Easy Zucchini Recipes We Make All Summer Long
Every August, somebody around here ends up with more zucchini than they know what to do with. It shows up on the porch, in a grocery bag by the front door, or in the back seat of the car after a visit to the garden. At some point we stopped fighting it and just started cooking.
These are the easy zucchini recipes we actually come back to again and again. There is a buttery side dish that takes about fifteen minutes, grilled zucchini for barbecues, a creamy summer chowder, a pasta that turned out even better than we expected, and the zucchini bread we have made more times than we can count.
Buttered Zucchini and Onions
This is our favorite way to eat zucchini, and it is barely a recipe at all. Slice it up, melt some butter in a pan, cook it down with diced onion, salt and pepper, and you have a side dish that goes with almost anything. A lot of the magic here is the butter, and we are completely okay with that.
It is the one we make on busy nights next to grilled chicken, burgers, or a rotisserie chicken from the store when nobody feels like cooking.
What You Will Need
- 2 medium zucchini, sliced into rounds or half moons
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 to 3 tablespoons butter
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to Make It
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the diced onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until it starts to soften and smell good.
- Add the zucchini, season generously with salt and pepper, and stir so everything gets coated in the butter.
- Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the zucchini is soft and the edges are a little golden. Taste, add more salt if it needs it, and serve warm.
Grilled Zucchini for a BBQ
For the extra large zucchini, we like to grill them. Slice them into rounds, season with salt and pepper, and add a drizzle of Italian dressing. Then straight onto the grill until they are tender with a few good char marks.
They are so delicious for barbecues and they feed a crowd without much effort. You can prep them while the burgers cook, and the dressing does all the seasoning work for you.
Summer Corn and Zucchini Chowder
This one is one of Grace’s favorites, and it is the recipe we pull out when the zucchini and the sweet corn are both at their best. It is loaded with bacon, corn, potatoes, zucchini and yellow squash, and it comes together in about 50 minutes. Serve it with crusty bread and it is a whole dinner.
Get the recipe at Life Made Simple Bakes
Creamy Zucchini Pasta
Eliza tried this one recently and it turned out so yummy. The sauce is zucchini, shallots, garlic, cream, basil and Parmesan, all blended smooth, and the whole thing is done in about 30 minutes.
One note from her kitchen: hers came out thick, almost like a mac and cheese, which nobody complained about. If you want it silkier, use a little more pasta for the same amount of sauce and save plenty of that starchy pasta water to thin it out at the end.
Get the recipe at The Modern Proper
The Best Zucchini Bread
If we only make one thing with a giant zucchini, it is this bread. We are always fans of Mel’s recipes, and this one is exactly what you want: ultra moist, warm with cinnamon and allspice, and made with melted butter and a little yogurt or sour cream.
Do not skip the step where you wring the shredded zucchini out in a towel. All that extra water is the difference between a soggy middle and a perfect crumb. It makes one 9×5 loaf in about an hour, or you can turn it into mini loaves or muffins if you are handing some out to neighbors. A thick slice with cream cheese is our favorite way to eat it.
Get the recipe at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Tips for Cooking with Zucchini
- Small and medium zucchini have the best flavor. The giant ones are watery and full of seeds, so save those for the grill or for shredding into bread.
- For baking, always squeeze the shredded zucchini in a clean kitchen towel until the water stops coming out.
- When you are sauteing, do not crowd the pan. Zucchini steams instead of browning when it is piled too high.
- Salt toward the end of cooking rather than the beginning so it does not release all its water right away.
- There is no need to peel it. The skin holds the shape and adds a little color.
- Shred extra zucchini, portion it into 1 or 2 cup bags, and freeze it. Future you will be very glad in November when you want zucchini bread.
That is our whole zucchini summer in one place. Five recipes, one very generous garden, and a lot of butter. If you are staring down a counter full of squash right now, start with the buttered zucchini tonight and make the bread tomorrow.
What is your favorite way to use up zucchini? We are always looking for one more idea to add to the list, so tell us in the comments!
Looking for more easy summer sides? Try our Favorite Summer BBQ Side Dishes next.
