All the flavors of your favorite Chicken Parmesan but made with zucchini instead of chicken for a fun appetizer or side dish.
Chicken Parmesan is one of my favorite dinners to make. I mean, it’s got crunchy chicken, tomato sauce and lots of cheese. What’s not to love?
I have a version of Chicken Parmesan that I do in the slow cooker (it’s crazy good. Promise!) that is perfect for busy weeknights, but when I want the Parmesan flavors to be more special, weekend-worthy, I like switching things up a bit. That’s how I came up with this Zucchini Parmesan recipe.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
What Is Zucchini Parmesan?
It’s very similar to Chicken Parm in terms of flavor, but it uses broiled rounds of zucchini instead of breaded chicken. You top those rounds with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and crunchy panko breadcrumbs and broil it a bit longer. Voilà!
The cute round Zucchini Parmesans are great as an appetizer or a side dish. They also work plated on top of a buttery pile of rotini noodles or white rice.
Ingredients
We’re keeping the ingredient list short for this delicious zucchini recipe. First, we need nice medium sized zucchini. These are zucchini that are 6-8 inches long and 2-3 inches in diameter. If you find larger ones, you can use them, but keep in the mind the skin may be tougher and you may want to peel or partially peel them.
I just season the zucchini with salt and pepper, if you want to add garlic powder or other seasonings, I like to mix them into the breadcrumbs.
Next up are the classic ingredients of tomato sauce, cheese, and breadcrumbs. Any basic tomato or marinara sauce works great here. You just need enough to cover each little zucchini round, but if you’re serving it over pasta or want to dip in some garlic bread, you can add extra and let it get all warm and delicious on the baking sheet. The shredded mozzarella cheese is next and gets wonderfully melty in the oven.
Now, the last required ingredient is panko breadcrumbs. You can just use a little cooking spray or oil to help these brown up, or like I mentioned, you can make a tasty mixture and add some extras in. Add in some grated Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and dried herbs like basil or oregano for extra flavor. You can hear more about that in the podcast episode below.
How To Make Zucchini Parmesan
We’re keeping this simple and not dealing with frying or breading like you might do for Eggplant Parmesan. It’s a lot of work and it can be challenging to work with the zucchini slices in that way.
Preheat in the broiler in your oven. Prep a large sheet pan with a spray of cooking oil and slice your zucchini. About 1/2-inch is a good size for the zucchini slices.
Add the zucchini rounds, spread out in a single layer, to the sheet pan and lightly salt and pepper them. Then, put them in the oven about 8 inches from the heat source. Broil until the zucchini is just starting to soften and getting lightly browned on top, about 6-8 minutes.
Next, you’ll pull the pan out of the oven to top each zucchini round with the tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and panko breadcrumbs. Spray some oil on the crumbs so they get beautifully browned and crispy.
Return to the oven and broil some more until cheese is melted and crumbs are browned, another 3-4 minutes. Keep an eye on it so the crumbs don’t burn! I really think you’re going to love this recipe.
More Flavorful Side Dishes
I make this Zucchini Parmesan as a main course, but I also make it as a side dish, which got me to thinking about the other super-flavorful side dish recipes on my website. Go ahead and browse through the over 100 side dish recipes over here, or visit the ones below which are some of my all time favorites.
- Italian Roasted Cauliflower
- The Best Garlic Bread
- Beet Greens
- Garlicky Mustard Greens
- Jiffy Corn Casserole
- Farro Side Dish With Cream Cheese and Spinach
- Caprese Pasta Salad
Podcast Episode About Making Zucchini Parmesan
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this side dish, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintZucchini Parmesan Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
All the flavors of your favorite Chicken Parmesan but made with zucchini instead of chicken for a fun appetizer or side dish.
Ingredients
- 3 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/2-in. thick rounds
- Cooking spray
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1 cup tomato sauce (homemade or store-bought)
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat broiler.
- Spray large baking pan with cooking spray. Add the zucchini rounds (with flat sides down) in a single layer.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper
- Broil 8 inches from heat source until slightly softened and starting to brown on top, 6-8 minutes.
- Top each zucchini round with about 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce, some mozzarella cheese and some panko crumbs.
- Spray crumbs with cooking spray.
- Broil some more until cheese is melted and crumbs are browned, 3-4 minutes.
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This post originally appeared in January 2018 and was revised and republished in February 2024.