Cheesy Italian Zucchini Pie is a perfect side dish for any meal. Loaded with fresh zucchini and cheese, it's similar to a quiche and can even be made crustless for a low-carb / keto zucchini pie!
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Why You'll Love This
This authentic Italian Zucchini Pie is savory, cheesy, and comforting. It's a cross between a zucchini casserole and a quiche. It makes a unique Italian zucchini side dish, or enjoy it on its own for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
This recipe for zucchini pie is a fantastic way to use all that zucchini from your summer garden. Zucchini is also available nearly year-round in the grocery stores, so that makes this recipe suitable for any season!
Why This Recipe Works
In 1980, an Italian Zucchini Crescent Pie won Pillsbury's America’s Bake-Off Contest. I've transformed that recipe to make it even easier - just sautee your veggies, pour everything into a pie crust, and bake!
When it comes to Italian zucchini recipes, this one is easy and delicious. The thinly-sliced zucchini and Italian herbs make this a perfect side dish, or serve it with a salad for a light, healthy summer meal.
If you're looking for a crustless zucchini pie, simply bake this in a casserole dish for the perfect keto zucchini recipe.
What Goes Into This
- Pie shell - unbaked, deep dish
- Mustard - to brush the inside of the pie before filling to prevent a soggy crust and to add savory flavor
- Onion - sweet yellow or red
- Butter - for sauteing the onion and zucchini
- Zucchini - fresh, unpeeled
- Eggs - to bind everything together
- Muenster cheese - shredded (make sure the cheese is very cold so that it will shred easier)
- Seasonings - oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper
How to Make It
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spread the mustard all over the inside of the pie crust.
Saute the onion in butter until soft. Add zucchini slices and saute until softened.
Drain the onion/zucchini mixture. This step is very important! Draining the onions/zucchini will keep your pie from being too watery and prevent the bottom of the pie crust from getting soggy. After draining, pour the onion/zucchini mixture into the pie crust.
In a bowl, slightly beat the eggs, then mix in the cheese and seasonings. Pour over the onion and zucchini.
Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the top is bubbly and lightly browned.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can transform this pie to a crustless Italian zucchini bake by placing all the ingredients (except the pie crust of course) into a small casserole dish and baking as directed for the pie.
If the pie crust edges start to brown too quickly before the pie is finished cooking, you can remove the pie from the oven and CAREFULLY place some foil around the edges. Do this carefully as the pie will be HOT!!! Return the pie to the oven to finish baking.
Store any leftovers in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I prefer to use BPA-free glass containers with locking lids. Check out this 18-piece set of glass food storage containers with locking lids from Bayco, available now on Amazon.
Expert Tips
- Use a mandolin to slice the zucchini to get all the slices the same thickness. I prefer to slice them thin, very thin - about the width of a dill pickle chip. It might seem thin, but this is just my preference to get all the flavors (seasonings and butter) absorbed into the zucchini. Feel free to slice them thicker!
- Muenster cheese is a soft cheese. If it seems too soft to shred, place it in the freezer for a few minutes to harden it a bit. This will make the shredding/grating much easier.
- Adding tomatoes is a great way to level up this recipe and turn it into Italian zucchini tomato pie! Zucchini and tomatoes just seem to "go together" don't they?
More Recipes to Try
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Recipe
Italian Zucchini Pie
Ingredients
- 1 Pie shell, unbaked (or bake in a casserole dish for a crustless zucchini pie)
- 1 teaspoon Mustard
- 2 Zucchini, thinly sliced
- 1 cup Onion, minced
- 2 Tablespoon Butter
- 1 teaspoon Oregano
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon Black pepper
- 2 Eggs
- 8 oz Muenster cheese, shredded
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spread the mustard on the bottom and sides of pie crust.
- Saute the onion in butter until soft. Add zucchini slices and saute until softened. Drain the onion/zucchini mixture and add to pie crust. NOTE: Draining the onion/zucchini mixture is very important as this keeps the bottom of the pie crust from getting too soft.
- In a bowl, slightly beat the eggs then add the cheese and seasonings. Pour over the onion and zucchini. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the top is bubbly and lightly browned.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy to my readers. I'm not a nutritionist and I don't guarantee the accuracy of this data. The data may differ according to the brands I used versus the brands you use. To calculate the data yourself using your brands, try using an online nutrition calculator or app.
This recipe was originally published in 2018 and was updated in 2022.
Ryan Biddulph
Delicious guys! Amazing fare here. Good note on the pie crust. My mom made pies from scratch for Turkey Day and goodness getting the crust right was challenging to here. And she was a kick ass baker.
lifeloveandblog
Thanks, Ryan! I'd love to try some of your mom's recipes; I'm sure they are top notch. And I'm all in for anything that shortens prep time and gets us to the dinner table quicker. Y'all take care.
Anne & Steve