20+ Ways to Use Frozen Zucchini in Easy Recipes
Discover over twenty creative ways to elevate your meals with these frozen zucchini recipes. From hearty soups to zesty stir-fries, explore easy recipes for every palate!
Fall is harvest time. Local growers and gardeners are picking the wide variety of fruits and vegetables that they have cared for all summer long. And those of us who don’t garden get to enjoy all their hard work.
A friend recently shared a gigantic zucchini with me and my mind went into zucchini overdrive. What would I make with all of this glorious zucchini?
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If you have ever grown a zucchini plant, you know it only takes one to create an abundance of zucchini. That makes it a perfect vegetable for sharing and freezing.
Zucchini is such a versatile vegetable too. It makes a great addition to your favorite soup or spaghetti sauce. Because it tends to take on the flavors of whatever dish it is in, you can also use it in both savory and sweet dishes.
Today, I have compiled a list of delicious zucchini recipes for you to make use of all of that abundance.
Three Cheese Zucchini Stuffed Lasagna Rolls
20+ Zucchini Recipes:
I also want to show you how to preserve zucchini to use all year long. Depending on how you plan to use your zucchini, you can choose to freeze it in pieces or to shred it.
Zucchini slices and pieces are perfect for things like soups, casseroles, and sauces. If I am going to use it mostly for baking, I have found that frozen grated zucchini is the easiest to work with.
You can find the full instructions for how to freeze zucchini below.
Lemon Raspberry Zucchini Bread
How to Freeze Zucchini:
- Start by thoroughly washing your fresh zucchini. You want to get rid of any dirt or debris that may have collected on the skin.
- Once it is clean, cut up the zucchini into rounds or small, uniformly sized pieces. Make sure you remove any large seeds.
- Next, blanch the raw zucchini. Start by putting a large pot of water on to boil. DO NOT add salt!
- While the water is heating up, fill a large bowl with cold water and ice. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with a thick layer of paper towel.
- Working in batches, add your zucchini to the boiling water, letting it cook for 1-3 minutes only. You want the pieces to be bright green and still firm.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the zucchini to the ice bath, and stir gently to cool. The ice water stops the cooking process. Drain well and lay the zucchini out on the prepared baking sheet to finish drying. Blot with extra paper towels, if needed. Continue this process until all of your zucchini has been blanched.
- Once all of your blanched zucchini is dry, place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet, in a single layer, and flash freeze it. This can take 1-4 hours. Freezing the zucchini pieces this way helps prevent everything from clumping together.
- When the vegetables are frozen, transfer them to resealable freezer bags, squeezing out as much air as possible, and seal tightly. You could also use a freezer-safe airtight container for this. Label the bags and stash in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Note: If you are wanting to store shredded zucchini instead of pieces, the process is even easier. Grate your zucchini using a food processor or box grater, then squeeze out as much excess moisture as you can (I like to use cheese cloth for this). Now all you need to do is freeze it!
One Pot Zucchini Mushroom Pasta
Tips and Tricks:
- I have found that the easiest way to freeze grated zucchini is to measure out 1/2 or 1-cup portions to store individually. When I am ready to use it, I pull a portion out of the freezer, let it thaw at room temperature for an hour or so, and it is ready to add to my favorite quick breads, sauces, and soups.
- There are some situations where fresh is best, like when you are making zucchini noodles. After they have been frozen, the noodles tend to become too mushy.
- Try adding frozen zucchini to your favorite smoothie recipes. It won’t affect the flavor and creates a wonderfully creamy texture.
What to Make with Frozen Zucchini:
The Best Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread – This chocolate chip zucchini bread recipe is moist, delicious, and full of rich chocolate flavor! It is a great way to use up all that extra zucchini from the garden. You could even turn it into zucchini muffins if you wanted to.
Keto Zucchini Brownie – I love finding sweet recipes that satisfy my chocolate cravings and still fit into a keto lifestyle. This easy keto zucchini brownie is a really winner!
Chocolate and Yogurt Zucchini Bread
I hope you enjoy all of these deliciously easy frozen zucchini recipes!
If you love these frozen zucchini recipes, please help me share them on Facebook or Pinterest so that others can enjoy them too.
More Zucchini Recipes
wow!!! Those all look amazing!! I can’t wait to try some of these!!
I have made the Lemon Bread and Chocolate bread so far and they were amazing!
oh and your zucchini fries link goes to the wrong blog ;o)
Thank you! There are two Zucchini Fries recipes and I had them switched ;) All fixed :)