Arrange Zucchini halves in your baking dish. Cut the 4th one a bit short so that it fits there. Slice the remaining zucchini piece that didn't fit, it will be added to the sauce afterward.
Hollow out zucchini. Collect fruit pulp.
Spread zucchini pulp between 2 bowls. One is for the stuff, the other for the sauce. Add the sliced zucchini parts to the bowl for the sauce.
Prep Stuffing
Add ground beef, seasoning, and cheese to one of the bowls with the zucchini.
½ Pound Ground Beef, ½ Teaspoon Salt, ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, 1 Teaspoon Onion Powder, 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder, 1 Tablespoon Oregano or Marjoram or Savory Herb, 1 Teaspoon Basil, ½ Teaspoon Rosemary, ½ Cup Shredded Cheese
Combine ground meat stuffing.
Prep Sauce
In the second bowl, add tomato sauce and seasoning to the zucchini pulp.
1 Cup Tomato Sauce, ½ Teaspoon Salt, ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, 1 Tablespoon Oregano or Marjoram or Savory Herb, ½ Teaspoon Onion Powder, ½ Teaspoon Garlic Powder
Combine everything well.
Put it all together
Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit/ 200 Celsius.
Stuff zucchini with the meat filling.
Spread the sauce around/between the zucchini.
Top boats with cheese and sprinkle some olive oil over all that.
½ Cup Shredded Cheese, 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Bake your zucchini boat at 400 Fahrenheit/ 200 Celsius for about 20 minutes or until golden on the top.
Serve up hot.
Video
Notes
Use ground beef with 15-20% fat. You can use a blend of beef and pork meat too (that's how it's done in France). That way the dish will be more flavorful and the meat won't dry out.
I love to use fresh herbs in this dish, but you are free to use dried ones too. My choice is savory herb (yep that's a herb variety) but oregano or marjoram are great in this recipe too! You can mix and match between these three herbs. For the basic recipe, use 1 Tablespoon fresh herbs OR 1 Teaspoon dried herbs of your choice or a blend of the ones that I gave you.
The sauce is optional but serving the zucchini boats with the sauce is better. The dish feels more complete that way.
This recipe is meant to cut down on the prepping time. Hence, why I don't use fresh onions and garlic and instead chose to add dried onion and garlic powder. Not having to cut onion and garlic small saves you at least 5–10 minutes. You are free to use fresh garlic instead of dried garlic in the dish if you like.
Pick your favorite grated cheese for this recipe. I like to use something like cheddar, mozzarella cheese, or emmental.