Fried Zucchini Parmesan

Crispy breaded zucchini slices are pan fried and with topped with gooey melted cheese and sweet tomato sauce. Serve alongside your favorite pasta, or devour the whole pan at the kitchen counter!

Happy July!

Zucchini season is upon us, and that can only mean one thing: Fried Zucchini Parmesan.

I first came up with this recipe when we were overrun by zucchinis in our first couple years of gardening.

We were very enthusiastic about our new raised beds and were so excited for zucchinis! I think we planted like 2 or 3 plants to ensure we'd have enough to last us the summer.

Let me tell you, we had zucchinis up to our eyeballs!

I made a ton of zucchini bread, zucchini pancakes, zoodles, you name it! But these little green guys kept coming and I was running out of ideas.

I then realized that zucchini is very similar to an eggplant--texture wise.

So why not bread it, fry it, and smother it with cheese?

Yes. Thus Fried Zucchini Parmesan was born.

It's delightfully crispy, with a kiss of sweet tomato sauce, and smothered in golden, bubbly cheese. It's irresistible.

And dare I say, better than eggplant? I'll leave that up to you.

Before we start, drain that zucchini!

It's important to drain the zucchini before breading to prevent the dish from getting water logged.

Salting the zucchini before breading helps to get all that excess moisture out of your zucchini and out of your breadcrumb coating!

This will ensure your breadcrumbs will not only stay put, but also get delightfully crispy!

How to keep your zucchini from getting soggy and getting the breading to stick:

Zucchini is notoriously watery, and it can be a little tricky sometimes to get that breading to stick. Here are a couple of little tricks to help get your coating to stay on while frying and to stay crisp!

1. As we've already discussed, salt the zucchini first. This not only draws out the moisture in the vegetable to prevent excess sogginess, but it also provides a dewy surface, which is great for your flour to stick to!
2. Dry sticks to wet, wet sticks to dry. Remember this! When we salt the zucchini, it becomes a wet surface for the flour to stick to. Then we dip the floury zucchini in an egg wash, so the wet egg mixture sticks to the dry flour. Finally, we dip the wet egg mixture into the dry breadcrumbs. The zucchini breading is now perfectly adhered.
3. Add a good amount of oil to the pan. Doing a shallow fry allows the oil to come up the sides of the zucchini, immediately cooking and encasing the breading. If we just did a sear type situation, the breading wouldn't stick well.
4. Add tomato sauce after baking. Baking the fried zucchini slices in tomato sauce would make the dish soggy. So instead, we add a little sauce to the top center of the fried zucchini and bake it on a sheet pan lined with a baking rack. We leave as much crispy breading exposed as possible while baking to preserve the crispiness we achieved while frying. When you're ready to serve, you can spoon some tomato sauce on the serving plate or on top of the pasta you're serving the zucchini on.

How To Make Fried Zucchini Parmesan

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients for Fried Zucchini Parmesan:

Drain the zucchini

Trim off the bottom end and the stem end and cut the zucchini squash into round slices about ¼" thick.

Toss zucchini in a bowl with 1 ½ teaspoons of salt. Stir to make sure it's evenly coated.

Transfer zucchini to a colander sitting over a bowl and let the moisture drain for 40-45 minutes.

Prep the breading station

While the zucchini is draining, combine flour, garlic powder, and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt into a gallon size freezer bag.

Close the bag and shake to mix everything well. Set aside.

In a bowl beat the three eggs, until well blended and move to the fridge until it's time to bread.

In a shallow bowl or pie plate, combine the breadcrumbs and parmesan.

Breading and cooking the zucchini

Once the zucchini is done draining, lay the zucchini slices out on a sheet pan lined with paper towels. Add another layer of paper towels on top and press down firmly to soak up any excess liquid.

Working in batches, add the drained slices of zucchini to the freezer bag full of flour and give it a shake.

Remove the zucchini slices from the bag and shake off any excess flour.

Dip zucchini in the beaten eggs and evenly coat the entire slice.

Remove zucchini from the egg mixture, letting the excess egg drip off and then drop in the breadcrumb mixture.

Make sure to really press and cover the slices in the breadcrumbs.

Once all your zucchini slices are breaded, add enough oil to your skillet to come up ¼ inch. Heat the oil over medium heat.

Grab a couple breadcrumbs and sprinkle into the oil. If it starts to sizzle, the zucchini is ready to fry.

Cook until both sides are golden brown and crisp, about 1-2 minutes per side. If the zucchini is sticking a little when you try to turn it over, give it another second. It will release when it's ready to flip.

Move slices to a sheet pan lined with an oven safe cooling rack or a plate lined with paper towels to drain off the excess oil.

Repeat the breading and frying and draining process until all your zucchini is fried.

If you drained your zucchini on a paper towel lined plate, move drained zucchini to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. *If you used the cooling rack-sheet pan method to drain, you can leave the zucchini on the cooling rack and sheet pan and move to the next step.

Spoon a small dollop tomato sauce right in the center of the zucchini slices.

Don't coat the whole slice, we want to leave some zucchini exposed so that it stays crisp.

Once you've finished saucing each slice, top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake zucchini in a 425° oven for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and browned.

To serve, spoon a little sauce on the serving plate, top with 5-6 zucchini slices and garnish with more sauce, fresh basil, and freshly grated parmesan.

OR

Fill a bowl with spaghetti. Spoon over a lot of tomato sauce and top with zucchini. Garnish with parmesan and fresh basil.

Can I make Fried Zucchini Parmesan ahead?

Yes!

You can salt, drain and bread the zucchini a few hours before you're ready to fry it.

Once the zucchini's breaded, just keep it in the fridge until your ready to fry!

I wouldn't let the breaded zucchini sit overnight--the salt in the flour and breadcrumbs might start to draw out extra moisture.

Unfortunately you can't freeze this dish. The zucchini would just get way too soggy.

Serving Suggestions

These little fried zucchini parmesan bites are as versatile as they are delicious!

Here are a few ways you can enjoy these:

• On top of a bowl of spaghetti or other favorite pasta and marinara sauce
• Make a zucchini parm sandwich. Spread marinara on a hoagie roll, layer in your fried zucchini slices and top with mozzerella cheese. Bake until melted, golden and crispy
• Serve your breaded zucchini bites with a roasted garlic and basil aioli or herby green goddess dressing!
• Layer with ricotta and marinara to make a zucchini parm lasagna mashup!

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