Zucchini and Yellow Squash Recipe
This zucchini and yellow squash recipe is very unique and full of flavor as a side dish for just about any meal. It is quick to make and serve in 10 minutes.
Zucchini and Yellow Squash Recipe Overview
This recipe for zucchini and yellow squash is surprisingly very easy to make. It’s usually ready to serve in about 10 minutes from the start. It’s very colorful and you end up with 2 veggies because you’ve added some onions to the mix.
Zucchini and Yellow Squash Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow squash
- 1 medium zucchini green squash
- ½ medium sweet onion
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- ⅛ tsp cayenne red pepper
Instructions
- Cut ends of both squash. Optionally, peel partially, fully, or none at all. Slice into ¼-inch thick slices and put into mixing bowl.1 medium yellow squash, 1 medium zucchini green squash
- Peel and cutup onion into large pieces. Add to mixing bowl with squash.½ medium sweet onion
- Add in all remaining ingredients (including oil) and toss to coat evenly and thoroughly.3 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp sesame seeds, ⅛ tsp cayenne red pepper
- Set burner to medium high to preheat a skillet or fry pan. Then, add in all mixing bowl ingredients and cook for about 4-5 minutes, only turning veggies about once per ½-minute. Can drop heat to medium, as needed, to manage the browning. Not recommended for covering. Ready to serve.
Notes
Why this is the best zucchini and yellow squash recipe
This is the best way to make zucchini and yellow squash because it has so much to offer. It’s healthy as it doesn’t use salt. It has a wonderful flavor of sesame with both its sesame oil and sesame seeds. We use roasted sesame oil to ensure the unique sesame flavoring stands out. It has a second vegetable usage of the sweet onion. And it has a bit of zest with the touch of cayenne red pepper. You can change that to red pepper flakes if you choose to. And, the method of prepping and cooking ensures it won’t get mushy. And finally, for presentation, it has the green, yellow, and white colors, along with a small amount of browning. Perfect.
This recipe is listed on our Dinner Ideas for Christmas Eve article, where you’ll also see other traditional and non-traditional fun recipes for main courses, sides, appetizers, salads, and breads.
Do I peel the Zucchini and Yellow Squash before slicing them?
This is optional. Some people like to peel at least some of it because the skin adds too much “texture” to the dish. Others just don’t like any kind of squash with any skin. So, it’s strictly a personal preference. I usually do the halfway in-between to end up with a final result of a happy middle-of-the-road result. Also, by leaving some of the skin intact, you retain some of the color along with skin’s added nutrients. The skin of both types are high in nutritional value (and they differ between the 2 kinds); however, the yellow squash is usually much thicker than zucchini and at least a little bit of peeling of the yellow is desired by people.
Recipe using Zucchini and Yellow Squash
This recipe uses Zucchini squash and Yellow squash. You actually can double up on one kind of squash if you chose to and make this recipe with just one kind. So, if you have a preference, there’s your biggest flexibility.
Here are some main dishes that are great to serve this Zucchini and Yellow Squash Recipe
About Zucchini and Yellow Squash
Zucchini yellow squash or Zucchini green squash
So, is it green squash, yellow squash, or Zucchini squash? What’s the difference?
Yellow: Well, there are several kinds of squash that are yellow (including yellow zucchini squash) but the kind we see in grocery stores (yellow squash) is also known as straight neck squash. There is a yellow squash known as crookneck squash but it has bumps over it.
Green: There are several kinds of green squash (including zucchini). There is a yellow zucchini, referred as golden zucchini squash. It has the unique star-shaped end that regular green zucchini has. Zucchini can grow to as long as 3 feet but are usually harvested earlier to the common 6-10 inches. Mostly, we see the green zucchini.
Both taste similar to us but the zucchini green squash is more bitter.
Is Squash a fruit, vegetable, or what?
It’s actually a cucurbits, from the Gourd family, like a pumpkin. So, in this case, it’s from the fruit family. So, like the tomato, we common people continue to put it under the vegetables. Why? Probably because it doesn’t seem sweet to us, we often cook it to eat it, and finally, because it’s more vegetable-ish to us. Healthline.com has more on the squash fruit story. And Better.me talks more on the nutrition of yellow squash. However, Wikipedia refers to Zucchini as a vegetable. And we often refer to zucchini as its own name instead of calling it squash at times. So, in the end, who really knows?
Is the Potato or Squash more nutritional?
It’s a tradeoff between the two. One will have more of some things than the other, with some good and some not desired as much, and vice versa.
The potato has more calories, carbs, fiber, and protein. Here’s are comparison between the potato and zucchini and one between the potato and yellow squash from calories-info.com.
Nutritional Values of Zucchini and Squash Recipe
The nutritional values are shown in the <Print Recipe> option.