Got zucchini coming out your ears this time of year? I know of several gardeners who generously gift their zucchini and squash away because it becomes just so much for one person to use up. If you’re tired of the same old zucchini recipes or having trouble thinking of new ways to use it in your meal prep, I’ve got 10 ideas to help you out!
Zucchini is somewhat of a staple in our house. Even when it’s not in season and my mother or friends aren’t giving it to us left and right, I add it to my grocery list. It’s included in some of our favorite family meals!
1- Add It to Your Eggs
If you dice the zucchini up really small, and keep it in a small container in your fridge, you can throw some easily into your eggs or omelets in the mornings. I love the crunch it adds. You can also add diced or shredded zucchini to your breakfast casseroles.
2- Soups!
You can add zucchini to several soup recipes. Italian beef soups, or my family’s absolute favorite: Veggie Loaded Taco Soup. I’ve also been known to add it to my chili at times. You’ll want to dice or chop into small, cubed pieces and let it simmer with the rest of your ingredients.
3- Zucchini Lasagna
I love zucchini lasagna! A pretty simple concept, and you don’t need a fancy mandolin slicer like some recipes may call for. I simply just cut my zucchini into circular coin pieces, and then lay them in a bottom layer on the dish after you’ve sprayed it with cooking spray. You continue to layer with homemade meat sauce (and ricotta or cottage cheese) like a normal lasagna. You’ll need to top it off with shredded cheese if you like.
*You can also turn this into a paleo/dairy free recipe and just layer an amazing meat sauce with the zucchini coins. Still yummy.
4- Zoodles
Since we’re on the topic of meat sauce, I’ll go ahead and mention zoodle making. I have two zoodle making contraptions. My kids love to help with my veggie spiralizer, and when you just need a small amount of them the Veggetti tool works too.
I usually just saute them in a pan with some garlic powder, onion powder, salt a little butter, or steam them using my handy Pampered Chef Steamer. Of course you can eat them however you like, but my family usually smothers this bomb meat sauce on them or marinara meatballs!
5- Stir Fry
We eat a lot of stir fry in our house. Even with my picky child, she will still eat the broccoli and chicken out of it, but the rest of us like to load up the veggies and add white rice too. You can simple cut your zucchini into whatever shape and sizes you want (long strips or small cubes or triangles will work best) and then saute them with any other vegetables that you may want to include.
Or, if you’re in a time crunch, use a bag of frozen vegetable medley or stir fry mixed veggies and just add the zucchini to it while you’re whipping it up in your skillet. Of course, I would suggest adding shredded or diced chicken breast to complete the dish!
These simple ingredients make all the difference when making a good Asian flavored stir fry: Sesame Oil, Coconut Aminos (or soy sauce), Primal Kitchen’s Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce
6- Mini Zucchini Pizzas
These are so yummy and you can use those obnoxiously large zucchinis for these too. Even though, you may want to remove some of the larger seeds. Just line a baking sheet with foil, spray with cooking spray and lay your circular cut zucchini pieces out. (Lightly spray the tops of them w/ more cooking spray) Then, simple layer your sauce, turkey pepperoni (I prefer turkey to regular), and shredded cheese or whatever toppings you like. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the zucchini appears to be soft.
7- Bread
Everyone loves Zucchini bread. It’s so moist and just the right amount of sweetness. You will of course need to shred your zucchini to make a bread. The best part about shredding your zucchini, is that you can save for later in the freezer and enjoy delicious breads all year long! A food processor makes shredding super easy.
Here’s my paleo zucchini muffin recipe. There are several recipes out there to explore. I recently added zucchini to a banana nut bread recipe and it was a hit! Even my picky one ate it. Next up for the fall I’m going to explore with zucchini pumpkin bread. YUM!
8- Air Fried (or just fried!)
I LOVED when we would have fried zucchini for dinner growing up. It’s just delicious. Luckily, we have a handy air fryer available to us these days, and we can save on fat and large splattering mess by using it. There are so many recipes out there. You can go super simple and just toss in olive oil and salt and pepper before air frying or you can do something like add a parmesan and seasoning crust to your zucchini before frying. You can cut into circles, half moons, fries, the options are endless. Either way, you’ll end up with a delightful side dish your family can enjoy.
9- Roasted
Roasted veggies are my favorite! (I feel like I’ve said that about all of these suggestions so far, haha!) Broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, ZUCCHINI… it’s all better when roasted- and so easy to do.
Here’s my go-to macro friendly method:
Chop your zucchini/all veggies you want to include (If you chop all of your veggies at the beginning of the week and keep them in your fridge, you can simply pull them out when it’s time to throw dinner together and place them on the pan)
Lay foil down on a baking sheet for easier clean up.
I spray the foil lightly with cooking spray, place the veggies on it, and then spritz the veggies with little more cooking spray (usually avocado or olive oil)
For macro friendly roasted veggies- instead of drenching the vegetables with an unknown amount of oil- place them in a bowl first and then measure out the oil amount and then toss them to cover.
I always season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder before throwing in the oven
Bake/roast at 380 to 400 degrees until you see the crispiness you desire.
10- Shred it!
Technically I already touched on this one for bread and egg recipes, but you can do so much more with it. You can add to your taco meat, add to your sloppy Joe recipes (along with shredded carrots), add to your meatloaf, and could even throw it into some cake recipes. (Such as carrot cake) The reason shredding is such a great choice is because you can add it to freezer bags and use it whenever you want. It’s a perfect plan.
*Pyrex bowls are perfect for storing in the fridge!
So have some fun with it, guys! Get in the kitchen and see what you can cook up!
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