Zucchini Parmesan Crisps
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Perfectly golden brown parmesan-crusted zucchini slices (to use up all that summer zucchini!). So crispy, so good!
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What do you do with all that summer zucchini just waiting to be used up? Well, we’re going to slice them up real nice, coat them in a Panko-Parm mixture, and cook them until they’re wonderfully crisp and golden brown. It’s a very sneaky snack, appetizer, and side dish situation, and you’ll be consuming all that zucchini in no time.
reasons to make zucchini parmesan crisps
- Summertime treat. Zucchini parmesan crisps is a favorite summertime snack for the entire family to enjoy (especially when dipped in Ranch). Not to mention, even the pickiest of eaters will be fighting for these!
- Great way to use up zucchini. Is your garden overflowing with an abundance of summer zucchini? Not sure what to cook next? Use up your bounty with these perfect, oh-so-crisp, golden brown snackable zucchini crisps.
- Flexible recipe. These crisps can easily be fried, baked or cooked in the air fryer, depending on personal preference.
tips and tricks for success
- Salt the zucchini. Because zucchini has a high water content (94% water), salting the zucchini beforehand will help draw out the excess water, making it firmer and avoiding mushy, limp zucchini.
- Use a cast iron skillet. A cast iron skillet is ideal here for even heat distribution for the hot oil.
- Cook in batches. If too much zucchini is added at once, the oil temperature will drop and the zucchini will absorb too much oil, resulting in soggy zucchini.
- Use the air fryer. This is a great recipe for the air fryer! Preheat the air fryer to 400°F, cooking for 9-10 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp, flipping halfway.
- Bake as needed. Zucchini crisps can be baked on a cooling rack (that has been coated with nonstick spray) and placed on a baking sheet, cooking at 425°F for 20-22 minutes, or until crisp and cooked through.
- Serve immediately. These are best served immediately for maximum freshness and crispness. Zucchini parmesan crisps do not make for the best leftovers.
- Mix it up. Use golden zucchini or mushrooms, or swap out the Panko for whole wheat breadcrumbs or Italian style bread crumbs. Serve with Ranch, marinara sauce, garlic aioli, fry sauce or your favorite dipping sauce(s).
more favorited zucchini recipes
Zucchini Parmesan Crisps: Frequently Asked Questions
Zucchini is very high in water and the salt will help draw out excess water.
Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb and can be found in the Asian section of your local grocery store. While both Panko and breadcrumbs can both be used as a coating for fried foods, Panko is much more flakier and yields a crunchier, crispier texture.
You’ll want to cut your zucchini into even slices, keeping your oil nice and hot, and space them apart when cooking. This will yield the crispiest zucchini slices!
Yes! These can be cooked in the air fryer at 400°F for 9-10 minutes, flipping halfway.
Absolutely! Place a cooling rack (that has been coated with nonstick spray) on a baking sheet, and bake at 425°F for 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp.
You can serve these with your favorite dipping sauce like Ranch, fry sauce or marinara sauce.
Zucchini Parmesan Crisps
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup Panko*
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced to 1/4-inch thick rounds
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Equipment
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Lay zucchini slices flat in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Season with salt, to taste; let stand 15 minutes.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
- In a large bowl, combine Panko and Parmesan; set aside.
- Working in batches, dredge zucchini rounds in flour, dip into eggs, then dredge in Panko mixture, pressing to coat.
- Add zucchini rounds to the skillet, 5 or 6 at a time, and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 1 minute on each side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Serve immediately.
Video
Notes
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could these be made in an air fryer to cut back on deep frying?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this ourselves, we cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let us know how it turns out! 🙂
These are delicious!
I’m sorry but this was not easy at all. It was a mess. Bread crumbs, egg, flour – everywhere – not to mention grease splattering? Forget it. I will find a oven-friendly less messy recipe.
Nikki, with any type of breading recipe, a little bit of mess is completely normal! 🙂
This recipe is so easy and absolutely delicious. So glad I tried it.
I love these! Best recipe I’ve found. I’m wondering how it would be on mushrooms!
The recipe is good, but what is the reason for the floor? I just made sure the slices were dry, covered them in egg and then the parmesan/panko mix and they came out fine.
The flour helps preserve the moisture during cooking.
Excellent but I had some difficulties the Panko and egg didn’t stick at the beginning. left the zucchini in the eggs for a minute or two and it finally worked. It is better to complete all the steps with all the zucchini before you warm the oil to start frying. Used seasoned Panko.
hi, should i salt the zucchini sloces and pat dry with a paper towel before dredging? tia!
It’s up to you!
So are you saying that four of these crisps are 315 calories????
There are 315 calories for each serving (total 4 servings), not for 4 crisps.
I found this recipe googling zucchini recipes and it will definitely be used frequently. My children loved it as well, we love snacking on good things and this is a much have in our household!
I made these the other night as an appy before dinner. My nother LOVED them!! We had them with a jalapeno ranch dip. Soooooo good!
Hi,
Let me first say that I’ve loved everything from this site so far.
I know you don’t say anything about storage but I really want to make these for a pot luck tomorrow. I get into work at 7 am though and the pot luck is not until noon. If you had to, what would be the best way to store these?
Thanks!
In all honesty, this is best served immediately as the crispness does lose out over time.
Where does the 27% protein in the nutrition chart come from? I can’t believe an egg wash would give you that much of your daily requirement.
The Panko, cheese, flour, and egg all contain protein. The reference value for the daily amount of protein is 50g, which is relatively low (side note: many nutritional professionals think this number should be higher!) so 27% seems like a significant amount but 13.4g isn’t really a large absolute amount of protein.
Try grinding up pretzels and coating the veggies
A real good variation of the above.
I haven’t added these yet but I plan to soon. The calories would be 315 for whatever 1/2 zucchini would make. If using 2 zucchini, 1/2 zucchini would be 1/4 of the recipe.
Wow brilliant I wish I could make one of these really delicious snacks are really the thing that keeps me going in working hours.
My flour always washes off in the egg wash. How do I prevent this from happening ?
Here is a great forum discussing the real secret to keep breading on – hope that helps! 🙂
http://food52.com/hotline/2976-what-is-the-real-secret-to-keeping-breading-on-a-piece-of-meat-no-matter-what-i-try-the-stuff-always
Your nutrition facts actually show that this is not an extremely healthy option. There is a large amount of sodium at 420 mg which leads to high blood pressure and other cardiac issues. There is also a trans fat content which is extremely unhealthy no matter how little there is. Saturated fats are also bad fats. These fats increase your risk for heart attacks, etc. Love that you provide the nutrition facts of this recipe and definitely keep that up, but you should not tell people they are healthy without disclaiming the high sodium content and trans fat content are not in fact healthy. Saturated fats are okay as long as they are a very small part of your diet but trans fats should be zip and sodium content should be monitored, especially for those with high blood pressure or other cardiac issues. I understand that this is four serving sizes but the majority of people eat more than one serving size in a sitting.
Brooke, please refer below:
A) Relative to pre-packaged snacks, 420mg per serving is not terribly high. People with high blood pressure are recommended to keep sodium under 1500mg/day so they can choose whether this snack would fit in with their needs.
b) The trans fats in this recipe are naturally occurring in the parmesan cheese. Dairy trans fats are a completely different beast than those artificially produced through hydrogenation of unsaturated fats.
c) The recommendation for saturated fats is to keep them below 5% of caloric intakes. Based on a 2000 calorie diet, this snack would only contribute 1.7% of calories from saturated fats.
Hope that helps!
Totally agree and the 315 calories for four crisps in ridiculous. These are unhealthy calories if you are limited to 1200 calories a day!
Zucchini is a very healthy food and your recipe looks great and delicious. These is really good recipe especially for picky eaters.
Looks delicious, Chungah! We’re sharing with our followers for Superbowl snacking. Thanks!
I made these the other night as an appy before dinner. My boyfriend LOVED them!! We had them with a jalapeno ranch dip. Soooooo good!