Cheesy Stuffed Zucchini Cups filled with Sausage and Spinach make for perfect finger food for a party!
This easy, low carb appetizer is a great idea for football game watching or any party because utensils aren't required! The hardest part is scooping out the zucchini, all the rest is a simple filling prepared on the stove then the cups are filled and baked!
I don't know about you but I'm always looking for recipes that are great for sharing with others and don't require a lot of dishes and utensils because I truly hate doing dishes! I recently had a fundraiser Silent Auction dinner for my daughters American Heritage Girls event and finger food meals were asked for.
I originally wanted to stuff zucchini as I often have as a large half, often called zucchini boats. I've made Bacon Cheeseburger Stuffed Zucchini Boats and Chicken Fajita Stuffed Zucchini Boats that are fantastic but wouldn't really be easy enough to pick up and walk around while doing the silent auction.
I looked over some ideas on Pinterest of course and came across my friend Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen. It was her Meat Tomato Zucchini Cup recipe that caught my eye.
Boom! I loved the idea of the way the zucchini were cut and scooped making perfect little cups.
So I went ahead, made my tasty filling and scooped them into the perfectly portioned zucchini cups.
I brought them to the event, reheated them slightly in the oven, although these are still tasty at room temperature as well, and I grabbed one for myself. I brought home an empty dish! They were the only low carb option for a hot appetizer available so I was pretty glad I brought them.
Whether you use them for a party or not, or just an easy lunch meal for yourself during the week, these are fun to eat! If the kids don't like zucchini you could use the filling and put them into my Cauliflower Tortillas and make them some quesadillas!
Cheesy Sausage Spinach Zucchini Cups
Ingredients
- 3 zucchini about 1.5 pounds
- 8 ounces sweet Italian sausage casings removed
- 3 ounces chopped onion
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 3 ounces fresh spinach
- optional topping: grated asiago cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Slice zucchini in 1-1.5 inch pieces. Should make 6 from each zucchini, totaling 18 pieces.
- Scoop out the center of each leaving ¼ inch on the sides and being careful not to scoop through the bottom. Discard what you scooped out.
- Set these zucchini "cups" in a 9 by 13 pan. Set aside.
- Cook sausage and onion together over medium high heat in a skillet until sausage is no longer pink.
- Stir in cream cheese until completely melted throughout. Taste mixture and decide if you need any salt and pepper. I didn't use any.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach until wilted.
- Fill zucchini "cups" with the filling then top with optional cheese if desired.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Enjoy warm or room temperature.
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Lorie Prokup
I made these as boats instead of cups and substituted laughing cow wedges for the cream cheese to make it non-keto & more diabetic friendly. These are delish!
Ms-Shell
Crazy question but I hate waste...ever made these adding the zucchini meat to the mixture?
Brenda
No I didn't, thought about it, but new with the amount of zucchini I had, I would have had a ton of left over filling. Not a bad thing of course.
Lorie Prokup
That's what you with stuffed zucchini-zucchini boats. Actually I thought of using this to make those. Being diabetic, I can't do keto per my physician. A "note:" on your recipes how to de-ketoize them would be awesome. Thanks!
Cynthia
OMG looks delicious, l'm going to make it for tomorrow. Thank you for your recipies.
Brenda
thank you!