Description
This Italian Zucchini Casserole is easy, tasty, and a great way to use fresh zucchini. This is done in just an hour and is a great vegetable-based dish that can serve as a main course or side dish.
Ingredients
Scale
- 8 ounces macaroni noodles
- 2 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 small zucchini, roughly chopped
- 8 ounces mozzarella, shredded
- 3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Cook macaroni to instructions, but subtract one minute of cooking time, and preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit.
- While water is heating, melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat
- Add flour and mix well into a paste
- Slowly add milk and continue stirring to ensure the sauce doesn’t scorch pan
- The sauce should thicken about the time it starts to boil. Add in 1/2 of the cheese at this point and mix until melted
- Add salt, pepper, and cayenne and stir in.
- Remove sauce from heat and set aside.
- In a large dish, add zucchini, noodles, sauce. Mix.
- Add mixture to deep casserole dish.
- Mix remaining mozzarella and bread crumbs. Top casserole with this remaining cheese/bread crumb mixture.
- Add to oven and bake for 30 minutes
Notes
- Use your best judgment on zucchini sizes, but I used small zucchinis in my recipe.
- The sauce by itself is a bit powerful in terms of salt and pepper, but once it is mixed with the noodles and zucchini, it is balanced. That said, add to your taste.
- Use a deeper casserole dish for the best results.
- When making the sauce, make sure to continue stirring to prevent scalding.
- This dish is only truly vegetarian if you use vegetarian cheese.