This Skinny Zucchini Casserole recipe is skinny but absolutely not a boring diet food. Even zucchini haters will love this tasty casserole! Serve it for lunch or as a side for dinner. You'll miss it even in winter!
What comes to your mind when you see the title of this post? Another boring diet food that has a nice photo? You will have to apologize to this Skinny Zucchini Casserole recipe for thinking that way once you have the first bite. I promise, it will become one of your favorite summer treats before you realize. You can pair it with fresh Shepherd’s Salad or Cacik, which is a cold dip made of yogurt and cucumber to have the great flavors of summer.
Best part, it's so easy to make. Just make sure you remove the juice of shredded zucchini well.
As a child, I remember zucchini was one of the vegetables I didn't enjoy eating. I never refused to eat a meal made by mom, I wasn't that kind of kid. However, there were a few foods that I found really tasteless. I can't even tell you how zucchini has become my favorite summer vegetable now. I LOVE to create recipes with it. I can even eat it raw now, as in these Raw Zucchni Rolls. Do you love or hate it? What's your favorite zucchini recipe? I'd love to hear them in the comments section below!
It is a low calorie recipe, that’s right. But it doesn’t mean that it is tasteless and unappealing. On the contrary, even zucchini haters will love this amazingly tasty, yet skinny zucchini casserole recipe.
For one thing, it doesn’t contain any oil or butter. I just used ½ tablespoon butter to grease the pan. I used a few simple ingredients for this incredibly yummy zucchini casserole. When someone sees and wants to make this recipe, there is no need to go for shopping. These are some very basic ingredients that I’m sure you always have in your kitchen.
Besides zucchinis, you mainly need 2 eggs and a little cornmeal and breadcrumbs, which will help the grated zucchini hold together. Also, to make this casserole that tasty, you need a little cheese and black pepper.
I used kasar cheese, which is a Turkish type of cheese but parmesan works fine too. I’m planning to use ricotta next time to make my casserole creamy. If you try it earlier, I’d love to hear how it turns out. A mixture of various cheeses could even be better. Then the zucchini casserole may not be that skinny though.
Personally, I feel that black pepper is a must for this recipe. You will agree with me when that very tempting smell of zucchini and black pepper fills in your home when baking. Black pepper is one of the ingredients here which saves this casserole from being boring.
Make sure you strain the excessive water of grated zucchini, otherwise your casserole becomes soggy and we don’t want that.
This zucchini casserole recipe is healthy and full of flavor with a wonderful golden crust. I used a combination of cornmeal and breadcrumbs and kasar cheese to have this yummy crust. You can use just cornmeal and leave out breadcrumbs if you have a gluten-free diet.
Skinny Zucchini Casserole Recipe
A very tasty zucchini casserole flavored with black pepper and a little cheese.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 3 and ½ cups grated zucchini
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal
- 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs, optional
- 4 tablespoons grated kasar cheese or parmesan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190C.
- Grease a baking pan with butter.
- Place the grated zucchini on a cheesecloth and squeeze as much liquid as you can. See the video above for this.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add in the zucchini, black pepper and salt. Stir until combined well. Add in 1 tablespoon cheese and give it a good stir.
- Pour this mixture into the baking pan and spread evenly.
- Sprinkle cornmeal and breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove it from oven, top with the remaining cheese. Make small holes with a knife and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.
- Serve warm.
Keywords: zucchini casserole, vegetarian zucchini casserole
The recipe was pretty easy to make. If I made it again, I would definitely cut back on the black pepper and add some other spices (cumin, oregano, cayenne?) as the flavor was a little one-dimensional.
★★★★
This was a very boring recipe. I( will not make it again. It's basically just grated zucchini (very dry) with a lackluster topping on top. I don't know kasar cheese but interesting that the substitute was parmesan. Perhaps a diffierent cheese would have worked better with this.
★★
This looks really good, I'm going to make it tonight! Also -- you mentioned cacik, are you Turkish? I'm Turkish and cacik is a staple for me and my family in summer time. Except I grew up eating it as a soup rather than a dip!
Hi Ferah! Right, I'm from Turkey. Cacik is so good especially in summer. We sometimes add no water in it so that it's thicker and we enjoy it as a dip.
I noticed my daughter keeps asking for it thicker too! She likes to put it on everything. I think she uses it more as a sauce. It's hard to keep it stocked in the fridge with her around!
Oh, she's just like me then. Your daughter knows what tastes best. You know what? My son asks for it even at breakfast. I think my family can live on it!
I make a similar zucchini casserole but I add milk to make it more "custardy."
★★★★
Hi Carter! Adding milk is a brilliant idea!
this very good Just needed to double the recipe next time was a little to thin.
★★★★
Thank you Maureenb for sharing your opinion! My pan was not a large one. Good idea to double the recipe for a larger pan.
I grated a little carrot and onion in the casserole. I also threw in some fresh corn off the cob. My family loved it!
What can I substitute for the cornmeal or can I just leave it out ??
Hi Abigail! You can just leave it out and use extra breadcrumbs if you like. You can even use oats instead.
It may not be as skinny, but I want to make this and maybe put some French fried onions on the top. Looks so delicious!! Thanks!!
My kids have an egg allergy. Do u have any suggestions for an egg substitute??
Hi Michelle,
Our 2-year-old boy has just overcome his egg allergy. I used flax seed to substitute egg for several cake recipes, but I'm not sure with this one. Never tried this recipe with flax seed. If you decide to use it as an egg substitute in this recipe, you might still need to increase the amount of cheese to help it hold together. Would love to hear the result if you try.
one of my favorites
★★★★★
The first time I made this, it was delicious but I should've measured the zucchini AFTER I squeezed out all moisture. The zucchini was pretty flat and didn't look like the picture. I'm making it again tonight with this in mind. Can't wait!
Hi Nicole! Well, I measured the zucchini before squeezing them indeed. But to my experience, not all zucchinis have the same amount of juice, so maybe I should have given the meaurement after squeezing them. I guess mine was about 3 cups after squeezing. Hope you ended up what you desired after your second aatempt.
This recipe looks pretty straight forward and simple (and yummy!) but between school and work I try to make some casseroles I can premake and throw in the freezer and then bake when I'm need of them. Any idea of how this would freeze? 🙂
Hi Carley, I've never frozen it but why not? I think it will freeze well.
What size casserole dish? Would you say 9x9 or larger?
Thanks for the great idea, have a zucchini waiting to be eaten 🙂
A 8x8 would be enough. Enjoy your zucchini 🙂
I made this last night...SOOO GOOD!!!!
★★★★★
Love anything zucchini, thanks a bunch for this!
I made this two days ago. My husband and I really liked it. But it did not say what size dish. It tasted like a souffle. I will make this again but double the recipe. I also did not know oven at 190c so I cooked at 350.
★★★★★
Happy to hear that you both loved it! A great way to use up zucchini, isn't it?
LUV YOUR RECIPES! can I ask for a favor? you sometimes switch between metric and the us/imperial; can you give both all the time?
I am living in Turkey and would like to try this recipe. What is Cornmeal in Turkish and can I substitute it with anything else. I realise you do NOT mean Corn Flour. I just made your Patlican Kebap tonight - we loved it. Thank you again.
I love zucchini and will def be trying some of these recipes. One thing, I can't believe you don't have garlic in any of them?????
★★★★★
Not recommended with frozen shredded zucchini. I made this tonight with my frozen surplus of shredded zucchini from last summers harvest. I had to thaw 2 quart bags to make 2 cups of zucchini after extracting the excess water. Since I only had 2cups I cut the recipe in half and decreased the cooking time. The casserole was not light and fluffy like other comments it was more dry and condensed. But the flavor was good. I will try this recipe again next summer with fresh zucchini.
★★★
Ben yaptım ama olmadı 🙁 Üst katman çok kötüydü, hamur gibi kalmış resmen, ben daha çıtır bişey hayal etmiştim, üst katmanı kaldırdım yiyemedim, kabak kısmı da pek lezzetli olmadı tek başına. Senin fotolardaki görüntüde sanki kabak pişmemiş gibi yemyeşil mesela, benimki gayet renksiz oldu 🙂 Bir sonraki sefere mısır ununu kabaklara karıştırmayı düşünüyorum, öyle daha iyi olabilir sanki.
Çok üzüldüm Özge Hanım. Neden öyle oldu acaba? Aslında üst katman da alttaki kabak da yumuşak oluyor. Kabak sotenin rendelenmiş ve fırında hali diyebiliriz bu tarif için. Kabağa lezzeti karabiber veriyor, o nedenle karabiber konusunda cömert olmak gerekiyor. Ben normal sakız kabağı kullandım, kabuğunu soymadan rendeleyip suyunu sıktım. Renk farklılığı neden olabilir bilemiyorum ki.
Aslında ben karabiber sevmediğim ve yemediğim için eklemedim, dereotu koydum onun yerine 🙂 Lezzet konusu çok önemli değil, o şekilde yerdik de üst katman kötüydü cidden :)) Ben kabakları soyduğum için rengi böyle olmamış olabilir, zaten çiğ hali de yeşilden çok sarı gibiydi. Neyse artık, bir dahaki sefere güzel olur inşallah 🙂
Harika gozukuyor. Hem lezzetli hem de saglikli tarifleri tercih ediyorum ben de. Kesinlikle deneyecegim.
Ellerinize saglik, sevgiler.
Asuman
Do you know the nutrition facts for this recipe? Worried about fat/ cal with cheese, egg and breadcrumbs/ cornmeal. Looks great!
Can i sub cornmeal with rice flour?
Never tried rice flour in casserole, but why not? I think it gives a nice rice flavor to yor casserole. Will try it next time.
Ellerinize saglik Zerrin Hanim, Tarifiniz sahane gorunuyor! (Ustune ustluk yag olmamasi cok daha guzel 🙂 )
Very good, I just made it and came out delicious, very light just the way a like it without all that taste of cheese.
Thank you for your feedback! Glad that you loved it!
This will be on the list when my gardening friends start gifting me with big bags of zucchini! It looks great!
I don't even like zucchini much, but this casserole appeals to me so much! I'm definitely pinning it to try soon. 🙂
Wow, it must be yummy ! I already know what we'll be eating in the summer when we'll get loads of zucchini from my in laws 🙂
Zerrin, what a great-sounding recipe!
Thank you Kalyn! It is one of those rare easy, tasty, healthy dishes!
Nefis görünüyor, elinize sağlık. Ben de bunun hemen hemen aynısını ıspanakla yapıyorum. Breadcrumb derken gerçekten bayat ekmek kırıntısı mı kullanıyorsunuz yoksa galeta unu mu onu merak ettim. Sevgiler...
★★★★★
Teşekkürler Özge Hanım. Ispanaklısı da eminim çok lezzetlidir. Galeta unu kullanıyorum ama İngilizce karşılığı olarak breadcrumbs diyorum çünkü bizim galeta unu yerine onu kullanıyorlar. Sevgiler.