Need your zucchini recipes

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
Post Reply
jacob
Site Admin
Posts: 15859
Joined: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:38 pm
Location: USA, Zone 5b, Koppen Dfa, Elev. 620ft, Walkscore 77
Contact:

Need your zucchini recipes

Post by jacob »

We're drowning in zucchinis and since we haven't managed to eat all the frozen zucchini from last year yet, I'm looking for recipes.

Most of them have gone into pasta sauce and zucchini bread, but there's only so much one can eat of that.

The only innovation so far was discovering zucchini relish and combining it with ketchup. That's on par with the discovery of homemade thousand island dressing in terms of "where has this been all my life?!?", but there must be more uses?

PS: A lot of online recipes try to conform to the SAD taste and are more like melted cheese with a bit of zucchini added and I'd like to avoid that.
PPS: Already bombed the neighbors.

Scott 2
Posts: 2820
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by Scott 2 »

Have you tried zoodles, spiralized zucchini in place of pasta noodles?

Noodles and company sold it for awhile. It looks like an easy way to consume high volume:

https://onbetterliving.com/zoodles-at-noodles-company/

Dream of Freedom
Posts: 753
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Nebraska, US

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by Dream of Freedom »

Light a charcoal grill or firepit. Slice zucchini. Put on some salt and mix. Wrap in aluminum foil with a small pad of butter. When the fire has reduced to coals or the charcoal turns mostly white, toss it directly on the coals. After an hour remove with tongs. Enjoy.
Last edited by Dream of Freedom on Sun Jul 31, 2022 5:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Seppia
Posts: 2009
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:34 am
Location: South Florida

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by Seppia »

Cut the zucchini in half longitudinally (is this a word?).
Dig out the white part with a spoon so that you’re left with a sort of zucchini canoe.
Sauté a bit of pancetta or sausage, then when browned add the white part of the zucchini with a touch of garlic.
When cooked, add a fresh diced tomato and raise the flame on high for a minute or so stirring fast.
Fill the zucchini shell with this mix, add a touch of bread crumbs on top (or Panko), add a little olive oil and bake in the oven

2Birds1Stone
Posts: 1591
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 11:20 am
Location: Earth

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

We have been devouring grilled zucchini several times a week for the past 5+ summers.

Rinse, cut lengthwise into 3-5 "slices" depending on thickness, cooking spray or light oil, salt, pepper, cayenne to taste (zuc is naturally sweet so spicey works very well) and grill on high heat for 3-4 min on each size and serve. I don't like it too mushy but not too firm, so this will be something to play around with to preference.

It's good hot off the grill, and cold the next day.

Edited to add: the best results we have are when we cut it approximately 1/4-1/3" thickness

take2
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:32 am

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by take2 »

We too have been drowning in zucchini. Top ways to consume:

- Sliced thinly tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, lemon and grilled (ideally on charcoal but gas is good too)
- Cold zucchini soup
- Zoodles (quick sear on high heat with olive oil, don’t leave too long or else they get soggy)
- Stuffed zucchini (see Seppia above)
- sautéed cut in circles or half moons
- zucchini bread (we have pushed this to the limit and can confirm you really can’t put too much)
- fried zucchini (esp the flowers!)
- diced in sauce (combine with zoodles for best effect)
- diced in omelettes

We also have a lot of chayote squash and not so much eggplant. My biggest takeaway after 3 years of having an abundant amount of zucchini has been to plant more eggplant instead. It’s way better IMHO.

basuragomi
Posts: 416
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:13 pm

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by basuragomi »

Zucchini noodle pad thai. Julienne zucchini into 1/8" strips, rotate as you go if using a mandoline to segregate out the squishy core. Cover and microwave zucchini for 8-10 minutes on high. Use this to partially replace rice noodles in pad thai, 1 lb of raw zucchini per serving.

User avatar
Slevin
Posts: 620
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:44 pm
Location: Sonoma County

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by Slevin »

Dehydrated zucchini chips (can be made in the oven at a low 1XX temp if you end up with a more chilly / rainy day) store for a long time (months) and can be eaten as a snack with dips / etc so that you don’t need to consume it all immediately and succumb to zucchini overconsumption. They can be made SAD with tons of cheese, but no need for that.

mooretrees
Posts: 762
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:21 pm

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by mooretrees »

zucchini fritters are like potato latkes but, um, with grated zucchini. usually best if you salt the zukes and then remove some moisture after grating them. i'm trying chips tonight in the dehydrator. hopefully they're a good use and have a good crisp.

User avatar
Chris
Posts: 773
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:44 pm

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by Chris »

Zucchini and groats stew

3 zucchini, chopped (~1.6lb)
1c groats
1c chicken stock
1 onion, diced

Sizzle onion
Add zucchini; salt and soften
Add groats and stock
Simmer until groats are cooked.

The taste is surprisingly good for the small number of ingredients. Add more water or stock after cooking if you like it soupier.

User avatar
jennypenny
Posts: 6845
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by jennypenny »

We do squash tots and pancakes. They have very few ingredients, can be combined with shredded potatoes to preserve those as well, and can be frozen before cooking. They are good to do together because they both require shredding the vegetables, so similar prep. We use flour instead of bread crumbs in the pancakes to absorb the moisture. Like others, we do zucchini sticks that are ready to be grilled/baked and freeze them.

I like zoodles fresh, but has anyone tried freezing them? Curious if they fall apart to nothing when they thaw.

BeyondtheWrap
Posts: 598
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 3:38 pm
Location: NYC

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by BeyondtheWrap »

Mix in with rice and beans/lentils.

shaz
Posts: 417
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:05 pm
Location: Colorado, US

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by shaz »

I add them to my basic vegetable mix (diced yam, onion, cabbage). Cook in a skillet. The yam takes the longest to cook and is yummiest if you let it char a little so put it in the pan first and add other veggies once the yam is soft. Stir frequently. Add seasonings to taste - salt, pepper, garlic, paprika are my favorites. Top with your choice of egg, salsa, green chili, plain yogurt, hot sauce.

take2
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:32 am

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by take2 »

take2 wrote:
Sun Jul 31, 2022 5:18 pm
New found way - zucchini tzatziki. Basically swap out cucumber for zucchini (Greek yogurt, garlic, olive oil, chopped zucchini, dill). Great as a dip for grilled zucchini!

User avatar
Jean
Posts: 1886
Joined: Fri Dec 13, 2013 8:49 am
Location: Switzterland

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by Jean »

or a zuchini-heavy ratatouille.
one good alternative to cookink the vegetables separately is to make biger pieces of vegetables.

guitarplayer
Posts: 1292
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:43 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by guitarplayer »

The thing is it is so much water. I was chatting with a 70+ yo lady recently and it came to gardening. I was telling her how we still have marrows from last season that got sort of cured, their skin thickened and they are just on a window sill. So the lady told me that her grandmother would deal with such courgettes by cooking them just so that the inside got mushy and then cooking pasta in it. So that the pasta takes the water from the veggie. I am yet to try it but it sounds great, and I guess it would work for other food that needs added water for cooking, e.g. rice.

Nota bene, DW's mum also had such cured marrows and opened one up recently because it felt light. The marrow was hollow and seeds inside sprouted. DW's mum planted some of them and they now grow happily. The rest she ate.

guitarplayer
Posts: 1292
Joined: Thu Feb 27, 2020 6:43 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Need your zucchini recipes

Post by guitarplayer »

I cooked two spaghetti squashes (similar to marrow) and one cross of a spaghetti squash and a marrow that way. Added about a cup of wholemeal pasta and about a cup of split peas. I had to add perhaps a cup of water for the peas to soften, but otherwise it was all water from the veggies. All turned out well.

Grow your own water - Mollison was talking about it somewhere when examining dessert vegetation and how people there use it.

Post Reply