Layered Zucchini Parmesan
Lately I’ve been inspired to cut down on my meat intake and increase my vegetable intake. Doing so improves my health, my wallet’s health (meat can get expensive), and the planet’s health. What do I have to loose? I’ll admit that I grew up consuming some type of meat or poultry daily, so it is a bit of a challenge for me to alter my diet like this. I’ve never been the type of person who can survive off salads alone – I prefer something warm and fulfilling. This is where my recipe for zucchini parmesan comes in. Its hot and bubbling, oozing with cheese, and full of the last of summer’s mild tasting zucchini. I ate this for dinner with a side salad and a hunk of crusty bread and completely forgot I had skipped eating meat that day.
Recipe Rundown
Taste: How could something doused with marinara and sprinkled with cheese not taste absolutely heavenly?
Texture: While oven “frying” the zucchini doesn’t produce the crispiest results, the texture is still surprisingly crave-able.
Ease: Much easier than chicken parmesan or lasagna.
Appearance: Any food that has a small, geometrically perfect shape is always going to be pretty.
Pros: This is a perfect recipe for sneaking in some vegetables to your life and can easily be adapted to whatever squash or vegetable that’s in season.
Cons: The recipe involves a 2-step oven process, nothing difficult though.
Would I make this again? Yes, but probably with a different squash as the seasons change.
Layered Zucchini Parmesan
Ingredients:
3 large zucchini, sliced into 1/3-inch coins
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated and divided in half
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup marinara sauce, homemade or bottled
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Coat a large baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Blot zucchini coins with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Place zucchini in a medium bowl and drizzle with olive oil, turning to coat each piece. In a separate bowl, combine half the parmesan, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper.
2. Dip each zucchini coin into the parmesan mixture, turning to coat and pressing the breading slightly to ensure it sticks. Place breaded zucchini coins in one even layer on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes or until browned and crisp.
3. Reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Coat the bottom of a small baking dish with marinara sauce. Layer one third of the crisp zucchini coins over marinara, overlapping if necessary. Sprinkle zucchini layer with mozzarella and the remaining parmesan. Repeat the layers 3 times (or until the zucchini is gone, depending on the size of your baking dish) ending with a sprinkling of cheese.
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe by Tessa of Handle the Heat
I like that this is a spin on an eggplant parm! It looks really good!
I haven't made chicken or eggplant parm in forever. I love the new take using the zucchini! Sounds delish!
Wow, that looks delicious! I will definitely be trying this.
I love zucchini, this dish looks fabulous!
That looks divine! Thanks for sharing.
yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
oh wonderfully simply but such wonderful flavors! perfect way for me to use up my zucchini!
Great way to enjoy zucchini!
Now I know how to use up the last of the zucchini!
mmmm, I'm making this tonight!
Hi Tessa! I made my version of this recipe the other night (adding ground turkey to the marinara sauce), and it was great! The only thing I didn't like was the texture of the zucchini- it was sort of mushy. Any suggestions for next time?
Rebekah- For crisper zucchini I would recommend (if you have the time) letting the zucchini “drain” by placing the coins on a cooling rack, sprinkle both sides with coarse salt and let it sit for at least 20 minutes. This will draw out the excess moisture. Then rinse the zucchini to remove excess salt, making sure to pat completely dry with paper towels. Another method you could use for a crisper texture is to forgo the oven “frying” and saute the breaded zucchini in olive oil (like you would a breaded chicken breast). Hope that helps!
This was delicious! I made it tonight, and it got rave reviews from my husband (and me, too). Really delicious. Thanks for the recipe. I didn't “drain” the zucchini, and I was pleased with the texture. Thanks for the recipe!!
Looks very yummy. I'm a cheese fanatic so I'll have to put extra on mine when I make this recipe
Yum, this sounds so tasty! Going to try it out tonight! Thanks for the fab recipe!
Oh my gosh, just made this for dinner, so amazing! I will for sure have to double it next time, so much goodness! Thanks again for the great recipe!
Looks wonderful. I'm going to try this as soon as I can get to the store to get some zucchini, love zucchini!
I made this tonight and while my kids wouldn't even try it (previous bad food experience with zucchini) it tasted great. A few comments though; important to note that the zucchini reduces in the oven so they should be sliced a little thicker than you'd think, to hold up to the baking & fresh mozzarella tasted amazing vs. grated …just in the way it melted (it was salted too). Great flavors, thank you for posting this
25 mins is way to long!!!!!!! My shit was crispy as hell. My oven was a' smokin. I came in from a cigarette and found out I wasn't the only one smokin… They were only in there for 10 mins
Katie replied: — May 22nd, 2012 @ 11:02 pm
Really? This is a recipe trailer trash. Is that really necessary?
So rude. replied: — June 23rd, 2012 @ 2:30 pm
Um. People who live in trailers are not all trash. Way to try to state your point and manage to offend an entire group of hard-working, kind people at the same time. Very mature.
I'm not sure whether coating the zucchini in bread is a stellar move, as far as health goes; it uses a lot of oil and no-so-great bread. I'd like to try this recipe, but I'd cook the zucchini in a skillet while waiting for the oven to heat up, then sprinkle some bread crumbs (ala macaroni and cheese style) over the top to give it a crunch, or just leave them out all together.
I love zucchini. I am going to try this it sounds great and looks very good.
I make a recipe similar to this, but first par boil the zuchinni til tender/crisp….on the less done side. Then saute onion, mushroom and garlic til tender, combine marinara and cheese with zuchinni. Omit EVOO! bake at 350 for 30-45 mins til hot!
This was great! TIP: I let the zucchini coins sit with a bit of salt on them for 30 min to “leech” the moisture out of them prior to breading them.
I made this today and it turned out pretty well…and my husband liked it a lot! I wish they would have turned out just a bit more crispy but perhaps I needed to get more moisture out of the zucchini…putting salt on them is a great idea (per above note) for doing this! Thanks for sharing the recipe…would make it again!
P.S. 25 minutes is not too long…per earlier notes! I even went with a couple of minutes beyond that…maybe that person sliced their zucchini way too thin!
This is an amazing recipe! I'm recently on a really weird new diet (low-FODMAP) which includes no gluten..so I made this with gluten-free breadcrumbs…and no garlic/onions, so I made homemade marinara. But it was so tasty and healthy. I let the zucchini sit for longer than suggested but good either way. Thanks!!
OH my please stop pinning these delicious recipes.I'm trying to lose weight and ooooooo they look sooooo good!!! Maybe if I cut down on the bread crumb it won't be that bad.
Heather replied: — July 10th, 2012 @ 5:53 pm
It won't be quite so creamy, but they make pretty yummy skim mozzarella cheeses, too. Just pan-cook the zucchini first, or just roast in the oven without breadcrumbs. Easy-peasy, super healthy!
I made this tonight and it was amazing! I do not measure ingredients but I used everything like the recipe says, I cook my zucchini for 25 minutes and then layered an bakes it. This recipe is now a family fav! Thank you for this : )
menoumenoume!
I made this last night for my zucchini hating husband and zucchini risotto, and we both absolutely loved this recipe! It was delicious. 25 mins was perfect to get the zucchini nice and crispy, and I put it back in the oven for about 25 mins (we like our cheese melted but crispy on the edges…I was also busy stirring risotto and couldn't move, haha). I think the only thing I would do differently as a home cook would be to spray the zucchini with EVOO spray for a more even and lighter coating. When I drizzled, the zucchini soaked it up like a sponge and I had to add a little more or pat down the bread crumbs/parm rather firmly to get any to stick.
Made this tonite…Fantastic.. I used panko crumbs and a homemade marinara sauce. I will be making this again.
this looks delicious… but do you think pre-salting the zucchini to draw out some of moisture would make them crispier? anyway just a thought, I will be trying it… especially if I can get my kids to eat it!
Made for dinner and my daughter and I couldn’t get enough. Will definitely try the salt idea to make them crisper, but it was a delicious way to get our veggies in
)
OMG so Delicious!!!!!! My daughter is a nutrition major and made this for us for dinner one night when she was home on brake. I’m making it for dinner tonight! thanks for sharing