What Do I Do with All This Zucchini?

I can do a couple weeks of slicing it into planks and throwing it on the grill to go with dinner, sautéing it and serving it up with eggs for breakfast, and spiralizing it to make any number of quick zoodle dishes for lunch, but then it starts to lose its luster and I need to get more creative so that I don’t get tired of it. 

Luckily, zucchini is very versatile and there are lots of ways to prepare it. Here are some ideas.

While you might worry that braising will lead to soggy zucchini, for our recipe for Braised Zucchini, we cook the zucchini to tenderness and drive off the excess liquid. And we pair it with some other things that might be taking over your garden: cherry tomatoes and basil.

Frying makes otherwise notoriously soft and tender zucchini crispy and crunchy. You can do this by shredding it and making Zucchini Fritters, or you can cut it into spears and flour and season them to make our Fried Zucchini Sticks, which are especially delicious when dipped in some Spicy Aioli.

Our Grilled Zucchini and Corn Salad is one of my favorite ways to dress up zucchini a bit so that I don’t get into a rut with it. It pairs grilled corn and zucchini with a flavorful oil, fresh basil and lemon juice, and some briny feta. There’s brightness and texture to help alleviate any zucchini boredom.

Did you know zucchini makes a great pureed soup? Well, now you do. Our recipe calls for cooking zucchini until softened and then stirring in some spinach and dill. Then it all gets blended with an immersion blender. A scoop of sour cream adds a little richness and body. Plus, there’s a simple topping of marinated zucchini. The soup can be served warm or cold, whatever suits your mood.

If you are really over zucchini, then you need to disguise it. And what better way to do that than to bake it into a chocolate cake? Zucchini bread is also an option, but in our Chocolate Zucchini Cake, you won’t even know the vegetable is there. Believe me, I’ve tested it out on avowed zucchini haters. There’s no need to worry about a dry cake when you add zucchini to it—it will be rich and fudgy.

If all else fails, today happens to be National Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. No, I did not just make that up. It’s in The Old Farmer’s Almanac. So if you’ve braised, fried, grilled, pureed, and baked, and you still have too much zucchini, simply wait until after dark and leave some care packages for your neighbors. Who wouldn’t want to wake up and find a pile of fresh zucchini on their doorstep?