Zucchini Parmesan (Parmigiana di Zucchine)

This easy zucchini parmesan is vegetarian and gluten free! No breadcrumbs, no dredging, NO FRYING! It's layered with oven roasted zucchini, and adding smoked mozzarella gives it an unexpected twist.

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It's the summertime dilemma: an avalanche of zucchini and what to do with it? I mean, let's be real, you can only eat so much zucchini bread, no matter how much you think you love it.

Enter Elizabeth Minchilli, and her giant Italian garden. Bless her, for she has sent this idea for baked zucchini parmesan to the rescue!

Jump to:

• About the recipe
• Ingredients
• Step by step instructions
• Substitutions
• Tips
• Related recipes
• Recipe

About the recipe

This is actually inspired by a recipe in her book, The Italian Table, which asks you to fry the zucchini and doesn't have any sauce. I didn't want to invest the time and energy (and calories!) into frying, so I'm doing baked zucchini parmesan in the oven instead.

I found that I also wanted an acidic element to balance out the cheese, so I've added layers of a simple tomato sauce made with canned San Marzano tomatoes.

There are no breadcrumbs or breading in this recipe, so it's gluten-free. In the United States, when we think of 'parmigiana', we think about coating it in flour and breadcrumbs and frying it.

But in Italy, that's not necessarily true, it varies by region. In many cases, the vegetables are simply fried in olive oil (or in this case oven-roasted) and then layered with cheese. Sometimes there is sauce, sometimes there is not.

Ingredients

• Zucchini: Choose small to medium zucchini. The bigger they get, the more seeds they have, and we don't want that. We need them to hold up to the oven roasting.
• Smoked mozzarella cheese: This adds to the roasted flavor of the dish. It has just a hint of smokiness, and it complements the crushed red pepper in the sauce.
• Parmesan cheese: Well, you know I will always tell you to use REAL Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, it's just so much more flavorful. It's worth the investment.
• San Marzano tomatoes: Again, use the real thing here. They have a distinct sweetness to them and they taste like Italian sunshine. Don't fall for imposters. There will be a certification on the label, so look for that. My favorite brand is Cento.
• Fresh basil: I like to use just a few basil leaves in one layer—not every layer—to add freshness. But you can add more if you like.
• Garlic, olive oil, crushed red pepper and salt: This is all you need to give the sauce its incredible flavor.

Step by step instructions

I've written this up so that you can multitask while making this recipe. Grate the cheese while the zucchini drains, make the sauce while the zucchini roasts, etc. So it may seem like I'm going back and forth between things, but if you do it this way, it will be stress-free and take less time.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Use a good chef's knife to slice the zucchini into planks about ¼ inch thick.

Place the zucchini slices in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with salt so that all slices are coated. Allow to sit in the bowl for about 30 minutes. The salt is going to pull a lot of water out of the zucchini which will prevent the final product from being watery.

Meanwhile, grate the parmesan and mozzarella on the small holes of a box grater. Chop the garlic finely.

After 30 minutes, the zucchini slices will have released a lot of water, and they should be kind of flappy and pliable. Lay them out flat on a clean dish towel, then lay another clean dish towel on top to blot dry.

Place the zucchini into a large, DRY bowl, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt so that all of it is coated.

Place the zucchini on the parchment-lined baking sheets, but not too close together. We want them to roast, not steam.

Roast the zucchini in the oven for 20-30 minutes, until they start to get golden brown in spots and seem to have given up most of their water. Remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 400 degrees F.

While the zucchini roasts, make the sauce.

Empty the tomatoes into a large mixing bowl and crush them by hand. Remove any stem ends from the tops of the tomatoes, as they won't break down while the sauce simmers.

Add the olive oil to a large, deep pan over medium heat. I used my Lodge enamel cast iron casserole dish. Once it begins to shimmer, add the chopped garlic and crushed red pepper. Stir frequently for 1 - 2 minutes, just until the garlic becomes fragrant and begins to soften.

Disclosure: I am a member of the Lodge Blogger Network. The pan shown was provided to me free of charge. All opinions are my own.

Add the crushed tomatoes and salt to the pan, stir all the ingredients together and turn the heat up to medium high. Fill the tomato can about ¼ full with water and swish it around then add that to the sauce as well. Once it gets to a bubbly simmer, turn the heat back to medium and stir frequently, preferably with a wooden spoon, for about 20 minutes.

Now for the fun layering part!

Layer 1: Put ⅓ of the sauce in the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish. Then add ⅓ of the zucchini on top as you would lasagna noodles.

Next add ¼ cup of parmesan, then ½ of the smoked mozzarella and a few basil leaves.

Layer 2: sauce, zucchini, ¼ cup of parmesan, all of the remaining mozzarella.

Layer 3: zucchini, sauce, remaining parmesan.

Place the zucchini parmesan in the oven (400 degrees F) and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is beginning to turn golden brown. Let stand 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

Substitutions

• If you can't find it, or simply don't like smoked mozzarella, use regular whole milk mozzarella instead.
• You can absolutely use jarred marinara sauce instead of making the sauce yourself. It is summer and we are taking it easy here.

Tips

• You can find smoked mozzarella at Whole Foods.
• I highly recommend grating your own cheese. Once grated, cheese starts to lose moisture and the texture changes. You'll also pay less if you grate it yourself.
• Do NOT skip salting the zucchini and letting the water drain out of it! This is so important! If you don't do this beforehand, you'll end up with very watery zucchini parmesan and that would be very sad.
• Yes, you still need to salt the zucchini again before you roast it. You're wiping off most of the other salt when you blot between the dish towels.
• Using a wooden spoon to stir the sauce makes it easier for you to break apart the tomatoes as you stir. You have more surface area and more control.

Related recipes

More recipes with zucchini and all of its pals from the summer garden!

• If you've still got more zucchini, but you just can't stand the thought of cooking, how about a Zucchini Salad with Herbs, Almonds, and Lemon-Caper Dressing? Sounds like a plan!
• A kiss of sherry vinegar mixed in with the tomatoes as they roast is the secret to this Oven Baked Salmon with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil Yogurt Sauce. You've never tasted such a fabulous concoction. And the smell as it cooks? Irresistible. Try not to burn your tongue.
• Nothing says summer like corn cut fresh off the cob. This Fresh Corn Salad with Blistered Shishito Peppers and Lime Dressing turns that same-old, same-old corn salad into yesterday's news.

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