15 Delicious Seasonal Squash Recipes and Why You’ll Love Them

When you choose to eat seasonally, grocery shopping becomes an exciting adventure, and cooking a sort of puzzle to solve. With each passing season, new ingredients appear at your local farmers market, just begging for new and exciting recipes to prepare — and seasonal squash recipes are no exception.
Squash, like zucchini, is an ingredient we wait for all year long, only to grow tired of it after a bit. It’s not uncommon in regions where people grow squash in their gardens to wake up to far too much squash on their porches from neighbors.
However, if you embrace cooking squash in creative ways, there are so many squash recipes to enjoy from all over the world. Check out these 15 favorites, which play up the distinct benefits of this slightly sweet vegetable.
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5 Reasons to Choose Seasonal Squash

While in most places, you can find zucchini all year – and apples, strawberries, and oranges, for that matter – that doesn’t mean you should be eating them in February. Waiting until the height of seasonality to take full advantage of your favorite seasonal squash recipes boasts several distinct benefits1.
1. It’s healthier: Seasonally-grown produce exhibits the natural nutrients that out-of-season produce sometimes neglects to fully display1. Some studies have shown that crops can have up to three times more nutrients when grown in season. And when you purchase seasonal, local produce, it gets to you faster, making it fresher and healthier.
2. It’s cheaper: When you buy locally and seasonally, you don’t have to pay the uptick in prices that come from costly hothouses and transport from warmer climates. Instead, you pay the right price for local produce — what could be better?
3. You avoid ingredient boredom: It may be convenient to get strawberries all year long, but there’s nothing like waiting until May when the first true seasonal strawberries arrive and eating your fill until they fade out of season in August. It seems nature gives us just what we crave before taking seasonal produce away so that we can wait until the following year to eat it again.
4. You support local farmers: Eating seasonally supports local farmers. With an enthusiastic market for seasonal, local produce, farmers can get back to working the land the way that Mother Nature intended, secure in the knowledge that there will be people ready and waiting to pick up all of those huge crops of zucchini to enjoy in their favorite seasonal squash recipes.
5. It’s more delicious: Local, seasonal produce is the freshest you can find. It’s no wonder that it’s far more delicious than greenhouse-grown varieties that you find out of season.
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Kitchen Tips and Tricks for Cooking Squash

We’ve got a host of delicious seasonal squash recipes just waiting for you to try, but if you’d rather strike out on your own and experiment in the kitchen, here are our top tips on how to cook zucchini to get you started.
If squash has large seeds, remove them: Smaller squash will have seeds so tiny you can hardly see them, but as they grow, the seeds grow as well, lending bitterness and an unfortunate texture to your recipes. In this case, scrape them out, as you would with winter squash, before continuing with your recipe.
Remove excess water if eating zucchini raw: Like cucumber, zucchini contains a lot of excess liquid. If you’re preparing zucchini raw in a salad or a spiralized zucchini dish, consider seasoning it with salt and draining it slightly before tossing it with the other ingredients to avoid adding excess liquid to your dish.
Zucchini and mint are a match made in heaven: Zucchini and mint go wonderfully together, as evidenced by the host of Greek recipes featuring this pairing. Feta makes a merry third.
Zucchini disappears when grated: You probably remember this from Mom’s banana bread, but zucchini melts down quite quickly when grated. In this form, zucchini adds moisture to cakes and baked goods, but also to pasta sauces. You can even stir it into cooked rice to make it creamy like risotto.
Zucchini likes the cold: Even though it’s a summer vegetable, zucchini is best stored in the crisper until ready to use.
What Are the Benefits of Zucchini?

Zucchini, also called courgette, is probably the most common squash, with its deep green skin guarding a creamy interior. Its peak season begins in late June and continues through September.
Zucchini boasts several health benefits:
- They help with weight control given their very low calorie and high fiber content.
- Zucchini is an outstanding source of manganese and vitamin C.
- They contain vitamin A, magnesium, folate, potassium, copper, phosphorous, and omega-3 fatty acids2.
Zucchini are easy to find; you’ll be able to purchase them easily at any grocery store. Plus, they are very inexpensive, particularly when purchased in season. Organic, in-season zucchini costs less than $3 a pound. Stock up on this delicious vegetable and keep reading for some of our favorite seasonal squash recipes.
1. Stuffed Ginormous Zucchini

Instead of roasting your seasonal squash, why not stuff them? Just take one massive zucchini and stuff with tomato, ricotta, pine nuts, fresh herbs, and cheese. Bake in the oven for the perfect main dish of the season.
2. Zucchini Fritelle

These fritters are made by pureeing the cooked squash with eggs, a little flour, some pepperoncino, pepper, salt, and the secret ingredients: cinnamon and a little bit of nutmeg, which hail from the Arab influence of the island. This thin batter is then fried in a touch of oil for crêpe-like pancakes you can serve with just a squeeze of lemon juice.
3. Cheesy Vegetable Pie with Corn and Zucchini

This delicious, cheesy zucchini casserole is perfect for evenings when you’re out of zucchini inspiration. It combines corn and zucchini with crimini mushrooms and a host of herbs. Mozzarella cheese and eggs lend structure to the pie.
4. Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegan Zucchini Bread

This play on the classic zucchini bread will suit any palate or dietary preference — and it’s just plain delicious. Zucchini adds moisture to this cake, which is made with hearty teff flour, ground flax seeds, and dark chocolate chips: the perfect bread for both breakfast and dessert.
5. Spiralized Zucchini with Tahini Dressing

This delicious zucchini dish brings raw zucchini center-stage with a fun play on the zoodle fad. A simple tahini-soy dressing with rich cherry tomatoes livens up this zucchini salad with creaminess and flavor.
6. Spiralized Squash with Tagliatelle, Peas, and Arugula Pesto

This recipe stands out from other zoodle recipes in that it pairs the spiralized seasonal squash with actual pasta. Both noodles are coated with a homemade vegan arugula pesto, and the addition of peas adds a touch of sweetness to distinguish it from the peppery arugula.
7. Grilled Squash and Orzo Salad

This tasty salad is a great way to use any seasonal squash you have lying around — different colors will only make the salad more beautiful. Orzo pasta forms the base, and a sauce of pine nuts, lemon juice, vinegar, and mint adds fresh flavor to the ensemble.
8. Layered Ratatouille

While traditional ratatouille is a stewed sort of dish filled with vegetables, the version popularized by the Disney film “Ratatouille” layers these vegetables, to allow each of their individual flavors to shine through.
9. Stuffed Yellow Squash

Especially as they get larger, yellow squash are perfect for stuffing. This recipe calls for tomatoes, bell pepper, bacon, bread crumbs, and cheese for a flavorful stuffed squash that’s the perfect accompaniment to any meal.
10. Stuffed Pattypan Squash

Aside from these two common varieties, there are also a wide variety of heirloom squashes, many of which are perfect for stuffing, like zucchini lunghi bianchi, pattypan squash, and globe zucchini. This super-easy tomato and mozzarella stuffing will go wonderfully with any heirloom squash your market vendor has on hand.
11. Battered and Fried Zucchini Flowers

Stuffed zucchini blossoms are an Italian favorite. This version is one of the simplest, stuffed with a herbed ricotta filling before being battered and fried. If you’re growing zucchini in your garden, be sure to serve up the zucchini flowers this way, and if not, keep your eye out at your farmers market before they all disappear.
12. Baked Zucchini French Fries

Craving French fries? This zucchini fries recipe makes eating fries fun again (and more nutritious). Garnish with parsley and a squeeze of lemon.
13. Zucchini Spag Bol

Spaghetti Bolognese, or spag Bol, as it’s called Down Under, is a perennial favorite. Make it a bit lighter by adding zucchini to the recipe. You can either dice it and add it with the rest of the aromatic vegetables, make zoodles out of them and top it with a hearty sauce, or grate it so that it melts into the sauce.
14. Zucchini Baked Fish

Zucchini is a great addition to baked or grilled fish. This Mediterranean-inspired dish roasts zucchini before combining with tomatoes, garlic, olives, and wine. Return them to the oven for more roasting while you cook your fish, like cod or halibut. Finish with a spritz of lemon.
15. Fast Lamb Salad

Channel your Italian and Greek origins by making this fast lamb salad. It ticks all the boxes, combining lamb with peas, feta, fresh herbs, lemon, and, of course, zucchini.
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Explore the Many Sides of Summer Squash
11 Summer Recipes for Zucchini: Eating Seasonal
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