Quinoa and Hummus Stuffed Zucchini
Tasty quinoa and hummus stuffed zucchini boats are topped with red peppers and Parmesan cheese for a light vegetarian main dish or summer side!
Yield: 6 zucchini boats (4-6 servings)
Ingredients
- 3 zucchini, ends trimmed and sliced lengthwise
- ⅓ cup quinoa
- ⅔ cups water
- 1 cup original hummus (homemade or store bought)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ red bell pepper, diced
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
- kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Place zucchini halves (cut side up) in a large pan. Pour about 1 cup of water in the bottom of the pan.
- Bake zucchini halves for 20 minutes (25 minutes if they are large), until tender.
- Meanwhile, cook the quinoa according to package directions. Once cooked, measure out 1 cup of cooked quinoa and add to a large bowl. Add hummus to the cooked quinoa and mix well.
- While the quinoa is cooking, heat a small pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the diced red peppers and saute 5-7 minutes, until tender. Don't worry if it picks up char marks - looks and tastes great!
- Once the zucchini is ready, remove the pan from the oven. Carefully scrape out the insides of the zucchini halves, leaving a hull. (Discard the zucchini mix.) Sprinkle the insides of the zucchini boats with salt and pepper.
- Add quinoa-hummus mixture to the middle of each boat, spreading it out evenly. Sprinkle with the red peppers and Parmesan.
- Return to the oven and bake another 10 minutes. Or you can broil it for 2-3 minutes (but watch closely so it doesn't burn).
- Sprinkle with extra Parmesan, salt and pepper, and serve!
Notes
Zucchini: You’ll want the zucchini to be evenly sized and not too skinny or misshapen. You need to be able to halve them lengthwise and have an area to hull out for stuffing. They also shouldn’t be too long that they can’t fit in your casserole dish.
Quinoa: I love the extra heft and protein that quinoa brings to this recipe, but you could swap it out for a different grain, like brown rice or farro. Couscous would work, too.
Hummus: Feel free to use a store-bought hummus or your own homemade hummus. You could even try this recipe with roasted red pepper or another flavor of hummus.
Red pepper: You could use roasted red peppers instead of the sautéed red pepper.
Parmesan cheese: This adds a great cheesy flavor. You could also try it with mozzarella cheese or crumbled goat cheese. Or serve them with feta cheese on top instead.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 123kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 331mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 2g
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