Our 30 Best Zucchini Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated August 06, 2019
Peter Frank Edwards
While it’s perfectly delightful sautéed in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, we love to celebrate zucchini in all its forms. Crispy zucchini fries and marinara dipping sauce are one of our all-time favorite snacks, and the squash also makes for creamy, delicate soup that’s perfect in spring and summer. We included a few zucchini bread recipes in this roundup, and pastas, too. If you’re looking for something more hearty, the prosciutto-wrapped baked zucchini with balsamic drizzle is unmissable. Read on for those recipes, and more zucchini dishes we love.
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Fried Zucchini Chips


Con Poulos
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These crispy fried zucchini chips are ridiculously good, especially alongside a glass of wine or a cocktail.

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Raw and Charred Zucchini Salad

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When zucchini is at its freshest and most plentiful, make this salad; the feta, pine nuts, fresh herbs and tomatoes are all fantastic with it.

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Zucchini Linguine with Herbs

© Con Poulos
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Grace Parisi treats shredded zucchini and scallions just like the linguine in this lush dish: She tosses them all in a buttery sauce with lemon thyme and tarragon and finishes the dish with pecorino cheese.

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Zucchini-and-Pepper Gratin with Herbs and Cheese

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Switzerland has been making Sbrinz—a hard, aged, cow's-milk cheese—for centuries. Daniel Humm uses the pleasantly salty Sbrinz to top a gratin made with a ratatouille-like mix of sautéed zucchini strips, bell peppers and tomato. Parmigiano-Reggiano, another hard, aged, cow's milk cheese, is a fine substitute.

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Chilled Zucchini Soup with Purslane

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Alain Coumont's cool vegan soup gets its creaminess from pureed zucchini, sautéed onion and garlic. It's brightened with purslane, a lemony weed that Coumont plucks from his Languedoc country garden; if purslane is not available at your local farmers' market, substitute baby arugula leaves instead.

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Fried-Zucchini Spaghetti

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Gwyneth Paltrow's fried-zucchini pasta combines crispy zucchini coins with spaghetti. It's coated with a creamy sauce of Parmesan cheese, olive oil and basil.

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Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmigiano and Pistachios

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One of the wonderful things about Louis-Michel Liger-Belair's lemony salad is that it's so quick to make. Since the zucchini is served raw, be sure to use the smallest, freshest ones you can find. The salad can be garnished with pistachios, which add a little sweetness, or Italian pine nuts.

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Zucchini and Spinach Soup with Barley, Coriander and Watercress

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Adding barley to this lovely, delicate, spring-like soup makes it hearty but not heavy.

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Yogurt-Zucchini Bread with Walnuts

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This moist, nutty bread is a terrific way to use up late-summer zucchini. The walnuts in the bread are super-heart-healthy, and the yogurt adds moisture without any fat.

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Summer-Vegetable Casserole

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This simple dish features layers summer vegetables.

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Zucchini-Tomato Strata

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A French take on strata, or savory bread pudding, this simple summer dish contains zucchini, onion and tomatoes layered with slices of baguette, then baked with chicken stock and a little cream.

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Zucchini with Niçoise Olives and Burrata

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Star chef Tom Colicchio captures the essence of zucchini by braising it quickly and then tossing it with briny olives.

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Zucchini Latkes with Red Pepper Jelly and Smoked Trout

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"My mom used to make zucchini fritters on the Jewish holidays," says Rachel Klein. Klein's latke version is unexpected and delicious, especially with red pepper jelly and smoked trout.

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Grilled-Zucchini Subs with Fresh Mozzarella and Olivada

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This summery sandwich benefits from a generous topping of olivada made with tangy green olives, lemon and oil. It's great with the creamy mozzarella and the lightly smoky grilled-zucchini slices here; it's also wonderful with grilled fish and shellfish and roasted meat and chicken.

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Grilled Gruyère-and-Zucchini Sandwiches with Smoky Pesto

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“Anything herby or vegetabley is usually great with Sauvignon Blanc,” says Marcia Kiesel, since the wine often has an herbal, grassy edge. She adds grilled zucchini and a smoked-paprika pesto to her grilled cheese sandwiches to enhance the toasty flavors.

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Grilled Zucchini Kebabs with Zucchini Dip

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This Eric Ripert recipe is the ultimate dish for zucchini lovers.

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Grilled Squash Ribbons and Prosciutto with Mint Dressing

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Grilling zucchini and summer squash ribbons on skewers is terrific because the edges become wonderfully charred and crisp, while the insides stay tender and juicy.

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Zucchini Ribbons with Raw Tomato Marinara

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Zucchini is an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese, an essential mineral. Here, Ani Phyo pairs it with a vitamin-rich marinara, a super-versatile recipe: "I can use it every way one would use a cooked tomato sauce."

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Shrimp-and-Feta-Stuffed Zucchini

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For an easy take on Ana Sortun’s recipe, you can top the roasted zucchini with a little feta cheese and then broil briefly.

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Herbed Zucchini Feta Fritters

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"When I was a kid, my mom fried zucchini fritters when I got home from school; I would steal a couple while they were still hot," says Didem Senol. "When I started cooking, I decided to work on my childhood recipe. I added herbs and feta and reduced the amount of flour to make them fluffier."

21 of 30

Zucchini, Corn, Black-Bean, and Jack-Cheese Quesadillas

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The grated zucchini and defrosted frozen corn that fill these tasty quesadillas contain a lot of moisture. Drain them on paper towels for a few minutes before using; otherwise, you'll end up with soggy tortillas. Serve the quesadillas with spicy salsa.

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Hummus and Grilled-Zucchini Pizzas

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Prepared hummus that comes with a scoop of chopped garlic on top (like the kind sold by Sabra) is the secret here: The garlic gets mixed with oil to marinate the zucchini, while the remaining garlic and hummus flavor the whole pizza.

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Zucchini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

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It is hard to eat just one of these nutty, gingery, cinnamony cupcakes with their bright-green flecks of grated zucchini.

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Friulian Pasta with Zucchini and Zucchini Flowers

© John Kernick
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This traditional Friulian pasta is called girini, which means tadpoles in Italian. It is made with a very soft egg batter that gets pushed through the holes of a colander in the style of spaetzle. It's good with any number of sauces, but in the fall, it's terrific with seasonal vegetables like zucchini and zucchini flowers.

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Crispy Chicken Thighs over Melted Zucchini

Victor Protasio
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Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs start out in a skillet over medium heat so the fat slowly renders as the skin crisps up. And not one bit of that fat goes to waste; sweet onions and zucchini cook in it, soaking up all that good chicken-y flavor as they melt to an irresistibly silky texture.

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Zucchini Breakfast Bread

Jen Causey
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From the irresistibly crunchy turbinado sugar crust to the perfectly moist and tender crumb, this super-simple zucchini bread delivers maximum breakfast delight. Studded with pecans and oats and perfumed with orange zest, cinnamon, and allspice, it makes a perfect grab-and-go breakfast. If you want to treat yourself, do like we do: Slather it with butter and give it a quick toast in a skillet.

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Jen Causey
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Prosciutto-Wrapped Baked Zucchini with Balsamic Drizzle

Wrapped in salty prosciutto and roasted until tender, this quick-and-easy zucchini recipe makes a light summer main dish. You can choose your own adventure when it comes to this recipe—prepare it in the oven, or fire up your grill for an extra layer of charred, smoky flavor. Don’t forget to drizzle with balsamic glaze for a lightly sweet finish.

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Crispy Baked Zucchini Fries

Jen Causey
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These baked zucchini fries satisfy your craving for golden, crispy french fries and help you use up extra summer zucchini all at once. A quick dusting with flour followed by a dunk in beaten egg helps lock the panko-and-Parmesan coating in place during broiling, making these perfect for dipping.

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Asparagus-and-Zucchini Frittata

© John Kernick
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Chef Chris Behr’s versatile frittata with crisp spring vegetables can be eaten warm or at room temperature. Serve for brunch with an accompanying platter of crusty bread, fresh fruit, cheese and salumi, or for lunch with a green salad.

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Lemony Zucchini-Fregola Salad

Peter Frank Edwards
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Roasting zucchini tuns them soft yet concentrates the flavor. Chunks of them are tossed with nicely chewy fregola and crunchy pistachios, then powerfully seasoned with lemon (both the zest and the juice), super fragrant basil leaves and a hit of crushed red pepper.

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