Simple Uses for Summer Squash

 

When you have a large crop of summer squash from the garden or farmstand, you don't have time to casually include it in complicated recipes or to frantically figure out how to use it up before it goes bad without getting sick of it.  You want to make the most of your harvest and to actually enjoy it.

Here at Plant to Plate, we like to keep things simple!  Here are some of my favorite ways to use or preserve summer squash:

• Steam it with zucchini and parmesan.

• Sauté it with bleu cheese and pecans.

• Sauté it with beef and onions.

• Sauté it with shrimp and basil.  Stir in corn.

• Add it to other sautés and stirfry dishes.

• Make squash patties with the squash alone or in combination with zucchini, carrots, and/or onions.

• Bake it with chicken, garlic, and cherry tomatoes.

• Bake it with parmesan, bread crumbs, and one or more allium(s) such as garlic, leeks, shallots, ramps, or onions.

• Top a pizza or flatbread with summer squash, walnuts, and goat cheese.

• Add it to galettes and other savory baked goods like savory quickbreads and muffins.

• Add it to egg dishes such as omelets and quiches.

• Add it to pasta dishes and casseroles, alone or with spinach or other leafy greens.

• Add it to rice or quinoa.  Squash pieces can be added to the rice/quinoa pot while the grains simmer, or they can be mixed in after the fact.

• Add it to rice bowls and other grain bowls such as those made with quinoa, amaranth, or buckwheat.

• Add it to soups and broths.

• Toss it with tomatoes.  Add turkey or sausage if desired.

• Make a Simple Salad with summer squash, poblanos, and arugula.

• Use it as a Frame of an Interesting Salad.  (Wondering why I capitalized those letters?  Read more about Interesting Salads here!)

• Add it to other salads and bowls.

• Make squash chips.  Summer squash chips are typically made using a dehydrator.

• Dice and freeze it to save it for later.

• Pickle it, alone or with dill, onions, and/or bell peppers.  Summer squash is an especially good fit for quick pickles, but it can work with traditional pickling methods as well.

• Don't forget the leaves!  Although they are typically too spiny to eat raw, squash leaves can be used in a variety of cooked preparations.  Besides improving the texture, cooking squash leaves also reduces their oxalate content. 

• Add squash leaves to sautés, stirfry, soups, and broths.

• Boil or steam the leaves with garlic and top them with salt, lemon juice, and your favorite herbs.  Eat them as-is or add them to pasta dishes, rice bowls, other grain bowls, salads, and more.

• Make squash leaf tea or add the leaves to tea blends.  Squash leaf tea is best prepared as an infusion.  Squash stems, blossoms, and tendrils can also be added to these teas and tea blends.

• Don't throw out the rest of the plant either!  Winter squash stems, tendrils, and blossoms can also be added to soups, broths, stirfry, and sautés.  Squash seeds can be added to broths as well.

Further Reading

Growing squash?  Check out these quick facts like its best growing conditions, companion plants, and expected yields.

We also cover what to do with winter squashes in our Simple Uses for Winter Squash article here.

Summer squash is also featured in these articles:

• Quick Facts: Growing Squash and Pumpkins
• The Interesting Salad Protocol: How to Build an Interesting Salad

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