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A golden cheesy crust seals in the fluffy, moist and creamy center of this zucchini casserole. This zucchini bake recipe is easy, irresistibly delicious and a great way to use up extra garden vegetables since it is loaded with 3 pounds of zucchini!
This recipe has simple ingredients and comes together quickly, making it ideal for busy weeknights. This is the best kind of comfort food – so satisfying but light being mostly vegetables, well technically fruit because zucchini is a fruit – seriously!
Every year, Mom grows enough zucchini in her yard to feed a small army so we are always on the lookout for new zucchini recipes! My Mother-in-law shared this recipe with my husband and it quickly became a new favorite. P.S. Have you tried our all-time favorite zucchini recipe?
Ingredients for Zucchini Casserole:
The ingredients in this zucchini rice casserole are so simple and basic but they are a winning combination of flavor and texture.
*To cook rice for this recipe, you will need 1 cup of uncooked rice. Here is an easy tutorial from Olga’s Flavor Factory on how to cook white rice.
How to Make Zucchini Casserole Recipe:
Prep: Preheat oven to 400˚F and butter a 9×13 baking casserole dish.
1. Grate zucchini on the large holes (the grating attachment on a food processor makes it so easy!). You should get 7 to 8 cups before squeezing dry. Transfer grated zucchini to a colander over the sink and stir in 1 tsp salt. Let stand for 10 min, stirring a couple of times then squeeze out the excess moisture with your hands. Transfer drained zucchini to a large mixing bowl.
2. Mix 2/3 cup of sour cream with 1/2 tsp baking powder and let it stand while zucchini drains (8-10 min).
3. Into the mixing bowl with drained zucchini, stir in 4 eggs and sour cream mixture.
4. Add cooked rice and 2 cups shredded cheese. Stir in 1/2 cup chives, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash seasoning.
5. Pour mixture into buttered casserole dish and lightly spread 1/3 cup sour cream over the top. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese over the surface and bake uncovered in the center of your oven at 400˚ for 40 min. Let it stand for 10 min before serving.
This zucchini bake was on the menu twice last week and it disappeared fast! It tastes like comfort food but in a light and feel good way. I love the light sweetness of the zucchini, the salty crust and moist creamy center. I find this dish completely irresistible and I hope you love it as much as we do!
Cheesy Zucchini Casserole
Ingredients
- 3 lbs green zucchini (6 medium)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt, divided (1 tsp for sprinkling and 1/2 tsp for casserole)
- 2 cups cooked white rice*
- 1 cup sour cream, (divided into 2/3 and 1/3)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 4 eggs (large)
- 1/2 tsp Mrs Dash seasoning, or your favorite salt-free seasoning
- 8 oz Colby jack cheese, 3 cups shredded (or use Mexican cheese)
- 1/2 cup chives, chopped, plus more for garnish
Instructions
Prep: Preheat oven to 400˚F and butter a 9x13 casserole dish.
How to Make Zucchini Casserole:
- Grate zucchini on the large holes (or the grating attachment on a food processor). Transfer grated zucchini to a colander over the sink and stir in 1 tsp salt. Let stand 10 min, stirring a couple of times then squeeze out the excess moisture with your hands. Transfer drained zucchini to a large mixing bowl.
- Mix 2/3 cup sour cream with 1/2 tsp baking powder and let stand while zucchini drains (8-10 min).
- Into the mixing bowl with drained zucchini, stir in 4 eggs and sour cream mixture.
- Add cooked rice and 2 cups cheese. Stir in 1/2 cup chives, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp
- Mrs Dash seasoning.
- Pour mixture into buttered casserole dish and spread 1/3 cup sour cream over the top. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheese over the surface and bake uncovered on the center rack at 400˚ for 40 min. Let stand for 10 min before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
This zucchini casserole is the perfect way to use sweet summer zucchini and a great way to re-purpose leftover white rice.
Made your cheesy zucchini bake. So good. Going to make your zucchini muffins.
Hi Jill! So glad you loved it. I hope you love the muffins too.
You should add variations and mention that it’s a vegetarian dish. I eat low carb/keto so I emitted the rice, added more eggs and cooked breakfast sausage meat. My family liked it including my small children.
Hi Laura! Thank you for sharing your experimentation with the recipe!
This recipe is in my oven right now! I know it will be great! I turn to you when I’m looking for recipes because I have made so many delicious recipes from your website! Next step is to buy your book. A big congratulations! I feel like I know you I spend so much time watching your videos.
Thank you so much, Janice. I hope you’ll love it and all the other recipes that you will try,. Thanks for your interest in my cookbook too!
Excellent recipe thank you, made today. Used sea salt and added some melted butter to sour cream and was divine!
Sounds wonderful, Marnie!
Hi Natasha,
My question, can I substitute plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream?
Hi Lori! That would be fine.
Do you think this could be made the day before? Either make and bake the next day or heat up the next day?
Hi Susan! I have not tested that. They start to juicy if not baked right away so I’m not sure what the end result would be like.
This was a great recipe! I made a few changes, but I don’t think they altered the integrity of the recipe. I used riced cauliflower in place of the rice. I was short on sour cream and used regular plain yogurt (not Greek) to make up the difference. I used a mix of cheddar and jalapeno jack cheeses because that’s what I had on hand. I skipped the extra cheese and sour cream that were to go on top to make it slightly healthier, and honestly, I didn’t think it was necessary. But I do appreciate that the cheese on top makes a nicer presentation if you are serving company 🙂 I also think that the addition of some sage sausage would make it a great breakfast casserole. A dual-purpose recipe is a win-win in my book!!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Anna!
Delicious way to use up garden zucchini. Really tasty recipe! Can’t wait to make it for the next family gathering!
Thank you for the great feedback, Jackie!
Follow up to my question about doing half the recipe, I used an 8″X8″ pan and my only sub was cheddar for Colby Jack (don’t have it here in this part of Canada) and 1 tsp. fresh dill instead of Mrs. Dash. I did bake it 40 minutes and it was excellent. It will do for 2 meals perfectly.
Very nice, Sandra and thanks a lot for sharing that with us. A lot of people have been asking about doing half the recipe.
If I wanted to only make a half recipe and used an 8″x8″ pan, would I cook it for less time because it won’t be as thick, maybe check at 30 minutes? There’s just 2 of us and it probably wouldn’t freeze well, so I’d like to make enough for 1 dinner and 1 leftover meal.
Hi Sandra! I have not tested it but most likely you’ll need to check it sooner and possibly bake it less. I would not recommend freezing this recipe.
Has anyone tried freezing this? Uncooked or cooked? I’m swimming in zucchini right now and this would be awesome to pull out of the freezer on busy nights!
Hi Anna, I haven’t tried freezing leftovers only because they didn’t last that long :). I would not suggest freezing and then cooking since after salting potatoes and zucchini, they start to get juicy if not baked right away. Maybe someone else has experimented with freezing? Let us know if you have any insights into this! Thanks in advance 😉
Loved this recipe!!! Easy and makes a lot. Even so my teenage son ate almost half the pan.
My only edit was to add some garlic scapes from my garden.
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
I made this exactly as written and it was DELICIOUS. I don’t know if adding the baking powder to the sour cream did something extra or what, but my 19 year old who only loves In-n-out burger finished it off when i was at work. Today i made it again, but used sauteed mushrooms and steamed broccoli instead of the zucchini and it was also amazing. Great framework for any casserole. Thank you Natasha!
I’m so glad this was a hit, Jana!
This was delicious. Did have to make some substitutions for some things I had on hand but turned out flavorful, moist (but not wet!) and filling too!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Faith! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Has anyone tried making this without the eggs? We recently learned that a family member can’t eat eggs or potatoes, which are often used in egg replacer products.
I’m thinking this should still be fine without the eggs or a replacement, but I’d love to hear from someone who has already tried it!
Hello Kira, I haven’t tried that yet to advise but maybe others can share if they have tried it and how it turned out?
I made this recipe with Cauliflower rice instead of rice.
It came out so Delicious!!
That’s a nice and healthier option. Thanks for sharing!
I get 2 cups shredded cheese out of an 8 oz. block of cheese, not 3.
Hello all, I had to try this recipe today. I have a lot of Zucchini in my garden this year. I basically stuck with Natasha’s recipe with only some minor changes. Wow this was great!! I really enjoyed it.
Thank you much!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Vince! Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Hi Natasha, This looks amazing but how can I make it Keto friendly? Is there something I can replace the rice with? Maybe riced cauliflower?
Thanks,
Mandy
Hi Mandy, one of my readers mentioned the following: “I made with cauliflower rice and it worked great.” I hope this helps!
This cheesy zucchini casserole is very yummy! I did exchange the white rice for brown and added an onion though.
I’m so glad to hear that, Suzette! Thank you for your awesome review!