Zucchini is one of my favorite side dishes. It is a good thing I grew up in an area where zucchini is so accessible and grows in home gardens so easily! We had it all the time when I was younger. Now, I am trying to convince my husband that it’s delicious! My daughter loves it, though!
Zucchini grows on vines that seem to extend in every direction of the garden. The plant grows and grows and produces and produces until you think you can never eat another zucchini. Growing up, we had zucchini bread, calabacitas (which I need to share a recipe for one day!), marinara sauce with slices of zucchini mixed in, hash with zucchini, and so much more all summer long.
Nowadays, it seems that zucchini is at the grocery store all year long (at least where I live). I usually find it by the bell peppers and lettuce. And it is super inexpensive! So, if I have a craving for zucchini and I can’t get some fresh from the garden, I can easily and quickly pick it up at the store any time of year.
One of my favorite and easiest ways to eat zucchini is to simply sauté it in butter and onions. It really doesn’t get much better or easier than that! I like to do a quick sauté in butter at a fairly high heat to get color on the zucchini without turning them to mush. If you cook zucchini too long at a low temperature, it becomes very soft and loses most of its texture. While that’s not necessarily bad, it is not my favorite way to eat it. My family likes this quick sauté best too!
This sauteed zucchini works as a great side dish to just about any meal! Enjoy!
Sautéed Zucchini
Ingredients
- 1 Small onion
- 2 tbsp butter, unsalted
- 3 medium zucchini
- ½ tsp garlic salt
- additional salt to taste
Instructions
- Dice the onion.
- Add the butter and diced onion into a large skillet.
- Cook the onions over low to medium heat until they are translucent, which should only take a few minutes.
- While the onions are cooking, wash and dry the zucchini. Then slice them into bite-sized pieces.
- Once the onions are translucent, add the zucchini to the onions in the pan and turn the heat to medium to medium-high.
- Stir the zucchini every minute or so as they begin to brown, which should be 5 to 10 minutes depending on the pan and temperature. You do not want the onions or zucchini to burn, but you do want them to turn a nice golden brown color. The zucchini will still have a somewhat firm texture.
- Do a quick taste test, adding more garlic salt or regular salt if needed. Serve immediately.
