A logo with a tomato and the words Dinner with Evie
Serves 2
Ingredients
  • 1 small bowl (3-4 heaped tablespoons) of leftover ragù
  • 1 medium/large courgette (approx. 330-350g)
  • 1 small garlic clove (minced) OR 1/2 a teaspoon of garlic granules
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small handful of grated mozzarella
  • sea salt and cracked black pepper
  • (optional) green salad and parmigiano to serve

Leftover Bolognese Stuffed Courgette

Roasted courgette is simply a delight, and it takes very little time to cook, making it a perfect veg to experiment with. And if you're me, that usually means stuffing it with leftover ragù (or "bolognese" depending on who you ask!). I hope you love this leftover bolognese stuffed courgette recipe as much as I do. As someone who always makes more bolognese than I need, I find myself making it a lot! And it never disappoints.

half a courgette, roasted, stuffed with bolognese and melted, grated cheese, served with green salad on the side

Tips

Something I like to do before beginning this recipe is take the leftover bolognese out of the fridge to get it down to room temperature. This will make it easier to scoop into your courgette!

a small red bowl with leftover bolognese inside

Step 1

First things first, start heating your oven to 200°C

Cut your courgette in half. Then, using a small, shap knife, draw a line around the flesh of the courgette (of about the thickness pictured below), then score the flesh within that line before removing it with a metal teaspoon.

Scoring the flesh lightly a criss-cross pattern makes it easier to remove.

a courgette, sliced in half, with the fesh removed, and seasoned with oil and pepper

Go slowly, and this will be easier than you think! Thankfully, courgettes are quite firm so you're unlikely to scoop out too much by accident.

Tips

As you can see in the picture above, even if you lose a pice of courgette, it doesn't matter as long as you can make a "boat" out of what's left for your ragu to sit in!

Step 2

Season the boats you've made with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. Then pop them in the oven and set a timer for 7 minutes.

Step 3

Mince your garlic and roughly chop the courgette flesh you've removed. Then begin to fry these together in a non-stick pan with a little olive oil. After about a minute, add in your ragu and stir over a low heat.

ragu and courgette chunks cooking in a black pan

By the time your ragu, courgette and garlic mix has been heating together for a few minutes, your timer will go off. Time to stuff that courgette!

Step 4

Carefully spoon the leftover bolognese and courgette filling into yourr courgette boats, then garnish with mozzarella.

courgette halves stuffed with bolognese

You can use any meltable cheese you like for these bolognese stuffed courgettes. However, I find pre-grated mozzarella works the best as it's not too oily, salty or watery.

leftover bolognese stuffed courgettes, on a non-stick, black oven dish, ready to be cooked

Step 5

Check on your courgette after 10 minutes just in case they're done. But I find they're usually perfectly cooked after around 14 minutes.

two cooked courgette halves with bolognese inside and melted cheese on top

And that's it! Your leftover bolognese stuffed courgette is finished! It really is that easy! A lunch that looks and tastes fancy, in less than an hour.

Serve with green salad, olive oil, and a little parmigiano.

a white plate with green salad and a single bolognese stuffed courgette half garnished with melted mozzarella

Tips

I usually have this for lunch for two with salad. However, if you're serving your leftover bolognese stuffed courgettes for dinner, you can make one whole courgette per person or serve with a heavier side like boiled/fried potatoes.

If you liked this recipe, you'll love my Ragù Stuffed Aubergines. They contain added passata and use fresh mozzarella rather than the grated stuff.

A smiling Evie wearing an apron
Any questions or comments? I'd love to hear from you!Fire me an email at