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zucchini overload what to do with a bunch of zucchini

Zucchini Overload? 10 Ways to Use Up Your Garden Surplus

/6 Comments/in , /by Mary Hunt

It happens every August. That one zucchini plant you barely remember planting turns into a green monster, and suddenly you’re picking eight a day and running out of neighbors to ambush. Zucchini bread and pickles only get you so far. Here are 10 genuinely different ways to use up the surplus, plus a freezer trick that stretches it clear into next spring.

zucchini overload what to do with a bunch of zucchini

There’s a moment every August when the zucchini plant you tucked into the corner of the garden, the one you planted almost as an afterthought, turns into a green monster with no off switch. You picked five yesterday. You’ll pick eight tomorrow. And your neighbor has started peeking through the blinds before answering the door, because they know exactly what’s in your hands.

I’ve done the porch drop-and-run more times than I’d like to admit. Zucchini bread and zucchini pickles are wonderful. They’re also not a long-term plan, because no household on earth eats that much bread.

So here are 10 genuinely different ways to work through the surplus… most of which don’t taste like zucchini at all, plus the freezer trick that turns 20 pounds of August zucchini into fall soup, winter pasta, and spring pancakes without you lifting a finger next season.

Why zucchini gets away from you

Zucchini is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and one of the hardest to keep up with. One plant can hand you 10 to 20 pounds over a summer. Two plants and you’re feeding the whole block. Three, and you’re the person leaving unmarked bags on porches after dark, hoping nobody’s home.

Here’s the good news, though. Zucchini is basically a food chameleon. Grate it fine and stir it into almost anything, and it disappears. No taste, hardly any texture, while quietly adding moisture and bulk. Which means the real trick isn’t eating more zucchini. It’s sneaking it into meals you’re already making.

Here are 10 ways that actually work.

1. Grate it and freeze it in 2-cup portions

grate and freeze zucchini and freeze

This is the single most useful thing you can do with a zucchini glut, full stop. Grate whole zucchini on the large holes of a box grater, then squeeze the water out in a clean kitchen towel. Don’t skip this part. Zucchini is about 95 percent water, and skipping it gets you a soggy mess later. Portion into freezer bags in 2-cup amounts and label with the date.

Frozen zucchini keeps about a year and drops right into soups, pasta sauce, chili, meatballs, muffins, pancakes.

2. Zucchini noodles for a fast weeknight dinner

how to make zoodles zucchini noodles

A spiralizer turns a whole zucchini into pasta-shaped noodles in under a minute. Sautรฉ with olive oil and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes. Don’t walk away, because overcooked zoodles turn watery fast. Then toss with your favorite sauce and a handful of cheese. Low-carb, feels like real pasta, and uses up a whole zucchini per person.

No spiralizer? A regular vegetable peeler makes wider ribbons that work just as well. I use mine more than the fancy gadget, honestly.

3. Grated into meatballs, meatloaf, and burgers

add zucchini to meatballs meatloaf and burgers for moisture

Two cups of grated, well-squeezed zucchini folded into a batch of meatballs or meatloaf makes them noticeably juicier, stretches the meat further, and vanishes completely. The kids won’t know. The adults will just think you’ve gotten better at cooking.

For burgers, work in about half a cup of finely grated zucchini per pound of ground beef. Same trick, same disappearing act.

4. Zucchini fritters, the snack nobody turns down

zucchini fritters

Grate it, squeeze it dry, mix with an egg, a little flour, some feta or cheddar, salt and pepper. Pan-fry small patties in olive oil until golden on both sides. Serve with sour cream, or plain Greek yogurt with a squeeze of lemon if you want it lighter.

These get eaten at every table I’ve ever put them on. Side dish, snack, light lunch, or breakfast with a fried egg on top. They work everywhere.

5. Stuffed zucchini boats

stuffed zucchini boats

This is where the baseball-bat zucchini you missed for a week finally earns its keep. Halve it lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, and stuff with whatever you’ve got: ground meat with rice and tomato sauce, taco filling and cheese, or sausage with breadcrumbs and parmesan. Bake at 375ยฐF for 25 to 30 minutes.

One giant zucchini, properly stuffed, feeds a family of four.

6. Zucchini “lasagna,” no noodles required

zucchini lasagna

Slice zucchini into thin lengthwise planks, salt them, and let them drain to pull out the extra moisture. Then layer them exactly like lasagna noodles (ricotta, meat sauce, mozzarella) and bake at 375ยฐF for about 45 minutes.

Kids and skeptics genuinely cannot tell the difference. Handy if anyone at your table is cutting carbs or avoiding gluten.

7. Chocolate zucchini muffins or cake

zucchini chocolate muffins or cake

Yes, chocolate. Grated zucchini adds moisture to chocolate baked goods without adding a hint of its own flavor. It just makes everything more tender. Two cups stirred into a standard chocolate cake or muffin recipe changes the texture for the better.

Kids eat these without a second thought. Neighbors ask for the recipe, which is its own kind of revenge for all those porch bags.

8. Blender zucchini soup

zucchini soup

Sautรฉ a diced onion in butter, add chopped zucchini and a few cups of broth, season, and simmer 15 minutes. Blend smooth with an immersion blender, then stir in a splash of cream or a spoonful of cream cheese for body.

Silky, mild, and good hot or cold. Freezes beautifully, which means one pot of soup solves two future dinners.

9. Grilled zucchini rounds or planks

grilled zucchini

Slice into rounds or thick lengthwise planks, toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Grill 3 to 4 minutes a side until you’ve got real grill marks, then finish with a drizzle of balsamic glaze or a squeeze of lemon.

It’s the easiest side dish in the world, works at any cookout, and uses up a whole zucchini for every two people at the table.

10. Pickle it, bread it, or ferment it

pickle bread or ferment zucchini

For the surplus you want to stretch out longer:

  • Refrigerator pickles: Slice into rounds or spears, pack in a jar, and pour over a hot brine of vinegar, water, sugar, salt, dill, and garlic. Keeps in the fridge 2 to 4 weeks.
  • Bake and freeze: Zucchini bread freezes beautifully, so when you’re baking, make three loaves and freeze two. Future-you problem, solved.
  • Ferment into relish: Grated zucchini with salt, water, and pickling spices in a jar turns into a tangy lacto-fermented relish, ready in about a week and good for months.

A few things NOT to do with a zucchini surplus

  • Don’t freeze whole raw zucchini. It turns to mush every time. Grate and squeeze first, no exceptions.
  • Don’t add raw zucchini to a yeast bread dough. The extra moisture throws off the rise and you’ll end up with a brick.
  • Don’t let the giant baseball-bat zucchini sit on the vine. It tells the plant to stop producing, and the small ones taste better anyway.

And don’t leave zucchini on your neighbor’s porch after dark. They know it’s you. They’ve always known it’s you.

The sneak-it-in strategy

If your surplus is truly out of control, plan one “hidden zucchini” meal a week. Meatloaf on Monday, chocolate muffins on Tuesday, pasta sauce on Wednesday, muffins packed for lunches on Thursday. Two cups a meal is easy to tuck in without anyone noticing. Do that for a month and you’ve worked through 30 to 40 pounds of zucchini without a single complaint at the table.

By next August, you’ll have a whole system ready to go. And you’ll still plant one zucchini plant anyway, because they’re pretty, and because a zucchini fresh off the grill in July is one of the best things summer hands you.

 

Question: What’s the sneakiest way you’ve ever used up a zucchini surplus? And how many pounds did your best plant give you last year? Tell me in the comments. I love a good zucchini brag.

Got a garden that’s about to out-produce your kitchen? I share these kinds of practical, use-it-up ideas in the Everyday Cheapskate newsletter, delivered free to your inbox every day. Subscribe here and let’s make everyday life a little cheaper, easier and smarter.

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6 replies
  1. Aice says:

    I dice it and freeze it to use in casseroles later. No blanching, just dice and freeze. I use a vacuum sealer but you could probably just use freezer bags.

    Reply
  2. Laurie says:

    I let a couple grow to monster size so they are almost seedless and have less water content and substitute them for apples for pie. An old farmers wife taught me this

    Reply
  3. Faye says:

    I make zucchini bars topped with cream cheese frosting. My boys never knew they were actually eating a green vegetable!

    Reply
  4. Heddy says:

    I didn’t want to waste all the liquid I had squeezed out of my grated zukes so i threw it in the blender with some frozen mango chunks and some chia seeds. The chia seeds plump up but it is still a drinkable consistency. I think any almost frozen fruit would work with this. Also, I put some watermelon and chia seeds in the blender with some mint and honey and made another delicious “chia fresca”. In other instances when you blend watermelon it will separate as it sits but the addition of chia seeds keeps it drinkable but stabilized. Great way to use up the last cubes of watermelon that you can’t bring yourself to eat!

    Reply
  5. Donna says:

    I grate it into baked oatmeal and zucchini bread flavored baked oatmeal, then after bakes cut into squares for breakfast on the go and freeze some

    Reply

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