Italian Zucchini Scarpaccia
Super simple and crunchy Italian snack or side dish that will wow your taste buds.
The beauty and flavor of this dish comes from the fresh veggies. The onions caramelize with the zucchini coins when sauteed and you get an addictive little dish. If you like this dish, you will love my Italian Broccoli Scarpaccia.
This dish would be perfect accompaniment to any soup; a comforting, cozy and delicious meal. Also amazing on its own, sliced into smaller pieces as an appetizer at your next get together. And lastly side dish your family will fight over.
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Italian Zucchini Scarpaccia
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a large deep skillet, heat your 1 tbs olive oil. Add in the zucchini and onion and saute until browned – about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13" METAL baking dish with parchment paper and spray with olive oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, corn meal, garlic powder, paprika, dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Add in the water and 1 tbs olive oil and stir until a batter forms. Throw in your zucchini onions and mix to combine. Transfer to your baking sheet and spread out to a THIN LAYER. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and alittle extra corn meal, spray with a little olive oil and bake for 45-50 minutes (or until golden and crispy). Remove from oven and allow to cool 15 minutes prior to slicing.
Notes
Sub the grated parmesan for nutritional yeast to make this vegan and dairy free.
Nutrition
Calories: 179kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 40mg | Potassium: 260mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 145IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 2mg
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I’m not sure what cornmeal is in Australia. Is it polenta or is it cornflour? In Australia, we use cornflower as a thickener. Is that the function of the cornmeal in this recipe or should I be using Italian polenta? I have a bag of Sostanza polenta in my pantry
Hi Ros, its kind of the same but not exactly. Cornmeal is definitely not corn starch/flour. Its more of a coarse flour. If you click on the ingredient link it will show you a picture of the exact item i used.
Thanks Stella. Your link to the photo was the first thing I looked at. I have not seen that product in Australia. Then I googled “what’s the difference between cornmeal and cornflour” and “ What do we call cornmeal in Australia” but didn’t find a satisfactory answer. A lot of websites said polenta is not the same, however my polenta says on the front of the packet “Polenta: corn meal Italian Style”. The ingredients list is “corn”. unfortunately, I can’t upload a photo.
In the US, dried corn is ground & sold in 3 different textures: polenta is coarse, cornmeal is medium, and cornflour is fine. If you can’t get cornmeal but can get polenta, put it in a food processor and pulse until it’s more finely ground to approximate our cornmeal. (I do this with our white sugar to get more easily dissolvable icing sugar.) Hope this helps!
https://australianorganicproducts.com.au/products/bob-s-red-mill-cornmeal-gluten-free-680g.
Im from New Zealand ,we use a brand called healtheries . I hope this helps. If NZ has it, Aussieis sure to have it. Good luck
This looks fantastic! Very excited to try it. How long do you think it would keep (and would it be better in the fridge vs. room temp)? Trying to figure out how many meals I can stretch it! 🙂
Hi Maggie, I would store in fridge! You’re gonna love this!
super tasty… my husband went crazy the 1st time I made it
today I am adding some fêta cheese, we’ll see
Hi Nora, glad you liked it! I’m sure it was even better with the feta.
Can you use almond flour?
Hi Patti, I haven’t tried it with almond flour so I cannot say for certain…
I love this. 2nd time I’ve made this today. So delish!! However I’m finding the base is still soft? Im not sure why this is happening? I take it out of oven after 50 mins.. Scared to cook it for longer
in case i burn it but maybe I should?
HI Nadia! Glad you like this recipe! Are you baking it directly on the pan or using parchment? Parchment will probably give it a softer texture. Also, if the recipe calls for olive oil spray, make sure you’re using it. Thank you for trying the dish out!
Trying this today as a side to roast beef. Can I make it ahead? Thank you, in advance!
I made this today..It turned out lovely. It wasn’t crispy though. 🙁 Maybe should have spread it out more into a larger pan to a thinner consistency. or maybe could have left it oven longer.. Will try that next time. It was delicious though.
Mine isn’r crispy either, don’t know why because I followed the directions exactly. Delicious nonetheless!
I’ve done it twice now and while yummy I don’t manage crispy either. no idea what I should do differently.
I saw another recipe for this where they salted the onions and zucchini and let them sit for two hours, then squeezed the excess moisture out like you do for zucchini bread before preparing. I haven’t tried it yet, but it seems like it might help a lot to get crispier.
Can this be made ahead and then served at room temp?
This was very good, but my “crust” was quite soggy. Is it supposed to be soft or crispy? It did crisp up a bit after I reheated a slice on the rack of the microwave.
Oops, I meant toaster oven!
Is it SR flour or plain flour?
Hi Janice, this is made with regular all purpose flour…not self rising
Can I use gluten free flour?
Hi Isa, I haven’t tried it but it should work!
I use rice flour. So perfect
What is sweet onions ?
Its a type of onion. You can use any onion you have tho!
This looks so good. Do you think I could use corn muffin mix instead of the corn meal?
Thanks
Hi Kate, I’m not sure since I haven’t tried. If the texture of the muffin mix is gritty and a little larger than flour, then it will work… let me know what happens though!!
Stella..I just got some cornmeal when I went grocery shopping..
I just made it. In the oven.. can not wait to try it.
Thanks again for sharing this!
I am thinking the muffin mix has leaven so it would change it more like bread??
Should I use white or yellow cornmeal?
I used yellow corn meal
Can u just use all flour if you do not have any cornmeal?
Hi Cheryl, it kind of changes the consistency of the dish. I haven’t tried it without so I can’t say for certain. Do you have semolina flour? That would be a great sub
Hi, Can I use cornstarch instead of cornmeal?
Not the same here.. no i would not!
Delish I’ve used panko bread crumbs instead of corn meal as its what I had available. it gave it a nice additional texture and crunch 😊
Hi Diane, thank you so much for sharing your feedback with us! Its definitely useful to everyone looking for alternatives.
Thank you for sharing your substitution. I was wondering with what I could use other than cornmeal.
I used breadcrumbs instead , turned out great!
Just made this today and it was excellent and so easy to make. Thank you for a great recipe
Hi Kathy! Glad you liked the dish – and I agree.. too easy not to make!