Too Much Zucchini? Try Making A Zucchini Pizza

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Zucchini is always the brunt of the gardening joke isn’t it? So much of it grows that you can’t even give the stuff away. I remember the year our youngest was born. His birthdate was in August so I wasn’t exactly an attentive gardener that year. I do believe the zucchini and the cucumbers were the only thing that we were getting during the time surrounding his birth.

We didn’t grow zucchini this year. We wanted to scale back, focusing only on what we really love to eat and preserve for the winter. We do like zucchini, however, and at 3/$1 at the farmer’s market they are hard to resist. Zucchini is low on the carb chart and contains a decent amount of potassium.

But zucchini can be horrible, honestly, when prepared poorly. Like boiled. The high water content begs for it to be grilled, sauteed, or roasted. And when you’ve got oregano coming out of your ears, both in your garden and your pantry, then creating a pizza-flavored zucchini dish is the natural way to go.

A large amount of oregano-scented crispy zucchini creates a "crust" that is topped with tomatoes, whole milk mozzarella, and any toppings of your choice. It is a one-pan meal that can use the best produce of this abundant season.

Pizza Zucchini

Recipe Notes: This dish evolved from a sidedish I created just using the zucchini. To use this as a side just skip the sauce, cheese, and baking and serve the zucchini seasoned with oregano, garlic, and pepper flakes. If you have a lot of fresh tomatoes on hand you can slice, salt, allow to drain on a towel, and layer over your zucchini in place of the canned tomato.

Ingredients

  • 3 medium-large zucchinis, sliced to about 1/8"
  • 3 T coconut oil, lard, or tallow
  • 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
  • 3/4 – 1 lb. whole milk mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
  • dried oregano
  • dried pepper flakes
  • garlic powder
  • sea salt

Directions

  1. In a large skillet heat coconut oil over medium heat. Add enough zucchini to just fill the pan and allow to brown for a few minutes before flipping. Brown on other side. Transfer to a bowl or a plate and start on your next batch, adding more fat as needed. Continue until all of the zucchini is done.
  2. Once all of the zucchini is browned preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Season the set aside zucchini with salt, oregano, garlic powder and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Move zucchini back to skillet, ridding it of as much moisture as possible.
  3. Order zucchini in a single, even layer. Pour crushed tomatoes evenly over top. Sprinkle with additional sea salt (if unsalted), garlic powder, dried oregano, and red pepper flakes. Lay sliced or shredded cheese on top of sauce. Add toppings as desired. Onions, vegetables, and meats are all good. Dot top with butter or a drizzle of oil.
  4. Place in upper third of oven and bake until cheese is melted and starting to brown, 20-30 minutes. Remove and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. It is ok if it appears a little watery. Just leave some of that moisture in the pan when you serve.

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13 Comments

  1. I love to experiment with foods that are abundantly available. I also love to find new ways to make favorite foods grain-free. When reading this recipe, I immediately thought of grating the zucchini, placing it in a dish towel and wringing it out so it has less water. Mix with an egg and some grated parmesan and press into your “pizza” pan. Bake in the oven to brown and then top with the pizza stuff and bake again. Mmmm… it might come out less watery that way, and even slice more like a pan pizza. I’ve used zucchini like this for a quiche crust and it is very yummy!

    1. Melissa – Great idea! I considered salting the zucchini slices and letting them drain, but decided not to for time reasons. I will be trying your idea.

  3. We did grow zucchini this year 🙂 And to be honest it was not something we loved either. But I think with this recipe we found it will become a staple of growing.

    http://www.ehow.com/how_5012261_make-mock-apple-crisp-zucchini.html

    You can adjust to recipe so it is a bit more nourishing- and it play with the sugar (it takes a decent amount since the zuchs are not sweet).

    But in the end- this tastes like apple crisp- believe it or not. I think if I had even more I would just make the filling and can it for “apple pie” filling all year long.

    My kids love it.

    You can also puree plain, cooked zuch and mix it into unsweetened applesause.

  4. I have missed pizza so much since cutting out grains! So, I definitely want to try this! Do you think it would work with the yellow summer squash?

  5. Love the idea from Melissa about doing the zucchini crust with the pizza. I will definitely be trying this out and soon. I’ll share the recipe on my blog too! I’ll try to do the post next week. This is great too because my brother is coming into town tomorrow and he can’t have gluten so I was trying to think of some different recipes that he’d like. We’re all foodies in my family and love to try new things.

    Thanks for sharing!

    Oh, and if you’re looking for another recipe for zucchini, I do a zucchini, eggplant and summer squash dish. It’s delicious and you can use lots of fresh or dried thyme in it. http://artistta.blogspot.com/2010/06/layered-eggplant-zucchini-summer-squash.html

  7. I just grate up zucchini and put it into everything, you cant even taste it when its grated

  9. What kind of pan do you use for the recipe? Is it a deep dish pizza pan? If so I wish I had one to try this 🙂

  10. Pingback: What to do with Summer Squash | Fall Line Farms

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