A Guide to Zucchini

Every summer I get an overload of zucchinis from the garden. I only grow 1 zucchini plant but it produces more than I can eat. In the last few years I have learned the best zucchini recipes to make so I can use up my zucchini without getting sick of eating so much.

What are Zucchinis

Zucchinis are a type of summer squash. Most squash we think of as a fall crop but zucchinis come in the middle of summer. They can come as green or yellow vegetables.

You may see zucchinis also called courgette. This is the French/British name for the vegetable.

How to Eat Zucchini

The most common way I eat zucchini is by roasting them. After roasting you can add them to pasta, pizza, bowls, and salads. One thing to note about eating zucchini is that they have a lot of water content. Many recipes will have you add salt to draw out the water before roasting or adding it to a recipe.

Another way to eat zucchini is by shredding it. The most common way this method is used is with zucchini bread. You can also add shredded zucchini to a minestrone soup or a fruit smoothie.

The Best Zucchini Recipes

If you ave a lot of zucchini, it’s always good to have a few recipes in rotation that you know are delicious. Here are a few of my go to zucchini recipes.

Zucchini Involtini

Alexandra Cooks

This is hands down my favorite zucchini recipe. Cutting the zucchini into strips was a little difficult (I highly recommend using a mandolin), but the results were amazing.

Summer Squash Tuna Casserole

Six Seasons Cookbook

The Six Seasons cookbook has a few zucchini recipes I love. The tuna casserole one is my favorite. It swaps out noodles for zucchini and bakes it with sharp cheddar and scallions.

Creamy Zucchini Pasta

Modern Proper

This is the best recipe for hiding a lot of zucchini. It tastes just like a cream sauce and the zucchini gives it a bright green color that makes the dish beautiful.

Vegan Zucchini Bread

Nora Cooks

Zucchini bread is a classic way to use up your zucchini. I love adding chocolate chips to this recipe to make it more of a dessert.

Baked Zucchini Chips

Love and Lemons

Zucchini chips make a great side dish or appetizer to any meal.

Vegan Zucchini Boats

Minimalist Baker

These zucchini boats are easy to make. They are stuffed with marinara, vegan sausage, and spices.

Health Benefits of Zucchini

Zucchini is a great food to add to your diet. It is high in many vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium, Magnesium, Folate, and others. With all these nutrients zucchini is also a very low calorie food so it is a great addition to meals to up your nutrients while reducing your calories.

Zucchinis are also a great digestion aid because they are high in water content and contains fiber.

How to Preserve Zucchini

If you just have too many zucchini, sometimes you need to preserve some. My favorite way to preserve zucchini it to shred and freeze it. I can pull it out of the freezer and add it to soups, pastas, or make zucchini bread with it. The Fresh Exchange did a whole post of how to preserve zucchini this way. You can read that post here.

Another way I preserve zucchini is to cut it up in cubes, lay it out on a baking sheet, place in the freezer, and put it in a bag or jar. I keep the container in the freezer and then add the cubed zucchini pieces to my smoothies. They are a great alternative to adding ice cubes and you can’t even taste the zucchini in the smoothies!

How to Grow Zucchini

Zucchini is one of my favorite plants to grow in the garden. No matter how the rest of my garden is doing, my zucchini plant always produces a huge amount. They are one of the easiest and most rewarding plants to grow.

Since they are quick growing plants, I typically start mine from seed. I start them from seed outside after the danger of frost has past. They take about 7 days to germinate. Once the leaves start to grow, it puts on a good amount of growth in a short amount of time.

When planting a zucchini make sure to plant it somewhere you have space as they tend to get fairly large. I typically plant a bushing variety such as the Dunja squash.

Make sure to add compost before planting and keep the plant well watered. When they start producing check for harvest almost every other day. Once the fruit start to grow it can get large quick. I like to harvest mine with they are about 8” long but sometime I get some that are well above 14”. I like to use the larger ones for shredding in zucchini bread.

Zucchini is a highlight of mid summer. Enjoy, preserve, and use them up while you can.

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