Zucchini Stew With Tomatoes

Name: Zucchini Stew With Tomatoes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 2 tablespoon olive oil; 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon tomato paste; 2 medium sized zucchini (about 1 pound); 3 medium sized tomatoes, peeled and chopped; 4 cloves garlic, chopped; ½ teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon black pepper; ¼ teaspoon cumin; ¼ teaspoon thyme; ½ teaspoon paprika; Chopped parsley for garnish

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This incredibly delicious and vegetarian zucchini stew will make the perfect light low-calorie meal on beautiful summer days. It is packed with a bunch of Mediterranean flavors and pairs fantastic with a light and refreshing yogurt sauce and some crusty bread.

Zucchini stew with tomatoes and herbs in a pan and a wooden spoon in it.

If you would like to try more vegetarian recipes, go have a look at our Vegetarian Recipe category. And if you’ve just fallen in love with zucchini, check out our zucchini tomato casserole too!

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Why We Like This Recipe
About The Ingredients
How to Make
Tips
Serving Suggestions
FAQs
More Zucchini Recipes
More Vegetarian Recipes
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Why We Like This Recipe

It is incredibly easy and simple to make. You will be surprised how quickly you can whip up this delicious meal.
It is very low in calories and not heavy at all. This light zucchini stew will make the perfect lunch, appetizer, or even late-night dinner if you aren’t that hungry. It is perfect for summer and is packed with delicious Mediterranean flavors!
It tastes so good with some crusty bread. We enjoy dipping bread into it!

About The Ingredients

Naturally, the hero ingredient of this stew is zucchini, one of the popular foods in Turkey. We prefer the pale green variety but literally, any type of zucchini or courgette will work fine.

Zucchini, tomatoes, spices, garlic, onion, olive oil, tomato paste, parsley on a dark background.

Then we of course have the fresh summer tomatoes, which add a tangy and slightly sweet flavor to the zucchini stew. We wouldn’t recommend using canned tomatoes, although you can if you’re in a pinch.

This recipe allows you to play around with spices a lot. Although it does already contain a perfect blend of aromatics, you can always remove and add some that meet your needs. We sometimes love adding some chili or cayenne pepper for an added kick.

If you want to create a heartier stew, you can add additional chopped potatoes, or other vegetables like sweet potatoes, pumpkins, or carrots.

How to Make

This is a flavor-packed vegetarian stew that only uses basic ingredients to create an incredibly unique and mouth-watering stew. And what makes it even better is that there is still room for you to play around with the flavors!

Zucchini sliced and diced on a wooden board, tomatoes and parsley on the side.

First, prepare the zucchini. We love to dice them as they are better in a stew. But you can chop them roughly in larger pieces if you want.

Second, make the base of the stew. Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add your onions. Allow them to cook until they are translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Reduce the heat and add the tomato paste, cooking it for about 1 minute while stirring. Add a splash of water if it gets too dry.

Diced zucchini cooking in a tomato sauce in a pan and a wooden spoon in it.

Add the diced zucchini with their skin on and cook them for about 2-3 minutes, making sure they are covered well with the tomato paste. Place a lid on the pot and allow the mixture to cook for about 5 minutes on low heat.

Diced zucchini, tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, garlic and spices in a pan.

Then, allow to cook and serve. After your zucchini has sweated a bit, add the chopped tomatoes, garlic, salt, and all the other seasoning ingredients. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Finally, garnish the zucchini and tomatoes stew with some parsley and serve immediately.

Zucchini tomato stew topped with chopped parsley in a pan and a wooden spoon in it.

Tips

We like to make our zucchini quite chunky and large. A rough chop is more than fine as they shrink a lot while they cook. This also helps add more texture to a stew, which can often be mushy.
We would highly recommend choosing the best and freshest tomatoes for this recipe as it is a big flavor component. You can (and even should) make your own tomato paste and choose some fresh summer tomatoes.
If you are in a hurry though, you can use chopped canned tomatoes, or even whole peeled tomatoes for juicier flavors.
This recipe is fantastic as it only uses simplistic flavoring ingredients like garlic, salt and pepper, cumin, thyme, and paprika. Obviously, all of the ingredients in this recipe create a well-balanced flavor profile, but it does leave a lot of space for experimenting!
You can substitute the parsley with fresh dill or basil as a garnish. These will still add a refreshing herb flavor that compliments the flavors of this stew well.

Serving Suggestions

This is a staple summer dish in Turkish cuisine, especially in the more southern parts. We always love serving it with a dollop of yogurt.

You can buy store-bought plain yogurt, although we prefer making our very own. Our yogurt recipe is incredibly easy to make and you don’t need a ton of skills or equipment.

Also, you can serve it with some crusty bread like this no flour cornbread, bazlama bread, or pide bread. All these make fantastic dipping bread for this zucchini tomato stew.

And you can enjoy your favorite pickles on the side as well.

Zucchini stew served in a bowl with a yogurt topping and a fork inside.

FAQs

Can I freeze this stew?

You can definitely freeze this stew for up to 3 months! The most important thing to keep in mind when freezing vegetable stews, or any dish really, is to keep a consistent and stable freezer temperature.

Can I make it with meat or chicken?

You can definitely add some type of meat to these like chicken or beef, however, we love it most as a vegetarian dish.

Can I substitute basil for parsley?

You can substitute the parsley with virtually any herb. We would recommend herbs that have a fresher and less umami flavor like basil and dill, even fennel. These herbs pair fantastic alongside zucchini with tomatoes and onions.

Can I use store-bought tomato sauce?

You can buy store-bought tomato sauce, however, fresh summer tomatoes do always work better. And never skip adding tomato paste! The tomatoes are a big component of this recipe and give it a deliciously tangy, sweet, and slightly acidic flavor profile.

More Zucchini Recipes

More Vegetarian Recipes

As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

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