pepperoni on them. Thanks, Karly!
Karly Campbell says
Pepperoni makes everything better. 🙂