Grilled Zucchini Goat Cheese Bake – zucchini stuffed with herbed goat cheese and baked with marinara sauce. Serve with fresh bread for an easy dinner!
I’ve always wanted a garden. As a born and raised urban dweller, I dream of growing my own vegetables and herbs in a small plot of fertile soil in the backyard.
However, when I look out my front door I see concrete and the only outside space I can call my own is a 3 foot by 10 foot balcony.
So when it’s zucchini season and I hear home gardeners talking about an overabundance of zucchini, I feel a little jealous inside. I want an overabundance of zucchini. I want zucchini coming out of my ears!
And if I did have a so-called “overabundance” of zucchini, I would make this Grilled Zucchini Goat Cheese Bake. Zucchini is one of our favorite summer vegetables to put on the grill.
Cut into long, thin slices, it tastes delicious grilled its own but takes on a new life when used in zucchini “roll ups.” Rolling a bit of herbed goat cheese inside of a grilled zucchini and baking with fresh tomato sauce makes for a perfect easy meal or pickable appetizer.
More zucchini = more zucchini roll ups = more easy summer dinners.
Grilled Zucchini Goat Cheese Bake: Ideas, Tips & Tricks
While I’m of the mind that anything tastes better with a bit of goat cheese, for those who are avoiding dairy or would like to up the ante on the zucchini roll up filling I have a few variation ideas:
- Vegan cheese or nutritional yeast (or both!)
- Mashed spiced lentils
- Lean meat, poultry or meat substitute like tofu or tempeh
Loving this Grilled Zucchini Goat Cheese Bake?
Try another of my favorite easy vegetable dinners:
- Vegan Fusilli Pasta Salad
- Honey-Glazed Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto
- Roasted Bell Peppers and Zucchini
Grilled Zucchini Goat Cheese Bake
Ingredients
- 4 large zucchini
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- 2 ounces herbed goat cheese
- 12 ounces tomato sauce
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
- pinch salt and black peppercorns
- Optional, but highly recommended: 1 loaf french or ciabatta bread
Instructions
- Slice ends off zucchini and then slice longways into 1/4 inch thick pieces (see photo above for example). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill over medium heat for 3 minutes each side, or until zucchini begins to dry and gains grill marks. Remove from heat and let cool.
- When zucchini has cooled, pour tomato sauce into large pan. Roll 1 teaspoon of herbed goat cheese into each zucchini and place in sauce. Place any remaining goat cheese in tomato sauce and top with red pepper, salt and black peppercorns.
- Bake for 10 minutes in oven at 400 degrees* and serve immediately with fresh bread.
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