Baked Italian Zucchini Casserole
This Baked Italian Zucchini Casserole is an easy and delicious vegetable side! The crunchy, cheesy topping finishes this casserole off beautifully!
Ingredients
- 3-4 zucchini, sliced, depending on their size
- 1-2 carrot, shredded, depending on their size
- ¼ cup olive oil or another vegetable oil, divided
- 1 ½ cups breadcrumbs, french's fried onions, crackers, stuffing mix, croutons or panko, crushed any one or any combination
- ¾ cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups cheese, shredded, more or less to taste
- 1 onion, sliced
- 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 1 can (28 oz) canned tomatoes, diced, undrained
- 1-2 tablespoon Italian seasoning, dried or you can also use thyme, basil or rosemary instead, if desired
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Set aside a 13x9 inch pan.
- In a large skillet, over medium heat, heat 1-2 tablespoons oil until it shimmers or a drop of water flicked in it dances.
- Add zucchini and carrots and sauté for about 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
- In the same skillet, heat some more oil if needed and sauté onion and garlic for about one minute.
- Add canned tomatoes with their juice, italian seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper.
- Simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
- Remove skillet from heat and gently combine carrots and zucchini.
- Place mixture in your 13x9 pan.
- Sprinkle crushed panko, breadcrumbs, stuffing mix, croutons, crispy fried onions or crackers on top of zucchini mixture. Use any combination as long as it totals 1 ½ cups.
- Next add parmesan cheese all over the top.
- Cover and bake for 20 minutes.
- Uncover and cover with shredded cheese.
- Bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Turn oven up to broil, if desired or required, to brown cheese even more.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!