Summertime absolutely begs for great healthy zucchini recipes. Its all well and good to just toss them on the grill or grate them up and make a bread/loaf out of them, but there’s so much more to do with these summer squash than just zoodles. All those dishes are wonderful. I love them, but when the harvests start coming in – my own or those of generous neighbors who don’t know what to do with them all – I like to let my creative juices flow.
My Favourite Healthy Zucchini Recipes
Healthy zucchini recipes are extremely easy to create and to put together. After all, this vegetable is already highly nutritious and very low in calories, so it’s all just a matter of combining it with the right other ingredients. Also, its mild flavor means that it can go well with both sweet and savory dishes. Not a lot of vegetables can say that they’re both good for your dinner and your dessert!
Tips for Cooking with This Veggie
Before getting started with my healthy zucchini recipes, I thought I’d just share a few tips for working with this veggie to make sure you get the best results.
- Even though there are tons of varieties of this veggie, they’re all essentially interchangeable when it comes to cooking them up. Big or small, round or long, yellow or green, cook ‘em the same way.
- Don’t overdo it. Cooking them too long can turn them to mush because as dry as they might seem when you cut into them, they’re still more than 90 percent water. Consider them done when your instincts tell you that they’re still slightly undercooked.
- You can freeze fresh zucchini, but not if you want to use it for grilling and recipes like that. The high water content does change it’s nature. Still, it is perfect for healthy zucchini recipes like baking and soups later on.
- Eat the skin! It’s perfectly edible and digestible and is packed with ingredients. Just wash it and prepare it with the skin still on. It will save you a lot of time and give you a lot more food!
Healthy Zucchini Recipes I Absolutely Love
The following are some of my absolute favorite healthy zucchini recipes I adore throughout the summertime.
White Fish and Zucchini Tex Mex Skillet
I cook up white fish and chopped zucchini with black beans, corn and fresh herbs as well as my favorite taco seasonings. It’s all in one pan and prepped and cooked in under a half hour.
Greek Chicken and Zucchini Kabobs
Just that name makes me hungry, but I just put pieces of chicken, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and onion on skewers and grill them up. I sometimes marinate them first if I have the time, but even just plain on the grill is delicious. If I don’t marinate them, I’ll often just toss a bit of feta onto it once it’s off the skewers. YUM!
Lettuce Wraps: The Ultimate in Healthy Zucchini Recipes
Inside a fresh lettuce leaf – even iceberg works here, though romaine is great too – add cooked chicken in your favorite savory sauce, diced zucchini, bell pepper, green onions and cashews. Cook the veg or leave it raw. Whichever you want! Wrap it up and watch how fast they disappear!
