This colourful, vegan quinoa stuffed zucchini with blackberries is full of deliciously refreshing flavours. These zucchini boats make a fantastic healthy appetizer, whatever the occasion!
This quinoa stuffed zucchini is dairy and gluten free, full of nutritious ingredients and different flavours that work together surprisingly well.
I am not a massive fan of blackberries. I have an incorrigibly sweet tooth and for me raw blackberries are just not sweet enough. So I go for raspberries or blueberries most of the time.
But I felt that blackberries would be perfect in this easy zucchini boats recipe. In fact blackberries are the star of this recipe. Some of their tartness disappears in the cooking and what remains is sweet and zesty berry burst, which really lifts the bland zucchinis.
How to prep the ingredients
Quinoa
Quinoa is a hugely versatile ingredient, perfect in salads, side dishes and appetizers. It adds bulk, yet is light and never overpowering.
You’ll save time if you cook the quinoa ahead and, once cooled, refrigerate it (for up to 3 days), until you are ready to make the recipe. I do this with most of my quinoa recipes.
Zucchini
Prepping the zucchinis is a 3 minute job! Cut the zucchinis in half lengthways and scoop out the middle leaving about 1 cm around the edges. I use a melon baller to do this but a large spoon should work too. Pop the zucchini halves in the oven for 15 minutes.
(You will only need to use some of the zucchini pulp. The rest can be added to a soup or pasta sauce).
If you are a fan of zucchini you may also like this easy Grilled Pineapple Zucchini Summer Salad.
How to make quinoa stuffed zucchini boats
This stuffed zucchini recipe is very easy to put together. Combine the pulp with the rest of the ingredients, top the zucchini halves with the stuffing mixture and bake for another 15 minutes. And that’s all there is to it!
What would go well with stuffed zucchini
Be generous with the seasoning – zucchini needs plenty of it! Serve these stuffed courgettes with a drizzle of oil as an appetizer or side, either hot or cold (I prefer it chilled). They make a fantastic accompaniment to chicken dishes such as healthy chicken kebabs or crispy spiced chicken legs.
More blackberries recipes
If you are a fan of blackberries you may also like this healthy, delicious blackberry tray bake with prunes. Check out also these peanut butter blackberry oat bars and blackberry hazelnut breakfast bars.
Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini with Blackberries
Ingredients
- 4 medium/large zucchinis
- 200 g fresh blackberries roughly chopped
- 2/3 cup cooked quinoa a little less than 1
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons cilantro finely chopped plus more for serving
- 100 g coconut milk
- 1/3 cup almond flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt plus a bit more for sprinkling, plenty of pepper
- Olive oil and a little lemon juice for drizzling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 F/ 20 C/ gas mark 7. Cut the zucchinis in half lengthways and scoop out the pulp leaving around 5 mm thickness around the edges (use a spoon or a melon baller to do this). Finely chop 2/3 of the pulp and set aside (you can add the remaining pulp to another dish, such as pasta sauce for example).
- Place the zucchini halves (open side up) on a baking tray, season with a bit of salt and pepper, drizzle with a little olive oil and bake for 15 minutes. In the meantime prepare the stuffing mixture.
- In a bowl combine the blackberries, quinoa, garlic, coconut milk, coriander, zucchini pulp, almond flakes, salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly. Remove the zucchini halves from the oven, stuff with the mixture and bake for another 15 minutes.
- Serve hot or cold. Drizzle with a bit of oil and/or lemon juice, sprinkle with fresh cilantro and enjoy!
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RECIPE LINK PARTIES
I am bringing these quinoa zucchini boats to Simple and in Season.
Hi, I am Monika, welcome to Everyday Healthy Recipes! This blog is all about creatively simple recipes with a healthy twist, old classics with a modern take, and an occasional Polish dish thrown into the mix - all easy to make, healthy and delicious, perfect for everyday cooking. 
Gosh this is beautiful and something I would never have thought to put together. I’m really looking forward to the blackberries coming into season up here… brambling is one of my fave things to do with my kids! Thanks for hooking up with this month’s Simple and in Season 🙂
Thank you so much Hannah, blackberries are really versatile and I can’t get enough of them this summer, I’ll be posting another blackberry recipe this week:)
Oh I absolutely love the sound of this recipe – what a wonderful combination of flavours! I went to a Madeleine Shaw event earlier this year about cooking with berries and she had some wonderful ideas for cooking with berries too, might be worth you hunting them out for ideas. We made a celeriac, quinoa and raspberry dish for lunch with her which was just unbelievably delicious. Thanks for linking up with #CookBlogShare
Thanks Mandy, and thank you for sharing that, I will definitely take a closer look at her recipes:)
What a gorgeous recipe although I have always loved blackberries – they remind me of my childhood as we used to pick them in summer and made so many things with them!
Thanks Corina, I’m going to try to include blackberries in my diet a lot more from now on:)