Healthy Parmesan Zucchini Discs

There’s not a lot to say here other than the fact that I’m spending every waking moment trying to figure out creative yet healthy ways to use the explosion of zucchini that’s currently coming out of the backyard. If you can put zucchini in it, I am. My current fave are these parmesan zucchini discs. They aren’t fried, and they aren’t soaked in olive oil like a ton of the recipes out there. They are, however, completely delicious. The only thing better than eating these right out of the oven is dipping them in one of my leftover greek yogurt sauces that always seems to be taking up space in my fridge. If you haven’t played around with creating your own simple sauces out of nonfat greek yogurt and seasonings/sauces you are totally missing out! Today I used the leftover greek yogurt tartar sauce that I whipped up for the fish and chips we had earlier this week. I’ve also used yogurt and sriracha to make a tasty dip for these. Yogurt dips not your thing? Marinara, BBQ or ranch dressing would all be fantastic with these.

I played around with this recipe a lot to get it to perfection. Luckily I had plenty of giant zucchinis at my disposal to make this recipe multiple times in the past couple weeks. Panko- usually it makes everything better. Not with this recipe! Stick with the traditional or italian seasoned breadcrumbs. They adhere a lot better to the squash. Don’t add milk to the egg white bath. I know that works in a lot of recipes, but it did not work well with this one so don’t do it! Use pure egg whites or you will not have enough of a bond to get the crumbs to stick. I also found that rolling the shredded parmesan cheese between my palms to break it into smaller pieces was a great trick. The smaller the pieces, the more evenly coated the zucchini will be and allow for a nice, even browning. The cheese melting a bit also keeps the breadcrumbs together as everything bakes.

Servings: 4
Hands on Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

3 medium zucchini
1/2 C bread crumbs
1/4 C parmesan cheese
1/2t paprika
1/4t salt
1/4 garlic powder
1/2t dried parsley
1/2 C egg whites

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450F.
• Slice zucchini into rounds approximately 1/4 inch thick.
• Pour egg whites into a small, shallow dish.
• Combine breadcrumbs through parsley into a second small, shallow dish.
• Coat each zucchini in egg whites, then dredge in dry mixture. If you need to, press the bread crumb mixture into the sides of the zucchini to make sure it adheres.
• Place in a single layer on a baking sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper for easy cleanup).
• Place in oven, flipping half way through at 10 minutes so each side browns.
• If they aren’t browning up to your liking, feel free to do a quick mist of cooking spray over the top to help toast up the bread crumbs a bit more.
• When both sides are browned and the zucchini is cooked through (easily punctured with a fork), remove and serve immediately.