8-Ball Zucchini Recipe Stuffed Eight Ball Zucchini with Ground beef is the perfect weeknight meal! This delicious and hearty dish will impress your taste buds with its flavorful combination of tender zucchini, Heirloom tomatoes, ground beef, marinara sauce, and shredded cheese Whether you're looking for a tasty weeknight meal or an impressive dish to serve at your next dinner party, stuffed 8-ball zucchini with ground beef will surely be a hit.
Stuffed 8-ball Zucchini with Ground Beef was inspired by my other zucchini recipes. I grow zucchini in my homestead garden every year and I love it. Homegrown zucchini compared to storebought zucchini, well there's no comparison! There's nothing like going into your backyard and foraging your food for free. Plus, I find homegrown zucchini to have a richer and nuttier taste than storebought, and who knows what they pump into the stuff sold in stores. Want more zucchini recipes? Check out my Zucchini Casserole With Ground Beef which is Zucchini Lasagna and it's so good!
Zucchini Boats With Ground Turkey is another delicious low-carb, keto-friendly meal. Ina Garten Zucchini Bread is another crowd-pleaser that's the perfect bread recipe for fall. Stuffed Spaghetti Squash With Ground Beef is a comfort food recipe that's hearty, filling, and packed with protein. You have endless options with this versatile vegetable!
Jump to:
- 🥒 Ingredients for Stuffed Eight Ball Zucchini with Ground Beef
- 🥒 What you'll need for Stuffed Ball Zucchini
- 🥒 Equipment For 8 Ball Zucchini Recipe
- 🥒Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Stuffed Eight-Ball Zucchini
- 🥒 Top Tip
- Substitutions For Stuffed Zucchini Recipe
- More Summer Recipes
- Follow Us
- Pin or send this recipe to a friend!
- 📖 Recipe
- Substitutions For Stuffed Zucchini Recipe
- 💬 Comments
🥒 Ingredients for Stuffed Eight Ball Zucchini with Ground Beef
🥒 What you'll need for Stuffed Ball Zucchini
- 8-Ball Zucchini or regular Zucchini
- Ground Beef (Grassfed, grass-finished is always best)
- Red onion
- Olive Oil
- Tomatoes (homegrown if you've got em 😉
- Marinara Sauce
- Shredded Mexican Cheese
- Spices for taste: black pepper, Himalayan sea salt, oregano, and garlic
- Fresh Basil (optional)
- Bell peppers (optional)
- Coconut Oil Cooking Spray
Please refer to the recipe card below for exact quantities and full instructions.
🥒 Equipment For 8 Ball Zucchini Recipe
- Melon Baller or Ice Cream scooper for hallowing out the zucchini
- Casserole Dish
🥒Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Stuffed Eight-Ball Zucchini
- Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Begin by hollowing out the 8-ball zucchinis. Cut off the tops of the zucchinis and carefully scoop out the insides, leaving about a half-inch border around the edges. Save the scooped-out flesh for later use in the filling.
- Step 2: In a saucepan over medium heat, add the olive oil and red onion and saute the chopped onion until translucent.
- Step 3: Add the ground beef, and spices, and cook over medium heat until browned.
- Step 4: Add the diced tomatoes and other zucchini reserves, and saute until the tomatoes start to break down.
- Step 5: Add the marinara and saute in a skillet over medium heat together for five more minutes.
- Step 6: Spray the baking dish with coconut oil spray. Now it's time to stuff the hollowed-out zucchini with the beef mixture in the baking dish. Using a spoon or ladle, pack them full but leave a little room at the top as the marinara sauce may spill out during cooking.
Step 7: Cover the baking dish with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, top with Mexican Shredded cheese, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the tops of the zucchini balls are cheesy and bubbly.
🥒 Top Tip
Home Gardeners: You can save the seeds and sow them for growing in your garden and grow your own eight-ball zucchini! All you need is well-rotted manure, a gardening bed, or sowing the seeds directly in the ground for direct seeding! Plant seeds in early May for a summer harvest and again in July for a second fall late harvest. (The more you know! 🙂
Substitutions For Stuffed Zucchini Recipe
- You can use any veggies you want for this recipe and in fact, the more the better.
- bell peppers, diced carrots, yellow squash, black olives, just to name a few.
- Brown rice, Quinoa, Jasmine rice, and risotto also bring this dish over the top!
- Cheese: Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, or better yet, use a combo of all of them. 😏
More Summer Recipes
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About Genevieve
Thank you for stopping by Fitty Foodlicious, a website dedicated to sharing lasting, family recipes, anxiety tips and tricks, and healthy spirited mental wellness. Genevieve's recipes have been featured on MSN.com, NewsBreak, Food Talk Daily, Food Gawker, Trivet Recipes, Bartender.com, Health Magazine, Kitchen Aid AU NZ, and has a published Cookbook titled The 5-Ingredient Paleo Cookbook which can be purchased at all major bookstores and on Amazon.
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📖 Recipe
8-Ball Zucchini Stuffed Eight Ball Ground Beef Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2-3 pounds eight ball zucchini
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ chopped red onion
- 25 ounces Marinara Sauce
- 4 diced tomatoes (any type of fresh tomatoes is fine)
- 1 bunch fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups shredded Mexican Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Begin by hollowing out the 8-ball zucchinis. Cut off the tops of the zucchinis and carefully scoop out the insides, leaving about a half-inch border around the edges. Save the scooped-out flesh for later use in the filling.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, add the olive oil and red onion and saute the chopped onion until translucent.
- Add the ground beef, and spices, and cook over medium heat until browned.
- Add the diced tomatoes and other zucchini reserves, and sauté until the tomatoes start to break down.
- Add the marinara and sauté in a skillet over medium heat together for five more minutes
- Spray the baking dish with coconut oil spray. Now it's time to stuff the hollowed-out zucchini with the beef mixture in the baking dish. Using a spoon or ladle, pack them full but leave a little room at the top as the marinara sauce may spill out during cooking.
- Cover the baking dish with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, top with Mexican Shredded cheese, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the tops of the zucchini balls are cheesy and bubbly.
Notes
Substitutions For Stuffed Zucchini Recipe
- You can use any veggies you want for this recipe and in fact, the more the better.
- bell peppers, diced carrots, yellow squash, black olives, just to name a few.
- Brown rice, Quinoa, Jasmine rice, and risotto also bring this dish over the top!
- Cheese: Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, or better yet, use a combo of all of them.
Amy Liu Dong
Oh my, this dish is such a great-looking and looks incredibly delicious and very yummy! I love how this is overload with stuffed we want, making this as an instant favorite for me. Loved it.
Jacqueline
I just love the name 8 ball zucchini. Here in Italy, we just call them round zucchini! This is the best way to serve them. Great recipe!
Elizabeth
I was looking for a recipe to use up some zucchini in the fridge and this was perfect! My family loved this!!
Claudia
I’ve tried the 8-ball zucchini stuffed with ground beef, and it was delicious! Great recipe.
JC
This was so delicious -- hearty, filling, and nutritious!