Every year it astounds me just how much zucchini one single plant can grow, and then moments later, I find myself with WAY too much zucchini and no idea how to use it all up before it goes off.
And I hate wasting food, especially food that I’ve grown myself, so I’ve been experimenting with and exploring all the different ways you can use up your extra zucchini (also known as “summer squash”).
When you have too much zucchini, you can eat it in a huge range of recipes, including slices, burgers, noodles, stir-fries and salads, and as sides, snacks, spreads and desserts. You can preserve zucchini by freezing, drying or canning, or you can give (or sell) it to friends, family and neighbours.
- 1. Eat lots of zucchini
- 2. Store your zucchinis for later
- 3. Share your zucchinis with others
- 4. Get creative with your zucchinis
Let’s dive into all the different ways you can use up your surplus zucchini harvest.
What to do when you have WAY too much zucchini
In my experience, using up a deluge of zucchini requires more than one approach and LOT of creativity.
There’s only so many zucchini-packed meals you can eat each day (trust me, I know!), so along with cooking up lots of zucchini recipes, you’re probably also going to want to store some of it for later, and maybe even share some of your bounty with others.
Are you ready to dive in? Let’s do this!
1. Eat lots of zucchini
The most obvious thing to do with an abundance of zucchini is to eat it.
I’m guessing that one of the reasons you grew your zucchini in the first place was to make yourself a little more self-sufficient with your food.
That’s one of the awesome things about growing your own food – you start to understand about eating foods that are in season, when they’re in season, and boy, has zucchini season arrived at your house!
So get ready to eat a lot of zucchini. Lots and LOTS of zucchini.
Happily it goes well in a huge variety of dishes, both savoury and sweet.
Here’s a great selection of recipes to inspire you. Use these as a starting point, and adapt recipes or go searching for healthier / vegan / paleo / keto equivalents and you’ll be cooking up a storm in no time.
1.1 Zucchini main dishes
Zucchini goes perfectly in lots of savoury dishes, and making it the star of your lunch and dinner is also one of the best ways to consume the maximum amount of zucchini in the shortest space of time.
Zucchini slice
This is a very common dish here in Australia, and comes in both egg-filled and vegan versions, in the form of a dense, nutritious slice. Either way it’s delicious, filling and uses up lots of zucchini.
Zucchini Slice
The humble zucchini slice is by far taste.com.au's most popular recipe. Filled with eggs, cheese and zucchini, and tasty bacon bits, it's an Australian classic.
Vegan Zucchini Slice
This slice is really dense and protein-rich so don’t be surprised if it’s way more filling than it looks. Great with some salad for an easy lunch or even a light dinner.
Zucchini fritters and burgers
Some zucchini fritters and burgers can be more than half zucchini, and zucchini always tastes awesome fried, so you really can’t go wrong with these! We love to cook ours over the grill on our fire pit.
Zucchini Fritters
These fritters are unbelievably easy to make, low calorie, and the perfect way to sneak in some veggies!
Vegan Zucchini Fritters
These delicious vegan zucchini fritters are crispy on the outside and moist on the inside with a perfect savoury flavour. A quick and easy meal.
White Bean Zucchini Burgers
Less than 10 ingredients and 30 minutes is all you need to make these delicious plant-based burgers! And they're vegan and gluten-free.
Zucchini frittata
A frittata is a rich, egg-based baked dish, a bit like a quiche without a crust, and suits the inclusion of zucchini perfectly.
Zucchini and Cheddar Frittata
This zucchini frittata is delicate and creamy, almost like a crustless quiche.
Zucchini meatballs
Zucchini “meatballs” are a great way to use up zucchini, and great for Meatless Monday. They also make awesome finger food or snacks!
Zucchini 'Meatballs'
These zucchini meatballs are meatless, made with garlic, Pecorino Romano, basil, bread crumbs and egg, then baked in the oven and finished in a Pomodoro sauce.
Vegan Zucchini 'Meatballs'
Loaded with veggies, and 100% wholesome ingredients, these 'meatballs' are just what your dinner menu needs.
Zucchini lasagna
Layering tons of thinly sliced zucchini with a tomato sauce and cheese, in place of the usual pasta, is a great way to use up heaps of zucchini while enjoying a lower carbohydrate version of your favourite comfort food.
Zucchini Lasagna
Zucchini lasagna is a fresh take on a classic comfort food dish. It’s loaded with veggies, but still has the rich flavours and scrumptious texture of a traditional lasagna.
Vegan Zucchini Lasagna
Healthy, 8-ingredient lasagna made with zucchini noodles, organic red sauce, and macadamia nut ricotta 'cheese'! Hearty, wholesome, and so delicious.
Stuffed zucchini
Scoop out the middle of a halved zucchini, and fill it with cheese, breadcrumbs, herbs, spices, risotto or whatever takes your fancy. Flexible and filling!
Stuffed Zucchini
Make these stuffed zucchini boats for an easy summer dinner! Lemon, thyme & Parmesan make the simple, delicious filling zesty, fresh & bright.
Vegan Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Stuffed zucchini boats with bell pepper, chickpeas and vegan cheese. A simple vegetarian weeknight meal with wholesome, healthy ingredients.
Zucchini noodles (AKA zoodles)
Zucchini actually works really well as a spaghetti substitute, and you don’t even need to cook it. Just turn it into pasta-like strips using a vegetable peeler or spiraliser, and you have a healthy, nutritious base for your favourite pasta sauce.
Guilt-Free Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Noodles Pasta
A 20-minute zucchini noodles pasta recipe with garlic, tomatoes, basil, and parmesan cheese. Low-carb, keto-adaptable, and vegetarian-adaptable!
One Pot Creamy Garlic Zucchini Noodles
Made with only 7 ingredients in about 30 minutes, these one pot creamy garlic zucchini noodles are a delicious, light and healthy dish! Naturally dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan.
Thai Peanut Zucchini Noodles
These zoodles are sauteed with fresh vegetables and tossed in a delectable peanut sauce - an easy dinner or lunch recipe that can be served warm or chilled.
Zucchini pizza
Zucchini goes well on top of pizzas, as well as in the pizza base. Incorporating it into pizza is a great way to make zucchini seem less boring!
Herb Garden Zucchini Pizza
This zucchini pizza is the ultimate summer dinner! Quick & easy to make, it's packed with flavour from raw and roasted zucchini, pesto, and herbs.
Zucchini pizza crust
A low carb, super easy zucchini pizza crust with 4 ingredients, no squeezing, and you can pick it up without it falling apart.
1.2 Zucchini sides
Adding a side of delicious zucchini to any meal will help you work your way through your mounds of zucchini even faster. And why not pair one of these zucchini sides with a zucchini main dish for even more zucchini madness?
Fried zucchini
Simple and delicious, just fry up slices or cubes of zucchini and you’ll be enjoying a tasty dish in no time at all.
Pan-fried Zucchini
This is by far the easiest side dish you can make – Pan Fried Zucchini slices. Seasoned with just salt and pepper, they're packed with flavour.
Crispy Fried Zucchini
Sliced into medallions, coated in a parmesan breadcrumb mixture and fried until crispy, this crispy fried zucchini will definitely become a family favourite.
Zucchini stir-fry
Zucchini also works really well in a quick and easy stir-fry, to which you can add your favourite seasonings or sauces.
Chicken Zucchini Stir Fry
An easy, healthy Asian chicken and zucchini stir fry with onions in a quick teriyaki sauce. Fast and perfect for nutritious weeknight dinners.
Easy Vegan Zucchini Stir Fry
Healthy vegetables in a gingery teriyaki sauce that is perfect served over rice or quinoa, and it's vegan and gluten-free.
Salads
Zucchini is great for adding more “green” to a salad, and is incredibly versatile, as you can see by this selection of zucchini salad recipes.
Zucchini Salad with Lemon, Feta and Pine Nuts
Raw zucchini marinated in a delicious blend of fresh lemon juice, garlic and salt, then topped with creamy feta cheese and buttery pine nuts.
Three Herb Tomato Zucchini Salad
This salad is the best of summer’s produce made into a healthy marinated vegetable salad, and it's paleo, vegan, and whole30 friendly.
Greek Zucchini Salad
This refreshing and healthy Greek Zucchini Salad combines chickpeas, onion, feta and olives with a fresh herb and parsley dressing.
Grilled zucchini
Split a zucchini in half lengthways, and grill it until it’s golden brown under your kitchen grill plate or broiler, or throw it on the barbecue!
Grilled Zucchini with Garlic and Herbs
This grilled zucchini is bathed in a flavorful garlic and herb marinade, then cooked to perfection on the grill. Quick and easy!
Balsamic Grilled Zucchini
This easy side dish is ready in just 20 minutes and the olive oil-balsamic marinade is superb. Pair it with a grilled main dish and you've got yourself the perfect summer meal!
Roasted / baked zucchini
Add some zucchini chunks to an oven tray, along with your favourite vegetables for roasting, or your usual Sunday roast, and enjoy the golden, tasty chunks of goodness that emerge from the oven.
Easy Roasted Zucchini
Incredibly easy, incredibly good roasted zucchini can be prepped in about 5 minutes and makes a perfect weeknight side dish.
Roasted Zucchini with Garlic
Easy roasted zucchini recipe! Cut zucchini lengthwise and oven-roast with olive oil, garlic, black pepper, and Herbes de Provence.
Roasted Zucchini with Cheese & Herbs
Topped with Parmesan and Italian seasoning, this delicious zucchini is never soggy and goes with so many dishes.
1.3 Zucchini snacks
Turn your excess zucchini into a wide variety of tasty snacks, so you never have an excuse not to be eating zucchini.
Zucchini fries
Cut your zucchini into chunky sticks, coat with spices, cheese or breadcrumbs and bake until golden and delicious. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and super healthy all ’round.
Baked Zucchini Fries
These baked zucchini fries are crispy on the outside with a crunchy, seasoned crust and a tender zucchini inside. It is hard to stop after just one!
Baked Zucchini Fries (Gluten-free)
These zucchini fries are ultra cheesy and flavorful with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and an Italian spice blend. They’re also gluten-free, low-carb and keto-friendly for a delicious, healthy snack.
Baked Zucchini Fries (Gluten-free, Vegan)
These baked zucchini fries are low carb, gluten-free and vegan. Coated with a flavorful gluten-free breading, they're baked for a healthier snack.
Zucchini chips
Slice up your zucchini, toss with oil, spices or your favourite flavours, and oven bake or dry until crunchy. It doesn’t get much easier than this.
Easy Oven-Baked Zucchini Chips
These easy oven-baked zucchini chips are easy to make and are thin, crispy, and irresistible. They’re oven-baked to crisp perfection.
Easy Keto Zucchini Chips
Crispy zucchini chips are a fabulous healthy keto snack. With smoked paprika and pepper, they'll quickly become a favourite.
Crispy Keto Zucchini Chips
With my crispy keto zucchini chips you can preserve all the deliciousness of summer-time zucchini for busting your cravings all winter long.
Zucchini tater tots
Zucchini combines with egg, potato or sweet potato to make the most moreish snacks ever. You can add all kinds of herbs and spices or keep them super simple. Either way, they won’t last very long.
Zucchini Tots (with Egg)
These kid-friendly zucchini tots, made with shredded zucchini and cheese make a great side dish or snack.
Four Ingredient Zucchini Tater Tots (Vegan)
These zucchini tater tots are made with just 4 simple ingredients. They’re baked to crispy perfection and packed with zucchini. Great for a side dish or snack.
Baked Sweet Potato Tots
Baked sweet potato tots are healthy, grain free, made with just 3 ingredients and loaded with shredded zucchini.
Zucchini rounds / bites
Turn your zucchini bounty into healthy finger food, by slicing them into rounds, topping with your favourite foods and oven baking them or eating them raw.
Zucchini Pizza Bites
These delicious pizza bites top sliced zucchini with our favourite toppings and plenty of cheese for the perfect low carb pizza fix.
Baked Zucchini Bruschetta Bites
These zucchini bruschetta bites make a perfect low carb snack. Light, healthy and delicious, they’re packed with tomatoes, herbs, and feta and baked to bubbly perfection.
Zucchini roll-ups
Roll up raw or grilled strips of zucchini around your favourite fillings for a quick, tasty and healthy snack. Also great for finger food, appetisers and parties.
Grilled Zucchini Rolls with Herbs and Cheese
Roll up grilled zucchini slices with cheese, spinach. parsley and lemon, for a healthy, delicious snack.
Zucchini Rolls with Guacamole
Thin sliced zucchini ribbons are topped with spicy guacamole and rolled up into a tasty, healthy and low-carb appetiser or snack.
Zucchini butter
Turning your zucchini into a decadent spread for your bread and crackers is wonderfully creative and fabulously delicious. An easy and tasty way to eat more zucchini.
Zucchini Butter
By grating zucchini and then cooking it slowly in a bit of butter or olive oil, you turn this humble vegetable into a luscious, remarkably flavorful spread known as zucchini butter.
Zucchini Miso Butter (Vegan)
This Zucchini Miso Butter is fat-free, vegan, and you only need three ingredients to make it, and it tastes too good to be true
Zucchini dips
Zucchini also works really well in a wide range of dips – from hummus, to spicy roasted dips and fresh tomato creations. There’s lots of possibilities here for you to explore.
Zucchini Hummus (Vegan, Gluten-Free)
Zucchini hummus is a luscious, creamy, bean-free zucchini dip, similar to hummus or baba ganoush made with zucchini, garlic and tahini paste, without the eggplant or chickpeas!
Spicy Roasted Zucchini Dip
A richly flavoured, wonderfully simple roasted zucchini dip with red pepper flakes, lemon, and garlic. Serve as a dip, spread on toast, or alongside a protein at dinner.
Zucchini Tomato Dip
This zucchini dip is a delicious way to take advantage of all the great tasting summer zucchini. The list of ingredients is simple, but this dip has so many layers of flavor and a wonderful texture.
1.4 Zucchini desserts
Believe it or not, zucchini goes really well in a huge number of sweet dishes, so you can satisfy your sweet tooth and eat even more zucchini, guilt free!
Zucchini bread
A cross between cake and bread, zucchini bread takes zucchini in a sweeter direction, similar to banana bread, and makes a hearty, comforting snack at any time of day (or night).
Easy Zucchini Bread
Zucchini bread is one of the easiest recipes you can make. No mixer required! Enjoy this moist, flavorful quick bread for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert.
One Bowl Vegan Zucchini Bread
It’s easy, delicious, perfectly sweet and made in one bowl - so easy to clean up. This vegan zucchini bread is also extremely versatile and is easily made gluten-free or oil-free.
Zucchini muffins
What better way to enjoy eating heaps of zucchini than with these delicious zucchini muffins, in both sweet and savoury versions? With zucchini muffins, the options are truly endless, so have fun experimenting.
Zucchini Muffins
The best zucchini bread muffins ever. Moist, sweet, packed with shredded zucchini, walnuts, dried cranberries, and spiced with vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Zucchini Cheddar Cheese Savory Muffins
These zucchini cheddar cheese savoury muffins are super delicious, moist and full of flavour.
Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
These muffins taste just like rich chocolate cake! These easy-to-make dark chocolate zucchini muffin treats will satisfy all of your chocolate cravings.
Zucchini brownies
The classic brownie recipes gets a healthy makeover with these delicious zucchini brownie recipes. Whatever diet they’re made to suit, these brownies are sweet, rich and decadent, just like a brownie should be.
Healthy Zucchini Brownies
These brownies are so fudgy and made healthy with sneaky veggies, whole wheat flour and no refined sugar. They are so rich and chocolaty, no one will even know they are eating healthy brownies.
Vegan Flourless Zucchini Brownies
These zucchini brownies are a healthy brownie makeover recipe made with clean, real food ingredients, with no refined flour, sugar, eggs, butter, or oil.
1.5 Zucchini drinks
Have you ever considered drinking your zucchinis? Probably not!
But with such a high water content, zucchinis are perfect for juicing and smoothies, and even wine. Experiment with different blends of fruits and vegetables to find your favourite combination.
Zucchini Juice Tonic
Make this quick and easy immune-boosting zucchini juice tonic with added ginger and lemon, and feel energised, hydrated and nourished from within.
Zucchini Smoothie
This zucchini smoothie is made with only 7 ingredients in less than 5 minutes. Plus it's gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo and vegan with no added sweeteners.
2. Store your zucchinis for later
If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably reach a point somewhere about halfway through zucchini season, where you just can’t keep up!
Or maybe you’ve just eaten so much zucchini that it’s coming out of your ears, and you just want to do something different with it.
Either way, this might be a good time to look at storing some of your zucchini for later use, and there’s a few different ways to do this.
2.1 Freezing zucchini
Grate and freeze zucchini for baking
One of the easiest ways to store zucchini for the longer-term is to grate it and freeze it.
And the beauty of this method is that you don’t even need to blanch it first. Just grate, freeze and store it for up to a year.
You can easily thaw your grated zucchini later on when you need it by leaving it overnight in the fridge.
You can also use this to store your zucchini noodles (zoodles) for later use.
You’ll need to strain out some of the excess water that comes out of it, but then it’s ready to add to zucchini slice, muffins, breads, and anything else that uses shredded zucchini.
Blanch zucchini slices and freeze
If you don’t want to shred your zucchini, you can also store it in slices, ready to add later to soups, stews, smoothies, sauces, dips and stir fries.
To stop it going soft as it thaws, you’ll need to blanch it first in boiling water for a few minutes and then cool it in an ice bath before freezing. This also slows the discolouration of the zucchini.
Stored like this, your zucchini should keep in the freezer for up to a year.
2.2 Drying zucchini
With such a high water content, zucchini dries down really well in a dehydrator, and helps it store for the long-term.
I’m also a big fan of drying methods for preserving, because they don’t require much space to store or any electricity to keep them fresh.
Depending on the form you dry your zucchini in, you can rehydrate it and use it for a wide range of purposes – baking, stews, noodles – and you can also eat them dry – as chips or jerky – and you can also turn your zucchinis into flour.
How cool is that?
Eight Ways to Dehydrate Zucchini
Dehydrate zucchini in eight ways and stop throwing away your extra zucchini every year! Chips, cubes, and shreds, jerky, powder and more.
Drying Zucchini - Dehydrator & Oven Methods
Learn how to dry your zucchini with either a dehydrator or in the oven.
2.3 Canning zucchini
Pickled zucchini
Zucchini pickles are tasty and great for adding to all kinds of dishes – on bread, with cheese, in salads and more.
Zucchini Pickles
This produces three to four jars of some of the best pickles I've ever made. The pickling juice is also perfect in a salad dressing and the smell of this cooking is an unlikely candidate to start your mouth watering.
Quick Pickled Zucchini
These are great to have on hand, and we always take a jar camping, or plop some on a cheese plate or veg platter. They're great on cheese-slathered crostini or thin garlic bread.
Zucchini Pickles
Zucchini pickles made from basic pantry ingredients. Easy to make. Yummy on hot or cold meats also with cheese and dry biscuits.
Zucchini relish
Zucchini relish like your grandmother used to make it! Sweet, tangy and full of flavour, it’s great for canning for long-term storage and also great as a gift.
Zucchini Relish
This zucchini relish is a favourite of everyone who tries it! I get requests for it often and it’s a great way to use up all of the zucchini in your garden!
Zucchini chutney
Zucchini chutney has that extra sweetness, and a variety of flavours from the mustard, ginger and pimentos. Goes with almost anything – beef, sausages, in sandwiches and more.
Zucchini Chutney
This homemade chutney recipe works beautifully with zucchini. Now we serve it with almost anything - hot dogs, roast beef, chicken, as a sandwich spread - you name it.
Zucchini salsa
Salsa is a great addition to a meal, whether in the canned or fresh variety. Use these recipes to create the perfect salsa to go with your meal.
Canned Zucchini Salsa
A perfect recipe for that trip to the farmers market to get fresh zucchini, onions, tomatoes, red and green peppers, and jalapeno peppers.
Fresh Zucchini Salsa
A refreshing blend of tomatoes, zucchini, onion and cilantro, dressed with lime, olive oil and spices.
Zucchini marmalade
Did you know that you can make marmalade with zucchini? The addition of lemons, oranges and ginger to zucchini, makes for a sweet and delicious spread.
Zucchini Marmalade
Zucchini marmalade has got to be the most creative way to preserve zucchini. This simple recipe comes together with just a few ingredients, and there’s no added pectin needed.
Hot Chili Zucchini Marmalade
This citrusy spread, swimming with grated zucchini and tart apple, gets a hint of spice from jalapeno and fresh ginger.
Fermented zucchini
Fermenting zucchini is another great way to keep your zucchini harvest working hard for you throughout the year.
Easy Fermented Zucchini with Thyme and Lemon
My favourite vegetable to ferment is zucchini. This easy fermented zucchini recipe has a light and fresh flavour with thyme, lemon, and red pepper. You can try other types of spices in this recipe too.
Simple Grated Zucchini Kraut
If you want something a little different, try this recipe for grated zucchini 'kraut'. It is a great addition to salads, makes a perfect condiment, and is the simplest of ferments to make.
Phew! So many delicious zucchini recipes. Are you all zucchini-ed out yet?
And we haven’t even mentioned ratatouille, zucchini gratin, or zucchini soup. So there’s even more to explore.
Maybe you’re starting to regret the day you planted your zucchini seeds…
Before you give up all hope, here’s a few more ways to use up your extra zucchini.
3. Share your zucchinis with others
If your shelves are full of dried and canned zucchini, bags of shredded zucchini keep falling out of your freezer, and you just can’t stand to eat another bite of zucchini slice, then it might be time to consider sharing your bounty.
And there’s a few different ways you can do this.
3.1 Give your zucchinis away
The simplest way to reduce your ever growing zucchini pile is to simply give away zucchinis to anyone and everyone.
During zucchini season, we regularly walk around our neighbourhood, donating zucchinis to our neighbours. In the USA, there’s even a day, August 8th, dedicated to offloading your excess zucchini onto your neighbours: “National Sneak Some Zucchini On Your Neighbour’s Porch Day”.
You could also leave a box or basket of squash at the top of your driveway with a sign inviting people who walk past to take what they can eat.
Everyone loves the free, fresh, organic produce and we build stronger connections in our community. It’s win-win!
You can also take some with you any time you visit friends or family, and just hope they’re not also growing their own summer squash.
And you can also look for local barter or food swap groups in your area, where you all turn up on a regular day with your excess produce, and swap your zucchinis from some different fresh veggies from someone else’s garden.
You might even be able to find local restaurants, cafes, soup kitchens or charities that would be delighted to receive fresh produce for free.
We used a very creative way to get rid of our excess zucchini many years ago – we were having a party and played a “guess the weight of the zucchini” game and whoever got the winning guess got to take the zucchini home. Brilliant!
And of course, all of this also applies to any zucchini preserves you’ve made – a jar of zucchini relish or zucchini pickles would make a fantastic birthday, Christmas or housewarming present.
3.2 Sell your extra zucchinis
If you’re feeling a bit enterprising, you could also look at ways to make a little extra money from your zucchini-growing success.
If your neighbours aren’t already too zucchini-ed up from your previous efforts, they might be willing to buy extra zucchinis from you, especially if they’ve gotten used to using them in everything.
Or you could set up a stand in your driveway offering fresh, organic zucchinis for low prices. Just check that your local laws allow for this.
You might even be able to strike up an arrangement with your local independent greengrocer or CSA (community supported agriculture) operation to take your excess produce off your hands for a small profit.
If you have a lot more produce than you can eat, and enough variety, you could even attend a farmers market and sell your vegetables there, although there can be a fee to attend and a few more hoops to jump through.
Equally, if you have a regular supply of excess zucchini, you might be able to find a cafe or restaurant that’s willing to buy your produce when it’s in season, but you’ll need to crack out your business and negotiating skills to make this arrangement work for everyone.
You may also be able to sell your zucchini preserves in some of these same situations, although vegetables that have been prepared in some way are usually subject to additional food handling and other regulations, so again, check with your local government department before heading down this path.
4. Get creative with your zucchinis
If you’ve reached the point where you just can’t find anything else to do with your zucchinis (or you just can’t be bothered, like me), then maybe it’s time to get a little artsy-crafty with your zucchini stack.
Yes, it might feel a little wasteful not to be actually eating them, but at least they’re being put to good use.
4.1 Zucchini stamps
Use slices of zucchini to carve out shapes to use for painting and stamping onto paper. A great way to make low-cost, unique wrapping paper or just keep the kids occupied.
Zucchini Painting & Stamping Craft
Your kids will think you're crazy when you tell them they'll be painting with zucchini. And then they'll have a ball!
4.2 Zucchini race cars
Add a pair of wheels to a zucchini, decorate it anyway you like, and have yourself some instant zucchini racing cars that will keep the kids (and maybe even the adults) entertained for hours.
The Great Zucchini Race
The Great Zucchini Race is a Boulder Creek Hometown Festival classic and an awesome way to have fun and use up zucchinis.
4.3 Zucchini boats
Take a large zucchini, scoop out the middle, decorate it with flags or a sail, and then set your zucchini boat afloat on the nearest creek, dam or puddle.
Zucchini Boats
Making zucchini boats can be a lot simpler than zucchini race cars. It’s also a great alternative to eating a ridiculous amount of zucchini.
4.4 Zucchini people
Create instant dolls, or just “dress sup” your zucchini donations by turning them into little people. Add clothes and faces to make an adorable toy or (mostly) edible gift.
Zucchini People for National Zucchini Day
Make clothing for your zucchinis and turn them into zucchini people. Delight your neighbours with this little treat.
4.5 Zucchini carving
Demonstrate your artistic prowess (or lack thereof) by cracking out a zucchini and carving it. You can do a simple jack-o-lantern face or get horribly and wonderfully creative. The sky’s the limit! A great activity for kids too.
A Safe and Fun Pumpkin Carving Alternative for Kids
Transforming zucchinis into cute porch and deck decorations can be a good fall project before the weather turns colder.
Autumn Crafts From Vegetables and Fruits
Make a sea predator from a harmless zucchini or carve a pair of shoes.
The best way to store fresh zucchini in the short-term
When you have a lot of zucchini piling up in your kitchen, what’s the best way to store it so it stays fresh and ready for you to use in whatever way you choose next?
Here’s some tips on keeping your zucchini fresh until you’re ready to use it:
- The most important thing for storing zucchini is to leave them whole and unwashed, and keep them as dry as possible
- Let the air circulate around them to reduce the chances of mould, so leave the ends of any bags open
- If you have space, store your zucchinis in the fridge, preferably in the crisper drawer. They can be stored at room temperature on the bench, but they’ll go soft faster like this.
Stored like this, fresh zucchini should keep for one or two weeks, but if they start to soften or wilt at any point, use them straight away.
What happens if I eat zucchini every day?
Zucchini is a very nutritious food, full of vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients, and is an excellent part of any diet.
Eating zucchini daily can provide the following benefits:
- Support digestion, though its high water and fibre content
- Reduce blood sugar levels, because of its low carbohydrate content
- Make eyes healthier, from the high levels of antioxidants, including Vitamin C, and the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin
- Improves heart health, through its high fibre content, pectin and potassium content
- Strengthen bones, protects skin and encourage a healthy weight, from the high levels of carotenoids and lutein
Eating zucchini every day will provide your body with key nutrients, potentially address specific health problems and support your overall well-being, meaning that you’ll end up healthier, so long as you’re not adding too many other less healthy foods to your zucchini dishes.
Here’s some more health benefits of zucchini:
Can you eat too much zucchini?
With so much zucchini goodness floating around your home, is it possible to eat too much zucchini?
Happily, because zucchini has such a high water content, it tends to be a very filling food, so if you’re eating a dish that is primarily made up of zucchini, such as zucchini noodles or a zucchini stir-fry, you’ll fill up quickly and be unlikely to eat too much of it.
Because of the relatively high amount of both soluble and insoluble fibre in zucchini, people with sensitive digestive systems or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) may experience stomach cramps, nausea or diarrhoea if they eat a lot of zucchini.
However, with 1 gram of fibre per 100g, you would have to eat over 2 kilograms (4.5 pounds) of zucchini to exceed the recommended daily intake of fibre of 20 to 35g per day (depending on age and gender). Keep in mind that any time you eat more fibre than your body is used to, you may experience bloating, flatulence (gas) or other discomfort, but this will soon pass.
If you binge on zucchini you may also find that your stomach stretches to accommodate the extra volume of food, but this will adjust back when you return to eating normal volumes of food.
If you pair your zucchini with less healthy foods, like cheese, chocolate or sugar, then eating too many of these dishes could be bad for your health, but the issue here would not be with the amount of zucchini you’re eating, but the other foods you’re eating alongside it.
As with any diet, it’s important to eat a variety of foods over a few days, to ensure that your body gets all of the nutrients it needs, but that shouldn’t stop you from adding zucchini to your meals wherever possible, if you have a surplus of it, because it really is hard to eat too much of it.
Ready to use up that extra zucchini?
By now you should have a much better idea of the many different ways you can make sure that your surplus zucchini doesn’t go to waste.
You can eat it in a million different ways, you can preserve it and you can share Mother Nature’s bounty with everyone around you.
So get into the kitchen and start whipping up some delicious dishes with your mountains of zucchini, or sneak yet another bag of zucchini onto your neighbour’s porch, and you’ll get rid of that endless zucchini in no time at all!
Let me know in the comments below what your favourite way is to use up excess zucchini.
Resources
These resources are also included in the article above and will help you explore the topic in more depth:
- 12 Health and Nutrition Benefits of Zucchini
- How to Store Zucchini So It Lasts
- Eight Ways to Dehydrate Zucchini
- Freezing Zucchini Slices
- Freezing Grated Zucchini
References
Some of the ideas and information in this article came from the following sources:
-
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4718092/
- https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/changes-you-can-make-to-manage-high-blood-pressure/how-potassium-can-help-control-high-blood-pressure
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615290/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31370257/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6683027/
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120724144423.htm
