Nutrition

Learn how to cook zucchini in your daily meals

Vegetables are essential to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But, eating the same vegetables can be boring and repetitive. This results in cutting back on vegetables in meals.

To avoid this, the solution is to be more adventurous and dare to buy new ones, or at least include a few unknown vegetables in your weekly shopping list.

If you do not know where to start, a good place is with some vegetables you have eaten but do not know how to cook or incorporate into recipes at home.

In this article, we will introduce you to one vegetable you know for sure but have not tried in your meals: Zucchini. Learn how to cook it and make perfect preparations with it as the main start of some of your family breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts.

How to cook zucchini?

Zucchini is a versatile vegetable with a blank taste. Therefore, it can be used in endless dishes. Zucchini works in both salty and sugary preparations. It can be eaten raw or fried, baked, roasted, grilled, steamed, and boiled.

Zucchini has the perfect firm skin to hold any filling you want to include. A good way of preparing it is stuffed. It is an attractive and creative method of including various vegetables in one dish. It is like an eggplant, with firm skin with soft flesh. Both zucchini and eggplants are interchangeable in this preparation.

For lovers of the classic eggplant parmigiana, they will also love the zucchini version. If you have not tried this dish, go tominuterice.com/recipes/rice-stuffed-eggplant-parmesan/ and learn how to prepare the most delicious, nutritious, and hearty eggplant dish.

For making stuffed zucchini, you need to cut it lengthwise, hollow the center with a spoon, use the flesh in the filling, and stuff it with your preferred mix of ingredients. Finally, pour some sauce on the top, add cheese, and bake until the skin is soft.

Roasting zucchini is a great method of using it as a side dish. It consists of cutting the zucchini into small pieces. Season them with salt, pepper, olive oil, Italian herbs, and Parmesan cheese. Bake until zucchini is crispy.

The easiest way of preparing this vegetable is raw. Raw zucchini has a slightly bitter taste but is a fresh touch to any preparation. It can be included in salads, dips, wraps, and spiraled to make noodles.

This preparation involves washing zucchini thoroughly and cutting and seasoning it according to the recipe. For example, for salads, cut them in slices or into rounds. Zucchini strips are best for wraps and sandwiches.

Zucchini can also be cooked simply by roasting, steaming, or boiling and added to other preparations like cakes, soups, creams, stews, or cookies.

Try these two recipes

Preparing zucchini is very fast and easy. Its versatility makes it possible to create countless dishes.

These two recipes will show you two creative ways of cooking zucchini for healthy preparations.

Cream soup of zucchini

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups of reduced-sodium chicken broth.
  • 1/2 small onion.
  • 2 cloves of garlic.
  • 3 medium zucchini, cut into large chunks.
  • 2 tablespoons of reduced-fat sour cream.
  • Kosher salt and black pepper to taste.
  • Grated Parmesan cheese for serving.

Preparation:

  1. In a big pot, combine chicken broth, onion, garlic, and zucchini.
  2. Cook at medium heat until the preparation boils.
  3. Reduce heat to low temperature and cover with a lid.
  4. Simmer for 15 minutes.
  5. Let it cold for 10 minutes.
  6. Make a puree with this preparation in a blender.
  7. Pour sour cream, kosher salt, and pepper. Continue blending until you get a smooth cream.
  8. Serve hot with Parmesan cheese at the top.

Chocolate zucchini cake

Ingredients:

  • 2 ½ cups of grated zucchini.
  • 1 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour.
  • 1 ¼ cup sugar.
  • ⅓ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
  • ½ teaspoon of baking soda.
  • ¾ teaspoon of salt.
  • ½ teaspoon of cinnamon.
  • 3 large eggs.
  • 1 cup of olive oil.
  • 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Preparation:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
  2. In a large bowl, mix all-purpose flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Reserve.
  3. In another bowl, combine the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract.
  4. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients.
  5. Add grated zucchini.
  6. Place the cake into a greased pan and bake for 40 minutes.
  7. Let it cool and serve.

If you have any questions, please ask below!