Garden, Recipes, Vegetables

Drowning in Zucchini? Here are 11 Ways to Use Your Harvest!

Zucchini is one of those garden vegetables that is feast or famine. One plant can provide you enough zucchini to eat daily, and then some. But once the squash vine borer gets its chance at your plant, the feast ends quickly. To combat the squash vine borer we often plant extra plants. And this is often how you end up drowning in zucchini and looking for ways to use it up.

There’s a gardeners joke that says “lock your car doors, it’s zucchini season!” with the idea that gardeners will break into your car and leave you zucchini because they have too much. It’s such a great joke because zucchini plants really can produce a ton of fruit.

So if you’re drowning in zucchini and looking for ways to use it now, and later in the year, here are 11 ways to use your harvest.

1: Zucchini Bread

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I had always heard this was a great way to use up zucchini, but when I went to look for recipes they only ever needed one cup, or half a zucchini in them. The problem with recipes that don’t use much zucchini is that it’s a lot of bread you would have to bake to actually use up the amount of zucchini you’ve harvested. Be aware that some recipes don’t use much zucchini, while others use a lot. If you’re drowning in zucchini, you want a zucchini bread recipe like this one that uses 2 cups at a time to help clear up your harvest.

What I love about zucchini bread, muffins, or whatever baked good you make is that you can freeze it for later in the year.

2: Zucchini Lasagna Noodles

This is another great way to use up a lot of zucchini in one meal. Using a mandolin you slice your zucchini into your desired thickness and use it as a replacement to normal lasagna noodles. This is a great option if you’re avoiding wheat, carbs or you want to try and add more vegetables to your diet.

If using only zucchini doesn’t seem that exciting, you can also rotate between normal noodles and zucchini noodles to use up your produce but without losing the taste or texture of normal noodles.

3: Shredded Zucchini

a container filled with frozen shredded zucchini

This is one of our favourite ways to process zucchini because shredded zucchini is quite versatile. We will shred a bunch of zucchini all at once using a food processer and freeze it for later.

Shredded zucchini can be mixed with shredded potatoes to make vegetable patties for breakfast, you can pan fry it for any other recipe, or use it in baked goods later in the season when you have more time.

4: Zoodles

Zoodles had a moment 20+ years ago where they were all the craze. And slowly we see less of them, or hear less about them – but they’re a great way to use up your zucchini. Zoodles are a good choice if you grow the yellow varieties, as well as the green ones. Yellow zucchinis tend to be more firm so they have a good texture to make zoodles, and will look a bit more like noodles too.

If you’re unfamiliar with zoodles, a spiralizer will cut your zucchini to look similar to spaghetti noodles for you to use in a pasta dish. You do need this specific tool in order to make them, but it’s an easy way to use up multiple zucchinis in a single meal. You can eat it warm or cold, whatever you prefer – but it’s a healthy option to get in more vegetables and perhaps kick that afternoon slumber that carbs tend to offer up.

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5: Fried Zucchini Flowers

Fried zucchini flowers are considered a high-end, fancy meal to be served at restaurants, but you can make them at home! What’s good about eating zucchini flowers is it will slow down the production of your zucchini plant since you’re removing flowers needed to make the fruit.

I’ve met gardeners who grow zucchini only for the flowers because they love them so much, making it another alternative on how to use your zucchini. It doesn’t have to be for the fruit at all!

6: Zucchini Boats

This is a really easy way to use up an entire zucchini (or more) in a single meal. Similar to stuffed peppers, zucchini boats are when you use the squash like a vessel to hold more food inside. To make these you will cut your zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop some of the insides out in order to refill them with other ingredients.

These are fun because you can make them any flavour you want. You can do an Italian flavoured inside, Mexican flavoured vegetables or any other cuisine. Since zucchini has such a mild flavour it won’t impede on any of these other flavours – so you can get as creative as you want.

7: Canned Zucchini Pineapple

Truthfully, I haven’t tried this because I’m allergic to pineapple, but it looks so delicious. I might try it one day though because I’m allergic to raw pineapple, and canned pineapple is usually safe for me.

Using canned pineapple juice and chunks of zucchini, you marinate the squash in the juices and can it like other sugar vegetables (like beets). Make sure you use a food safe, tested recipe when you make this as canning can produce harmful results when not using a tested recipe.

What’s great about this is that it’s a totally different flavour than other zucchini recipes and since it’s canned it lasts a long time. You can enjoy your zucchini for months after the gardens are closed.

8: Slices grilled on the barbecue

We love sliced zucchini – on toast, in sandwiches or on top of burgers. Something about the flavour and texture, it just adds an extra layer of deliciousness to things we might already be eating. We don’t always cook it on the barbecue, often we pan fry it – but getting a bit of browning makes it extra delicious. One of our favourite ways to eat it is on toast with a slice of pan-fried tofu on top.

It’s really simple to make all you need is a pan or barbecue, some oil and salt and then you either fry it on a pan or cook it on the barbecue. It’s so simple but tastes so delicious.

9: Zucchini Dip

I’m not sure how much I love zucchini dip, it’s similar to a spinach and artichoke dip. I think both dips have a place that works but you need to love the texture too. It’s another great way to use up your zucchini and is perfect for snacking or a dip for a party. You can enjoy it with crackers, tortilla chips or pita bread. You can even use it as a spread on sandwiches in replacement of mayo.

10: Dehydrated zucchini chips

Dehydrating zucchini is a great way to deal with the fruit in a way that will last a long time. The thinner you slice them the faster they’ll dry and once they’re fully dry they can last for months. With dehydrated zucchini, you can eat them like a chip, or you can rehydrate them to cook with – whatever best suits your needs.

11: Give it away

Giving garden harvests away to friends and neighbours is one of the greatest joys of gardening.

“Not to brag but… I grew that”

Having fresh produce that is local and organic isn’t in reach for many people. When you gift your produce to others, you are showing them the value of gardening and what it can offer them! You can also check with your local food bank to see if they are in need of fresh produce and you can drop it off there as well. Gifting food to others is a great way to use up your excess harvests.

Enjoy your zucchini harvest and congratulations on having so much to harvest!