Zucchini Is in Season. Take Advantage with These Recipes

Serve these deliciously crisp tempura vegetables from Arizona’s Castle Hot Springs with an aioli base, then drizzle soy glaze on top.

“If spring were to take the form of a soup, I genuinely believe it would taste like this,” says author of the recipe, Radhi Devlukia-Shetty. “It’s a very versatile soup, and you can experiment with whatever veggies you happen to have in your fridge.”

A seamless blend of Italian and Mexican flavors, this meal is efficient, too: The pasta and zucchini cook together in the same pot. Although you can use any pasta you have lying around, a twisted one is best at trapping the pesto and delivering it in every bite.

One year, chef and cookbook author Joanne Weir led a culinary tour to the Cinque Terre in Italy. “I relished the fresh grilled calamari and halibut skewers as I baked in the sunshine and gazed at the crystal blue waters from which the seafood had just come.” This is her ode to the skewers from that day.

We used the thickest julienne blade on the Benriner Cook Help and the fine shredder (3 x 3 mm) blade on the Paderno 4-Blade Spiralizer to create our zoodles (the playful noodle-shaped spirals made from zucchini and other vegetables). You can also make the salad with straight strands cut with a mandoline.

This is a super simple salad made to show off the season’s freshest asparagus and either zucchini or yellow squash that are young and tender enough to be enjoyed raw.

Neither oily nor dry, but perfectly moist, this sweet treat serves as a breakfast, snack, or dessert.

These appetizer pancakes are a bit like latkes—moist inside and crispy at the edges.

The essence of sweet, just-picked summer corn. Serve it hot or cold.

Sunset reader Rebecca Jansen of Snohomish, Washington, won us over with this Mediterranean-inspired vegetable sandwich that’s cooked entirely on the grill.

Sliced zucchini brings a fresh element to Italian sausage pasta. Served with some garlic bread and a glass of wine, it quickly becomes a satisfying meal.

At the farmers market, look for aged sheep’s milk cheese, bunches of mint, and small, tender yellow and green zucchini in order to make this light and airy salad.

The variety of the vegetables, two kinds of legumes, and the Italian trick of cooking a bit of parmesan rind in the soup for added flavor create a palate-pleasing minestrone miles beyond the bland bean-and-pasta version so often served. Add your favorite vegetables or use whatever is bountiful in your garden this harvest.

This creamy soup is a wonderful way to prepare summer’s most bountiful squash: zucchini. The flavors of fresh basil, chili powder, and yellow onion pair well with the zucchini. Serve with thick baguette slices and fresh sliced tomatoes for a simple, satisfying meal.

A fun spin on the classic pasta dish, this recipe requires the jumbo pasta shells. Stuff the shells with delicious fresh vegetables for a springtime dinner.

You can’t taste the zucchini in these cookies, but it adds vitamins, fiber, and a nice moist texture. Now you really can say cookies are good for you!