The Best Zucchini Recipes

Casey, commonly refereed to as Auntie Cakie (like cake with a -y) or Auntie Grandma is as Julia Child once said, "...the butter to my bread, and the breath to my life." She is the adventure queen, sleepover maven, urban hike master, bestest story reader, wedding clip board manager, cool sock picker outer, dog mom to Ollie and Eden, and a super duper great chef! This week on the blog, Casey dishes on all her favorite Zucchini dishes. Bon Apetit!

While Zucchini are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, they produce so much fruit it can be impossible to eat it all up. Just when you think the harvest is complete, several more fruit seem to appear over night. And what about that massive zucchini you forgot about while on vacation. Yikes!  

Zucchini are a member of the Cucurbit family, more specifically, classified as a summer squash. Their skin is thin and edible and because of this have a relatively short shelf life once harvested.  Winter Squash on the other hand have a thick shell and can last for months after harvest in the fall.

Congratulations! You are a great zucchini farmer and now have enough to feed the entire neighborhood. 

Here are some ways to prepare zucchini, enjoy, and preserve them. Let's eat!

Zucchini Blossom Appetizer

To control your zucchini population, you can eat the blossoms. You only need about 15 or so to make an appetizer. 

http://www.academiabarilla.com/italian-recipes/search-recipes/fried-pumpkin-flowers.aspx

Zucchini Pizza Bites

Here is a recipe for Zucchini Pizza Bites…Perhaps your kids will eat these!

https://damndelicious.net/2014/06/04/zucchini-pizza-bites/

Zucchini Chips

Also delicious are Zucchini chips. Try this recipe on a small amount of Zucchini first to test the salt level. Julie also suggests a recipe for meat loaf using Zucchini as a way to moisten the meat loaf.

https://www.tablefortwoblog.com/zucchini-chips/

Zucchini Pickles

How about Zucchini pickles. I make batches of these every year. They are fantastic. The recipe I use if from the Zuni Cafe in San Francisco. Can you say Burger?!

https://food52.com/recipes/36398-zuni-cafe-zucchini-pickles

Zucchini Bread

There are tons of recipes for making Zucchini Bread.  Here is one from Epicurious.com

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/james-beards-zucchini-bread-56389932

Zucchini Noodles

You can even make “noodles” from Zucchini with a spiralizer. Just Google "Zoodle"

Big, Above Average Zucchini

And finally, some ideas from Bon Appetit Magazine as to what to do with those pesky Zucchini that are extremely large.

https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/cook-massive-zucchini

Happy Harvest!