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Zucchini Bake is a cheesy, easy low carb meal full of protein from ground chicken in every bite. A feel good meal for the week you will love.
Table of Contents
Why Make This Low Carb Zucchini Bake
This meal is a delight! It’s lower in carbs (if you are into that sort of thing) but it’s also lightened up and won’t leave you feeling heavy.
Ground chicken gives it a great protein boost, so you’ll feel satisfied after eating it! You can really use any ground meat (beef, turkey, sausage and so on) for these bowls. The Zucchini adds a great texture and lots of nutrients.
Similar to my Pizza Bowls, this can be made in oven safe bowls or you can put it all on a casserole dish and serve it on plates. Either way you will love it. Also try my Chicken Tomato Casserole for another stand up meal.
Ingredients Needed
Ground Chicken. Use lean ground chicken for this recipe to add protein and flavor.
Zucchini. Fresh Zucchini is best for this recipe! Use any Zucchini variety of choice.
Dijon Mustard. This isn’t pictured because it’s optional, I LOVE the flavor it brings to the dish with the Worcestershire sauce.
Worcestershire Sauce. One of my favorite condiments to add flavor depth to recipes. Here is my favorite brand.
Canned Diced Tomatoes. These add a great acidity and color to the dish.
Red Peppers. Use fresh bell peppers for crunch or roasted red peppers from the jar. Both work great.
All other ingredients and measurements can be found in the recipe card towards the bottom of this post.
Recipe Variations & Substitutions
Zucchini. This can be swapped for yellow squash!
Shredded Cheese. Use any cheese of choice, I go for mozzarella or manchego, but pepper jack works wonderful!
Ground Chicken. Make this zucchini bake vegetarian and skip the meat, or use ground beef or turkey in place of the chicken.
How To Make Zucchini Bake
Step One. Wash and slice the Zucchini into a half moon shape. Add to a large bowl and lightly salt the slices. Let them sit in the salt while you prepare everything. This pulls out the excess liquid and will make for a more flavorful dish.
Step Two. Preheat the oven to 350º. Meanwhile in a large skillet, add the oil and ground chicken. Brown the ground chicken for about 6 minutes. Add the seasonings and onions. Cook for 3 minutes.
Step Three. Next, add in drained diced tomatoes, red peppers (drained if using jarred/roasted), dijon, Worcestershire sauce. Taste the mixture, add more salt, Worcestershire or dijon if needed! Once everything is well combined, take it off the heat.
Prepare The Zucchini Bake
Step Four. Carefully drain the liquid from the Zucchini slices. You can also use a paper towel to soak up the liquid. Using a greased 8×8 casserole dish or 20-25 oz oven safe bowls these are the ones I use layer the Zucchini and meat mixture. Start with zucchini slices on the bottom, next add the meat mixture, more Zucchini and cheese. Top with Parmesan and shredded cheese.
Step Five. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted, bubbling and lightly browned. Garnish with more Parmesan, chopped green onions and red pepper flakes. Serve and enjoy!
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can freeze these for up to 2 months.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, substituting yellow squash works great for this recipe.
Yes, my Zucchini Bake recipe is gluten free.
Recipe Tips
Soak The Zucchini Slices. By letting the zucchini slices sit with the salt, it helps bring the moisture out of them to create a less liquidity sauce for the recipe. Of course this is optional.
Use Any Ground Meat. Please use any ground meat you prefer! Lean ground chicken keeps the recipe lower in calorie.
Taste The Meat Mix As You Go. Be sure to taste things as you go to ensure there is enough salt, seasoning or sauce to your liking.
Recipe Pairings
This recipe can be paired with my Honey Roasted Carrots, or my Kale Crunch Salad. It’s also wonderful on its own.
If you loved this recipe let me know! Also, follow me on Instagram & Pinterest for even more fun recipes to make you feel good from the inside out. Thanks for being here.
Zucchini Bake
Equipment
- oven safe bowls or a baking dish a cast iron will also work well.
- sharp knife
- large skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3 medium zucchini, cut in slices or half-moon slices, *see notes
- ⅓ cup white onion, diced
- ⅓ cup red bell pepper, diced , *see notes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp salt, *more as needed
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes , *optional
- ½ tsp paprika
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 14oz can diced tomatoes, liquid drained.
- 2 Tbsp dijon mustard
- ½ cup mozzarella, shredded, more as needed
- ¼ cup Parmesan, grated, more as needed
- 4 Tbsp green onions, chopped , for garnish
Instructions
- Wash and slice the Zucchini into a half moon shape. Add to a large bowl and lightly salt the slices. Let them sit in the salt while you prepare everything. This pulls out the excess liquid and will make for a more flavorful dish.
- Preheat the oven to 350º. Meanwhile in a large skillet, add the oil and ground chicken. Brown the ground chicken for about 6 minutes. Add the seasonings and onions. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Next, add in drained diced tomatoes, red peppers (drained if using jarred/roasted), dijon, Worcestershire sauce. Taste the mixture, add more salt, Worcestershire or dijon if needed! Once everything is well combined, take it off the heat.
- Step Four. Carefully drain the liquid from the Zucchini slices. You can also use a paper towel to soak up the liquid. Using a greased 8×8 casserole dish or 20-25 oz oven safe bowls these are the ones I use layer the Zucchini and meat mixture. Start with zucchini slices on the bottom, next add the meat mixture, more Zucchini and cheese. Top with Parmesan and shredded cheese.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted, bubbling and lightly browned. Garnish with more Parmesan, chopped green onions and red pepper flakes. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
We loved this, I made it over the weekend and was hoping for leftovers but we didn’t have any 😅.
Yay! I am so happy to hear this. Thanks for the feedback, happy cooking.
This was FABULOUS. My kids loved it and it was filling, flavorful. A great way to load up veggies.
Hi! I am so happy to hear this. Glad you enjoyed it. Happy Cooking!
I have to add to the 5 star reviews that this recipe received! It’s so flavorful and hearty!!We used lean ground turkey because our grocer didn’t have ground chicken and I made some rice to accompany it. We will keep this one on the rotation. Thank you!
I am thrilled to hear you enjoyed this one! We have it every few weeks 🙂
Yet another hit from yet Sailor Bailey archives! So good; thank you, thank you!
Thank you so much, I am so flattered!