This cheesy zucchini bake with cream crackers is my favourite way of using up all the lovely fresh zucchini in season at the moment. Served hot, as a side dish, it has a soft and creamy texture, but once it goes cold it sets to a firm quiche-like consistency and makes the perfect lunch-time snack.
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Cheesy zucchini bake with cream crackers
One of my favourite ways to serve zucchini is this recipe for cheesy zucchini bake with cream crackers. The cream crackers mixed into the dish soak up the cooking juices from the zucchini and act as a thickener. The addition of fried onions provides a delicious savoury element. The mixture is covered with a beaten egg, milk and cheese mixture before being baked.
The crunchy topping is made by mixing grated cheese with crushed cream crackers and sprinkling it on top just before baking.
I love this dish because you can enjoy both hot and cold. Served hot it makes the perfect side vegetable to accompany your roasts. It tastes good just served plain, but zucchini and tomatoes go so well together that I sometimes cover it with leftover marinara sauce.
Alternatively, if you allow the dish to cool, it will firm up so that you can cut it into slices and serve like a quiche. I often made this dish and take it along to a picnic or barbeque, and it was always one of the first things to get devoured.
This cheesy zucchini bake is such a simple dish to make, you only need 6 main ingredients and a few minutes of mixing time, and it’s into the oven to bake. You can even pop it in the oven alongside your roast, so you save on electricity too!
What is a zucchini?
Did you know that a zucchini is actually a fruit and not a vegetable? Fruits have their seeds on the inside (think apples, pears, oranges etc) whereas vegetables don’t (potatoes, cabbages, carrots). There’s been an age-old debate about this, around tomatoes. Yes, they are a fruit as well! However, that said, zucchini are normally served as vegetables, so I guess there’s always the exception that proves the rule!
Depending on where in the world you live, you may know zucchini by other names. In the UK, we call them courgettes and in South African they are known as baby marrows. They are normally harvested while they are still quite small, and once they grow to maturity they are known collectively as marrows.
Zucchini has a mild, slightly sweet flavour, and can tend to be a bit watery, especially if the marrows are on the larger size. For this reason, I tend not to serve plain boiled or steamed zucchini as a vegetable. One of the ways I’ve been serving it for years is sauteed with tomatoes and onions, or you can just slice the zucchini and saute it with garlic in butter or olive oil until just softened.
Ingredients
**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions to make this cheesy zucchini bake from the printable recipe card at the end of this post.**
This recipe is sufficient to fill 2 x 4″ by 6″ baking dishes, or one larger 8″ x 8″ dish.
Cream crackers – I used half of a 300g (10.5 oz) packet. The cream crackers should be finely crushed by placing them in a plastic bag and hitting with a rolling pin, or you can whizz them around in a food processor.
Zucchini (courgettes / baby marrows) – these should be grated on the large holes of a box grater (cheese grater).
Eggs – I used 2 large eggs. If your eggs are on the smaller side you could use 3.
Milk – either full-fat or semi-skimmed. If you prefer a creamier taste you could substitute half of the milk for single cream.
Onion – finely sliced and should be fried before adding to the mixture. Don’t add raw onion – it won’t soften sufficiently in the cooking time.
Cheese – you can use your favourite grated cheese. I like to use a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella, but any grated cheese that melts easily will be fine.
You will also need a tablespoon of sunflower or olive oil for frying the onions, and salt and pepper for seasoning..
How to make it
With just a few simple steps you can be tucking into this delicious cheesy zucchini bake tonight.
- Start off by placing the cream crackers in a large plastic bag and crushing them with a rolling pin (1). If you have a food processor you can just whizz them around in the processor fitted with the metal blade, but this means extra washing up, so I just use the plastic bag/rolling pin method!
- Mix the grated cheese with the crushed cream crackers.
- Whisk the eggs and milk together with salt and pepper to taste. I generally add 1 teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, but it is all down to your own taste.
- Grate the zucchini on the largest holes of a box grater/cheese grater, and place them into a mixing bowl.
- Peel the onion and slice it finely, then fry it in a tablespoon of olive oil or vegetable oil until it has softened and started to brown (3). Take your time over this step, don’t allow the onion to burn or you will get a bitter taste in your zucchini bake.
Top tip – I normally turn the heat under the onions down as low as it will go, cover the onions with a lid and leave them to sweat slowly for about 10 minutes, checking them occasionally.
- Let the onions cool for a minute or two, then add them to the grated zucchini, along with the beaten egg and milk (4). Tip in three-quarters of the cheese/cracker mixture, reserving the remainder for on top.
- Mix thoroughly to combine.
Bake
- This mixture is sufficient for one 8″ x 8″ baking dish, or 2 – 4″ x 6″ dishes. Because there are only two of us at home, I like to make it in two small dishes and freeze one for later.
- Tip the mixture into your baking dish(es).
- Sprinkle with the remainder of the cracker crumb/cheese mixture. You may like to add a little additional grated cheese. Also, you may like to remove any of the larger cracker crumbs before baking, although they do give a satisfying crunch to the finished dish.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (180C/360F) for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve immediately as a side dish with your roast, or leave to cool and cut into slices and serve as a light lunch or mid-day snack.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can freeze this cheesy zucchini dish either baked or unbaked.
If you freeze it after baking you can just defrost it in the refrigerator and then reheat in a hot oven for 10 minutes until piping hot. You could also reheat it in the microwave at 30-second blasts on full power until heated through.
If you freeze it unbaked, you can cook it from frozen in a hot oven for 30 minutes until golden brown.
If you have any leftover zucchini bake, you can cover it with tinfoil and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
No, zucchini does not need to be peeled. The skin is tender and has a lot of flavour. Just give them a quick rinse under cold water before cooking.
Once again, the answer is no. The seeds of these young marrows are soft and edible.
However, if you are using zucchini that have been allowed to grow to a diameter of 3 inches or more you may like to remove the seeds as they tend to become bitter in larger marrows.
Additional resources
Don’t forget to check out my handy Cookery Conversion Calculator if you want to convert any of your recipe measurements from grams to cups, ounces, tablespoons or millilitres and vice versa. You can also use the calculator for converting oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius and Gas marks.
If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read all about it in this post on baking at high altitudes.
Pin for later
If you would like to try this recipe for cheesy zucchini bake, why not pin it to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily. Just click on the image below.
Other recipes
You may also enjoy these other vegetable side dishes:
- Buttered cabbage with leeks and mustard seeds
- Creamy leek and brussels sprouts bake
- Cornbread casserole bake
- Crustless broccoli and cheese tart (made in a frying pan)
- Crispy sweetcorn fritters
- Scalloped potatoes in batter
- Traditional British mushy peas
The recipe
Cheesy zucchini bake with cream crackers
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Box grater
- Sharp Knife
- Chopping Board
- 8" x 8" Baking dish
Ingredients
- 5 oz (150g) cream crackers crushed
- 12 oz (350g) zucchini grated
- 1 medium onion finely sliced
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup cheddar cheese grated
- 1 tablespoon olive oil / sunflower oil for frying
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C.360F.
- Crush the cream crackers into fine crumbs and mix with the grated cheese.
- Whisk the eggs into the milk, with the salt and pepper.
- Grate the zucchini on the largest holes of a box grater/cheese grater, and place them into a mixing bowl.
- Peel the onion and slice it finely, then fry it in a tablespoon of olive oil or vegetable oil until it has softened and started to brown. Take your time over this step, don't allow the onion to burn or you will get a bitter taste in your zucchini bake.
- Let the onions cool for a minute or two, then add them to the grated zucchini, along with the beaten egg and milk. Tip in three-quarters of the cheese/cracker mixture, reserving the remainder for on top.
- Mix thoroughly to combine, then transfer the mixture to a baking dish.
- Sprinkle with the remainder of the cracker crumb/cheese mixture. You may like to add a little additional grated cheese. Also, you may like to remove any of the larger cracker crumbs before baking, although they do give a satisfying crunch to the finished dish.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (180C/360F) for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve immediately as a side dish with your roast, or leave to cool and cut into slices and serve as a light lunch or mid-day snack.
Notes
If you freeze it after baking you can just defrost it in the refrigerator and then reheat in a hot oven for 10 minutes until piping hot. You could also reheat it in the microwave at 30-second blasts on full power until heated through.
If you freeze it unbaked, you can cook it from frozen in a hot oven for 30 minutes until golden brown. Nutrition has been calculated based on this dish serving 8 people.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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