The Shredded Zucchini Casserole Recipe Our Editors Can’t Stop Making This Summer

When the end of summer rolls around, so do the seasonal vegetables. From the produce section of your favorite grocery store to farm stands and vegetable gardens, there’s a good chance you’ve wound up with an abundance of this easy-to-grow summer squash. Luckily, we have no shortage of recipe inspiration for clever, yummy dishes to feed the whole family—from fun zucchini boats to crispy fries. (And if you’ve got a sweet tooth, we’ve even got a list of dessert recipes that incorporate this versatile ingredient.)

My go-to method for cooking zucchini is roasting it in the oven (after tossing it with oil, salt, and pepper), but there’s one game-changing preparation that I always forget: shredding it. Not only is it a great way to process and store loads of zucchini to freeze and use throughout the winter, but it’s the perfect way to incorporate zucchini into a deliciously cheesy, creamy casserole.

Why We Love Shredded Zucchini Casserole

There are plenty of zucchini and summer squash casseroles out there that are more like a gratin, layering squash medallions with eggs, cheese, and butter. While these recipes are tried-and-true classics, they have a tendency to turn out a little bit soupy if you’re not careful. This typically depends on variable factors: how thick or thin the slices are cut, the water content of the zucchini, and how well the slices are salted.

That’s when shredding zucchini comes in handy; it’s an easy way to get around this common problem and level up zucchini casserole. Salt more evenly coats the surface area of the thin strips, extracting extra water and making it that much easier to squeeze out excess before tossing it into the casserole components.

How to Make Shredded Zucchini Casserole

First thing’s first: Shred the zucchini! You can use a box grater or the shredding attachment of a food processor—just be advised that the manual method might require a little bit of elbow grease (and watch those knuckles). If you have any extra zucchini, feel free to shred that too. Extra zucchini can be frozen and thawed for fried patties, zucchini pie, and even zucchini bread.

1. Prepare the baking dish. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Season zucchini and drain. Combine the shredded zucchini with salt, toss it to combine, and let it sit in a colander in the sink to drain for at least 15 minutes. (This step is important, because it takes time for the salt to do its job of extracting moisture.)
3. Strain the zucchini and squeeze out water. Transfer the zucchini from the colander to a clean kitchen towel and squeeze to remove excess moisture—just like you would for potato fritters.
4. Cook onions. Heat oil in a large skillet and add onions. Cook until they’re softened and translucent.
5. Mix together ingredients and make panko mixture. Stir together the strained zucchini, cooked onion mixture, and cheeses. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish and bake at 375 degrees F, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
6. Make panko topping. While the casserole is baking, make a crispy panko mixture by stirring together panko breadcrumbs, melted butter, and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle it over the casserole dish and bake it for 10 to 15 more minutes.

Praise from the Allrecipes Community

• “Always need something to do with the extra garden zucchinis-easy goes with everything.” —Michele
• “I don’t even care for zucchini, but this was delicious! Instead of chives I used green onions fresh from the garden, and I didn’t have Italian panko crumbs so I simply added some Italian seasoning to regular panko. Note – I found this to be just the right amount of cheese.” —Erin
• “Made this for dinner guests to go along with grilled swordfish and some buttered noodles along with tossed salad. This was the show stopper rave reviews, shared the recipe.” —RedPot7012

Get the recipe: Shredded Zucchini Casserole