When zucchini’s in season it’s one of my absolute favourite vegetables. For the rest of the year I don’t use zucchini apart from occasionally, chopped into sauces or casseroles, as an additional ingredient, but come springtime when we have an abundance of zucchinis in the garden I absolutely love them.
So of course I have to think up new ways to create meals using up a lot of zucchini and here are 8 of them to get your taste buds glowing. And the 9th is an assortment of various other suggestions.
One of my favourite blended soups is this zucchini soup, made from the inspiration of the Spanish recipe, crema de calabacín. Traditionally it’s served thick and smooth, but you can make it thinner if you prefer.
Bowl of thick zucchini soup with coriander on top
It’s easy and quick to prepare and can be served cold the next day too. I love it both ways, hot or cold and it’s a perfect addition to a summer lunch.
Basically all you need for this recipe is 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves, olive oil for cooking, 2 potatoes and the zucchini plus a handful of cashew nuts. Fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil and salt until transparent and flavoursome.
Add the chopped potato and fry for a moment followed by the chopped zucchini. After a few minutes add water to just cover the veggies and throw in a handful of cashew nuts. Leave to cook until soft through.
If you have enough time, turn off the heat and let the soup cool down and infuse with the flavours before blending. Otherwise, if you’re running short on time, just blend immediately and serve.
If you’ve really got a lot of zucchini, then this is the recipe for you! I created this loosely basing it on an inspiration from eggplant parmesan or eggplant layers as I like to call it.
Basically you need lots of zucchini and a little of something else to go in between the layers. I chose to make it with onion and tofu on this occasion but you can choose virtually anything that takes your fancy.
Cut the zucchini into thin strips lengthwise. Mix a cup of olive oil with 3 cloves of chopped garlic and 1/4 tsp salt. Brush the zucchini with the olive oil mix, making sure each piece is coated.
Layer the bottom of a casserole dish with two layers of zucchini followed by one layer of sliced onion (or vegetable of choice) and a handful of cashews. Pour on half of the cashew nut sauce then repeat with another layer of zucchini followed by a layer of marinated tofu if using.
Fill the rest of the casserole up with zucchini slices and pour over the remaining cashew sauce. Sprinkle plenty of nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan over the top and put in the oven to cook for 45 minutes or until the top is browning.
I must confess I’ve never been a big fan of stuffing zucchini. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. It just never really appealed to me before.
But when you’ve got so many huge zucchinis to use up, it’s obviously a recipe that begs to be tried.
So I did.
And guess what? Yes . . . I loved them.
Vegan stuffed zucchini boat with raita sauce on top
To make these zucchini boats you’ll need to have some plump zucchinis. Scoop out the middle flesh and roughly chop for the stuffing. Fry and onion and garlic with a herb of your choice (parsley goes well) and add the chopped up zucchini flesh plus a little salt and any other veggies you fancy including (mushrooms, red pepper . . .).
Cook some quinoa separately and once ready, add the quinoa to the veggie mix. Add a tomato to the pan or some tinned tomato just to give it a little juice. You’re going to serve the boats with a sauce so the stuffing doesn’t need to be saucy, just moist.
Brush the empty half zucchinis with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes each side on 200ºc. The time they take will depend on the size of your zucchinis so keep an eye on them. They should be just a little browned and half cooked.
Stuff the half zucchinis with the stuffing and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Serve with a sauce of choice, for example, cashew sauce, tomato sauce or vegan raita which you can find in the post about plant based sauce recipes.
This was an experiment which turned out well but it’s really only viable if you’ve got some fresh beetroot from the garden. Otherwise maybe follow the same idea and sub the beetroot for another vegetable.
The basic idea for this casserole is to create layers of vegetable below a crunchy potato topping.
Slice of potato zucchini casserole with beetroot
So cut the zucchini into thin strips and lightly brush with olive oil. Place the layers of zucchini alternating with a layer of your other vegetable and sprinkling some chopped garlic in between.
Finish the casserole off with sliced rounds of potato, also brushed with olive oil and salt.
In this recipe I also used some beet leaves as spinach and a layer of tofu below the potato. It’s entirely optional which ingredients you use.
A casserole won’t go wrong as long as there’s some liquid or oil to facilitate the cooking, some salt for seasoning and some yummy ingredients in the middle!
When you’ve completed the casserole, put into the oven at 200ºc for about 50 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown and crunchy. Serve with cashew sauce or a sauce of your choice.
This is just so easy-peasy quick ‘n tasty, you’ll be eating in 20 minutes after starting to cook! You’ll need a wok for cooking in, an onion a zucchini, some chickpeas and any other veggies of choice. I used broccoli in this recipe but you could change it for peppers, mushrooms or cauliflower.
Stir fry 1 chopped onion with chilli to taste, 2 cloves garlic & 1 tsp cumin, ginger, coriander and turmeric.
Quick chickpea recipe with zucchini & broccoli, served with tahini sauce
After a few moments, add the chopped zucchini, a sprinkle of salt, and fry for a few moments before the other vegetables also go in the pan.
When the veggies are coming along nicely, add a packet of drained, chopped tofu and a jar of drained chickpeas. Fry with the vegetables for another 5 minutes.
Taste the seasoning and add salt as necessary and a generous slosh of Tamari soy sauce.
Serve in pitta pockets, wraps or a buddha bowl, with some Tahini sauce or cashew sauce alongside.
I love this salad. It isn’t something I make so often but when I do, I love it!
It’s so simple. All you have to do is to slice the zucchini so thinly (use a cheese slice or a peeler) that it makes ribbons of zucchini. Marinade these zucchini ribbons in lemon juice, olive oil and some salt and leave them in the fridge for 30 minutes to absorb the flavours.
If they aren’t left to marinade, your salad will just be a raw zucchini salad. By marinading them properly the zucchini becomes soft and flavoursome.
You may like to add a dash of soy sauce to the marinade but it’s totally optional. Apart from the zucchini, you can add anything you like to the salad. I normally chop up some red pepper and cherry tomatoes to go with it.
On top of that I add some walnuts and pine kernels and some homemade pesto and homemade hummus and a dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
What would a list of zucchini recipes be without the traditional Spanish pisto recipe? Pisto is Spains answer to Ratatouille in France and I’m sure there are other countries with their own versions too.
This doesn’t taste anything like ratatouille that I had as a child though (which was fairly dire stuff at school)!
Spanish pisto served with scrambled tofu or fried tofu egg
Fry an onion and garlic in olive oil until almost cooked, then add the chopped zucchini followed by a chopped eggplant. Sprinkle with salt.
In a separate pan, fry off 5 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped, until you have a fried tomato sauce with some bits left in it.
Mix the tomato into the veggies once the vegetables are cooked. Stir and serve with tofu egg.
If you have a griddle, adding grilled zucchini to a king salad can be a delicious meal. A king salad is basically my name for a salad that includes everything.
So you might have some rice in there, some tofu, some grilled zucchini, avocado, walnuts, sunflower seeds, chia seeds and flax. Plus the usual cherry tomatoes, cucumber and green leaves.
Roughly chop the zucchini and put it into a pan with a tiny amount of water and salt. Cover with a lid and cook in its own steam. Mash it up and mix with mashed potato to serve as a side dish.
Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and grill it on the griddle or BBQ. Enjoy just like that with a sprinkle of salt!
Chop it into quarters and coat in a little garlic olive oil and salt, then fry in the air fryer for some really yummy zucchini chips.
Cut it in half lengthwise, score the flesh, sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt, brush with olive oil and roast it in the oven. Absolutely delicious but be prepared for it to shrink. A lot of zucchini doesn’t go very far cooked like this! Optionally, you can add tiny bits of garlic into the flesh of the zucchini for a final garlicky tang.
Slice it thinly and add it raw to salads in place of cucumber.
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